Communications as Ikor

PR 실무자들이 꼽은 유능한 초보 PR人 狀(상)  < ?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

 

미국 인사이드 PR잡지에서 작년에 미국 PR실무자들을 조사한 결과입니다. “어떤전공의 학생이 PR업무를 위해 비교적 잘 준비된 것 같습니까?”

 

올해는 지난 해들과는 달리 PR전공학생들이 더 잘 준비된 인력들로 평가되었답니다. 지난 몇년간 미국전역에서 PR전공학생들에 대한 실무교육강화가 그 원인이 된 것 같답니다. 부럽습니다.

 

PR전공학생이라고 다 개념이 있고 준비된 모습을 보이는 것은 아닙니다. 또 잘 준비된 졸업생도 실무에 있어서 잘배우지 못하면 폐품으로 전락하기도 하겠지요. 그래서 “잘 키운 씩씩이 열 똑똑이 안부럽다”라는 말이 나옵니다.

 

주변에서 졸업하는 여러 PR지망생들을 보면서, 그들이 갖추어야 할 것과 준비된 모습을 보이는 모습들..그런 것들이 어떻게 가능할까에 대해 이야기 해 주고 싶던 차에 좋은 글을 발견했습니다.

 

또 글 후반부에는 “잘 준비된 학생”들을 배출하는 대학교들을 거명하여 놓았더군요..맘에 두고 계신분들은 참고하시기 바랍니다. (참고로) 그러나 이 학교들은 학부를 기준으로 한 거니까, 대학원의 명성과 혼동하지는 마시기 바랍니다.

 

그럼 준비된 새내기 홍보인이 더 많아지기를 바라며..홍보!

 

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Practitioners Say PR Graduates Are Better Prepared

November 1, 1999

 

Practitioners” opinions of public relations education have improved dramatically over the past three years, according to a survey conducted this week by Inside PR. Respondents to the survey-almost all of whom are involved in hiring graduates rated public relations degrees better than journalism, liberal arts or MBAs in preparing students to work in the industry

 

The results indicate a significant improvement in the relevance of public relations education over the past three years. A similar study by Inside PR, published in 1997, rated public relations third, behind a broad liberal arts education or a journalism degree. But the liberal arts approach is falling from favor, with respondents now rating it lowest of the four choices.

 

Public relations got the best “grade point average” when respondents were asked to rate their preferred educational backgrounds on a scale from one to four. Public relations scored a 2.98, followed by journalism (2.78), an MBA (2.37), and liberal arts (2.28). Public relations was also rated the number one choice by more respondents (34 out of 72) than any other. Journalism was again second (20), followed by MBA (13) and liberal arts (8). Given the option to identify another degree, nine respondents cited English and six cited marketing.

 

When asked whether students with public relations degrees were better or less well prepared for PR careers than students from other backgrounds, the consensus was that they were slightly better prepared. Twenty-nine percent of respondents said PR students were much better prepared, 37 percent said they were slightly better prepared, and 24 percent said they were about the same. Only 10 percent said PR students were less prepared.

 

Nevertheless, respondents were quick to identify some of the specific shortcomings of public relations students, with the biggest complaints falling into three broad categories: poor writing skills (cited, without prompting, by 39 percent of respondents); lack of business acumen or understanding (mentioned by 29 percent); and lack of critical or strategic thinking skills (21 percent).

 

Significant minorities cited the lack of real-life experience as a drawback-several respondents indicated that they did not hire college graduates without some intern experience-while others complained about the lack of marketing savvy, the absence of media relations skills or an understanding of how the media works, and a sense of entitlement or a lack of patience.

 

“First impression stuff is important,” wrote one obviously frustrated respondent. “Don”t show up for the interview with ultra-long purple “ho” nails, don”t walk in drowning in cologne, and don”t ask the president of the agency what her name is. And if you”re just out of school, be realistic about how you present your skills. You don”t know everything yet.”

 

Other complaints ranged from poor interpersonal skills to an unwillingness to be proactive to the absence of a service mentality. Our favorite response to the question what do PR graduates lack came from a respondent in California, who answered simply, “Balls.” Another respondent, whose one major was Russian history, suggested that candidates “have never followed an intellectual passion and developed a depth of expertise in any area of study.”

 

Several individual schools are clearly developing a reputation for turning out well-prepared students. The top choice was Northwestern, which was cited by 21 respondents, followed by Syracuse (19) and Boston University (18). Penn State (9), Harvard, San Jose State, Yale (8 each) and Colorado State (7) were next, followed by New York University (5), Cornell, Princeton, and USC (4).

 

Other schools earning multiple votes were Brown, Cal Berkeley, Cal State Chico, Florida, Maryland, Stanford, and UCLA.

 

As for the respondents themselves, the most common educational background was journalism (41percent had journalism degrees or degrees with a journalism component), followed by English (22 percent). Only nine percent had a public relations degree, and more than half of those had combined PR and journalism. Other backgrounds included chemistry, sociology, philosophy, life science, and the aforementioned Russian history grad.

 

The only schools to spawn multiple respondents were Northwestern and Syracuse (3 each), and San Jose State (2).