3 things to know before you start your PR career

You’re going to learn about a lot of industries you don’t care about, you’ll be expected to work on weekends, and your clients won’t understand anything you do. Excited yet?

Ragan Insider Premium Content
Ragan Insider Content

There are a few things you should know first.

PR isn’t quite what you think it is. While it is an exciting and sometimes crazy field, it isn’t all fun and games, and is a ton of work.

Here are a few facts you should know before you get into PR:

1. You’ll learn a lot about stuff you don’t care about.

If you’re doing PR for your business, that’s great. You get to talk and learn about an industry you’re interested in. Many PR pros, though, do PR for other businesses or even multiple companies. This means they learn all sorts of stuff they never knew before.

When my friend first started in PR, she had no idea she would one day care about taxes, the banking industry and new technology. She had never been interested in those topics before, and would not have learned more about them if she had a choice. However, good PR pros know they have to do the work they’re given, and that they’ll learn to love whatever subject they face.

2. The hours are ridiculous.

You may have some idea of how many hours PR pros work. After all, the job never really stops—you just go to sleep hoping the phone doesn’t ring. A huge crisis could hit at any moment, and just like that you’re back on the clock.

To read the full story, log in.
Become a Ragan Insider member to read this article and all other archived content.
Sign up today

Already a member? Log in here.
Learn more about Ragan Insider.