Interview with a PR Professional
Public Relations (PR) is a diverse and complex occupation. Many people do not understand what the profession entails despite its immense importance in any organization. In a summary, PR involves the management of the communication between an organization and its stakeholders. An interview with a PR professional will clearly reveal how important the profession is to an organization. I conducted an interview with a PR professional (John Carson) and here is the conversation.
Question 1: Where did you go to school?
Answer: I attended the California State University where I graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Public Relations and Communications. I immediately enrolled for my master’s degree in Communications in the same institution.
Question 2: What is your employment background?
Answer: I have worked in two places since graduating from the University. I worked at Thompson Health Community Hospital as the hospitals’ PR intern for two years. I then moved to Eastwood Community Hospital where I am currently working as the PR officer. Before I got an internship at Thompson Hospital, I took up a community service volunteer work at my local residential area for six months where I gained experience in community work.
Question 3: What is your current job description as a PR professional and what challenges come with it?
Answer: Well, the job of a PR professional working in a hospital is quite broad and complicated (Gecikli 55).
I deal with all inquiries from the public, the press, and related organizations and work towards improving the image of the hospital (Gecikli 55)
I plan strategic hospital campaigns, promotions, exhibitions, tours and activities that include the public and other stakeholders
I represent the organization at public interviews, press conferences, and presentations
I provide clients with information about promotions, campaigns, and related activities
I organize for market surveys and research on the services offered at the facility and analyzes its impact and reception from the users of the services.
I design, write and produce presentations, press releases, articles, leaflets, posters, survey reports, hospital journals, brochures and promotional videos (Gecikli 55).
As I indicated, this job is complex and, therefore, has its challenges. Some of the issues that a PR working in a hospital facility faces include:
The need to have prior information on high school subjects like biology and health to deliver effectively on your job objectives because some knowledge of medicine and health issues in important. That will make communication between the officer and the client to be clear and accurate.
Challenges experienced by PR professionals vary from one organizational setup to another. What is very critical is that the form of communication employed must be accurate, clear, and reliable. That will improve and impact positively on the image of the organization of which the PR officer is mandated to reflect in good light (Grunig 2).
Question 4: What is your typical day at work?
Answer: I do not have any two days that have the same sequence of activities or routines to be followed. Every day has its challenges and programs depending on the activities taking place at the hospital. However, a general outline of my day will look like this:
7:00 am: Arrives at work and head straight to my desk to go through all the e-mails send at night while I was away. When reading the e-mails, I pick those that require an urgent response, action or communication to the relevant officers.
8:00 – 8:30 am: Checks with the Hospital Manager for a brief on my days activities and plans
9:00 am: Back on my desk to attend to inquiries and plans for other PR activities for the day
1:00 – 2:00 pm: Breaks for lunch to the canteen for almost 45 minutes and rushes back to my desk to offload any work backlogs
2:00 pm: Continues with attendance to inquiries as I handle other issues like designing brochures, leaflets, posters and preparation for interviews or press releases for the day or the week.
4:00 pm: Follows up on the status of some activities that had been requested by clients or stakeholders and informing the requestors on the position of their activities.
5:00 pm: Departs for home.
The order of the daily activities is not fixed because as I said it all depends on the events of the day. For instance, if there is a press conference that I must attend outside the hospital premises then the order changes.
Question 5: What are your thoughts about the profession and what can you advise young professionals intending to pursue a career in PR?
Answer: If you are looking for a career that is very exciting and challenging then pursue the PR profession. It is one area of working that you will never expect to undertake the same activities you did the previous day. That makes it very interesting and challenging. My thoughts about the profession are that although most organizations have never understood the importance of having a PR officer, this is one profession that is credited for marketing the image and brand of any business (Grunig 12). Communication is the image of a business.
Young professionals who want to pursue PR should proceed in that direction because more companies have realized that it is an important position that markets the company and not the product. It is the face of a company culture and principles. The young professionals should get more qualifications in the PR field by pursuing masters’ degrees and registering with the relevant bodies like the International Association of Business Communicators.
In conclusion, Public Relations as a profession is an important field that has gained ground of late. Although the profession has numerous challenges because it does not have a definite routine of work, it is an interesting area of work (Gecikli 56). From the interview with John Carson, it is apparent that the profession is critical to the sustenance of the image and position of an organization.
Works Cited
Geçikli, Fatma. "The Organization of Public Relations Department at Hospitals: A Model Suggestion." Print.
Grunig, James E. "Paradigms of global public relations in an age of digitalization." Prism 6.2 (2009): 1-19. Print.
