Public relations the best choice of career for adventurous people

Public relations is the art and socialscienceof analyzing trends, predicting their consequences, counseling organization’sleadershipand implementing planned programs of action which will serve both the organization and the public interest (Davis). Among the expertise that are within the field of public relations, includes 1) crisis management, 2) reputation management, 3) issue management, and 4)investor relations and labor relations (Levy).

The field of public relations is growing rapidly, and there are numerous opportunities to find entry-level positions. The field is exciting because you are dealing with the media as well as the public. There is often an opportunity to travel, meet influential people and celebrities, earn a respectable salary, and use your mind in a variety of ways.

Sometimes the best public relations involve checking or limiting the damage or negative media exposure. When a few Extra Strength Tylenol capsules in Chicago were found to contain cyanide, the Johnson and Johnson Company limited the damage done to the product’s image by acting with admirable speed, forthrightness, and savvy. They instantly acknowledged the problem and initiated a recall of the product long before theFoodand Drug Administration could ever suggest it. They were also accessible to the press, and they help in the investigation. The recall cost Johnson and Johnson more than $100 million, but it upheld the company’s reputation. A great deal of credit goes to the Johnson and Johnson public relations people who, through quick thinking and arespectfor the intelligence of the American public, managed to avert what could have been a publicity disaster. The public relations effort was internal as well as external(Bly).  Books, seminars, workshops and journal articles on issues and crisis-related subjects abound-not to mention frequent media coverage of how issues or crises are affecting organizations and their publics. This high profile in itself might be enough to justify studying issues and crisis management. The need for crisis management and research has become more pronounced in the new millennium because over the past several decades, disasters have grown in frequency, magnitude and complexity. That brings in public relations, whose concerns include who are saying what, to whom, and with what intended effect. PR practitioners are expected to be skilled in message design and delivery, whether the aim is to manage an issue so it does not become a crisis or to mitigate the effects of a crisis event (Christopher Galloway).

College graduates beginning in public relations start at between $20, 000 and $30, 000 a year. The salary for experienced PR people can be anywhere from $50, 000 to $85, 000vor more a year. The top 10 percent of practitioners earn more than $57, 000, with superstars earning in the megabucks category (Plawin).

PR is also exciting for people who want to go into different places because public relations would definitely require travelling because PR reps dig-up information, accompany executives or celebrities to media interviews and on public speaking engagements, and deal directly with inquiries from the press and public. Independent public relations firms often specialize in certain kind of clients. For example, some are well known for representing politicians and public figures like Hollywood stars and billionaires. Seminars and workshops, special affairs, team building, trade shows and many other activities would also require traveling within the country or even abroad. Publicists may be hired by the celebrity, by their management, by a specialist publicity or public relations firm or by the production unit, network or promoter involved with the celebrity’s current project. They stand between the celebrity and the public, almost literally, and that their job is to manage all communications between them. They write the press releases and secure their placement. They will deal with the press when their client misbehaves and attracts negative publicity (Turner). Entertainment PR has grown in sophistication since its early days. Publicists of major stars are in power positions. One leading Hollywood publicity agent, Pat Kingsley, and her company, PMK, control access to more than 140 clients, including Tom Hanks, Jennifer Lopez, Courtney Love, Arnold Schwarzenegger, and Nichole Kidman. PMK has a staff of 40 employees and grosses about $10 million a year. Clients pay firms like PMK estimated fees of $3, 500 to $8, 000 a month. Studios pay about $10, 000 a month to outside PR firms for help with a film’s release. Today, movie stars, directors, and even screenwriters have their own publicity counsel. Movie studios also maintain substantial PR staffs, and on a particular picture the production may engage a unit publicist (Mogel). Advertising does not build brands, publicity does. Advertising can only maintain brands that have been created by publicity. The truth is advertising cannot start a fire. It can only fan a fire after it has been started. To get something from nothing, you need the validity that only third-party endorsements can bring. The first stage of any new campaign ought to be public relations (Anne Gregory).

