PR is struggling to fill junior roles. It needs better PR
Storytelling, social media, content creation: Gen Z have a wealth of talent which makes them PR naturals. Yet, too few graduates and school-leavers know how exciting a job public relations can be
As much as our industry loves to gripe about babysitting journalists on press trips or the hardships of explaining ROI to stony-faced CEOs in boardroom meetings, working in PR is, at its heart, a relatively straightforward profession. Put simply, we’re there to grow, amplify, sustain and protect the reputation of our clients – all while communicating their ideas/products to a wide range of audiences. In a nutshell, that’s broadly it.
Yet, you’d be surprised how few people realise what our day-to-day jobs involve. It’s particularly acute among younger generations: last year’s landmark Levelling Up Public Relations report from the CIPR found over half (52%) of respondents didn’t know anything about PR until they started working, while another 29% only became au fait with the profession while at university.
This lack of awareness also extends to my own family. Last year, my twin daughters – who are both about to enter the jobs market – asked me about travel PR and what it entails (sadly, all those bring-your-kids-to-work days were to no avail).
It dawned on me that among my daughters and their peer group, there’s an unfamiliarity with the world of public relations – and this could be fuelling PR’s ongoing recruitment crisis. According to the CIPR’s State of the Profession report, 78% of those working in comms agencies/consultancies are struggling to fill vacancies, citing a low number of applicants with the right skills. But if Gen Z-ers have no idea what a PR does all day, how can we expect them to apply?
I was mulling all this over with my friend James Treacy (who’s senior PR at Abercrombie & Kent), and we both agreed: there’s a mismatch between the wealth of young talent out there and the countless PR firms seeking – and failing – to hire them. We hit upon a solution: hosting a masterclass which educates ambitious fledglings about the industry, but also pairs them with the agencies which have empty vacancies – all on the same day.
PR's social mobility problem
Our first Publicity Masterclass took place in London last September. In the morning, a group of aspiring PRs – which spanned school-leavers to a 49-year-old woman – received lessons/workshops in everything from writing press releases to what constitutes a good news story. Then, in the afternoon they met some of the UK’s biggest travel PR firms via one-to-one ‘speed-dating’ chats. It proved to be a win-win, mutually beneficial for both PR wannabees and the firms with seats to fill. Out of the 15 attendees who gingerly stepped into the University Women’s Club that sunny September morning, one landed a job at The Communication Group, while two more secured long-term internships at Fox Communications and Jade PR.
Attracting gifted people into the industry goes beyond giving them a glimpse into what this exciting (and occasionally maddening) career looks like. PR’s chronic social mobility problem will never be solved if we only receive applications from nepo babies, who can afford the (typically low) starting salaries because they’re being funded by the bank of mum and dad. That’s why James and I decided to offer four free scholarships for Publicity Masterclass, waiving the £500 fee.
Goldfish-like attention spans, a phobia of landlines and emails, a desire for duvet days and working ‘Bare Minimum Mondays’: this generation gets a bad rep in business. Yet, at our Publicity Masterclass, James and I witnessed none of Gen Z’s supposed workshy ways. We knew things were going well when we looked around and saw nobody fidgeting or distracted by their smartphones. By the afternoon, they were confidently chatting away with some of the industry’s most illustrious travel PRs about what they could offer. The fact these august agencies were actively pitching to the wannabe PRs made us both think that we are really onto something here.
It's easy for employers to assume there’s no talent out there. But in my experience, this generation could help PR industry flourish and ultimately evolve. The first to grow up in a fully-digitised world, they are natural content creators; nimble social media mavens capable of churning out compelling videos within minutes, or pointing out where a client’s sustainability storytelling is falling flat.
It gives me a great deal of satisfaction knowing we could be empowering this PR talent of the future in some small way through Publicity Masterclass. We’re already planning the next event in September and are currently inviting PR companies to take part. The last masterclass was travel, but we could scale this to fashion PR, beauty PR and beyond. Yes, PR is a relatively straightforward profession. We just need to spread the word a little more about how wild and wonderful it really is, that’s all…
Emma Cripwell is publicist for The Pig Hotels.