Dynamic, fast-moving, always developing, at the heart of the action; these are the words and phrases that truly reflect the nature of public relation in the 21st century. More and more organizations are recognizing the value ofcommunication, whether they are countries, royal families, fast-moving consumer, goods producers or environmental activists. Public relations professionals are being employed in every walk of life. From government to the smallest voluntary group, public relations assistance is regarded as essentials. Public relations brings to the public notice issues of great importance such associal justice, theenvironment, government policy, global trade and religions. It provides a voice to those who might have remained unheard and opens up to public debate matters of life-changing significance. In its noblest manifestation it can help bring together those of fundamentally opposed positions and look for ways to reconcile differences and resolve conflict. Less obviously, it can also work as a non-vocal agent of change in organizations, subtly changing cultures by setting and molding the communication context and helping to interpret change to organizational stakeholders. The emergence of the stakeholder approach by organizations has provided public relations with a golden opportunity to consolidate its central position within the senior management of organizations. Furthermore, the growing requirement for companies to report both formally and informally on their non-financial performance as part of the drive to good governance generally, means that  corporate socialresponsibilityin the round is moving up the agenda and this is natural territory for public relations (Anne Gregory). PR can best play a role in creating a successful campaign when all the other elements of the marketing effort are also present and are integrated with public relations (Anne Gregory). At the highest level of their trade, PR practitioners knit together the worlds of art, industry, politics, fashion, commerce, entertainment, and media, sometimes for profit, often for charity or the public weal. Top practitioners are men and women who know and understand people in all of these different worlds and are able to move freely and easily between worlds. they frequently provide the only voices of reason in the wilderness of irrationality that is public life in an unruly democracy (Janice M. Hirota).

Travel broadens the mind, goes the saying. Even armchair travel will broaden your horizons. Keeping your eyes, ears and mind open to the new experiences offered by new surroundings in important for public relations professional. Visit art exhibitions, films, theatres, displays. All offer new materials, providing new elements to combine with others, to help you create new ideas.

The field of public relations is not for applause seekers. The best PR is invisible, and the best PR people stay behind the scenes. PR is a detail oriented, high-pressurecareer. It is known as a thankless profession. If you don’t produce results, you are fired; if you do produce results, you don’t always get full credit.

PR people have exceptional levels of satisfaction in achieving for other people. This is because they deliberately avoid the spotlight for almost all the time, working instead behind the scene, in the back office, on behalf of others, and their success is therefore measured, usually in other people’s gains (Davis).

For any bright man and women with skills in communication and persuasion and who writes and speaks English correctly, there is no better field than public relations. It is growing and you can grow with it. Indeed, it would be absolutely accurate to say that never before have the opportunities for public relations been so great. An exciting work can become an endless career for all seasons. Being a sports PR for Chicago Bear, or a member of PMK public relations handling celebrities would be an exciting job that can be considered “ work with pleasure.”

Toulmin Method of Argumentative Essay:

Claim: Public relations is the best choice of career for adventurous and bold people

Data: its setting is a very busy, fast-paced environment but with respectable salary and has opportunities for “ up close and personal” updates from celebrities and influential people.

Warrant: College graduates beginning in public relations start at between $20, 000 and $30, 000 a year. The salary for experienced PR people can be anywhere from $50, 000 to $85, 000vor more a year. The top 10 percent of practitioners earn more than $57, 000, with superstars earning in the megabucks category. Movie stars, directors, and even screenwriters have their own publicity counsel.

Backing: More and more organizations are recognizing the value of communication, whether they are countries, royal families, fast-moving consumer, goods producers or environmental activists and the need for crisis management and research has become more pronounced in the new millennium because over the past several decades, disasters have grown in frequency, magnitude and complexity.

Counterclaim: The field of public relations is not for applause seekers. The best PR is invisible, and the best PR people stay behind the scenes.

Rebuttal: This is because they deliberately avoid the spotlight for almost all the time, working instead behind the scene, in the back office, on behalf of others, and their success is therefore measured, usually in other people’s gain.

Works Cited:

Anne Gregory, The Institute of Public Relations. Public Relations in Practice. Kogan Page, 2003.

Bly, Robert W. Careers for Writers & Others Who Have a Way with Words. McGraw-Hill Professional, 2003.

Christopher Galloway, Kwamena Kwanash-Aidoo. Public Relations Issues and Crisis Management. Thomson Learning Nelson, 2005.

Davis, Anthony. Everything You Should Know About Public Relations: Direct Answers to over 500 Questions. Kogan Page, 2003.

Janice M. Hirota, Robert Jackall. Image Makers: Advertising, Public Relations, and the Ethos of Advocacy. University of Chicago Press, 2000.

Levy, Stuart M. Public Relation and Integrated Communications. Vol. Lotus Press.

Mogel, Leonard. Making It in Public Relations: An Insider’s Guide to Career Opportunities. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2002.

Plawin, Paul. Careers for Travel Buffs ; Other Restless Types. McGraw-Hill Professional, 1992.

Turner, Graeme. Understanding Celebrity. Sage Publications Inc, 2004.