Interview with PR Practitioner

Leeds Metropolitan graduate Laura Miller has landed herself a top job after studying a four year course in Public Relations.

After graduating in July 2010, Laura is working in her first PR job, where she is the Communications Officer for South Yorkshire Police. In this role, Laura works to undergo all communications, both proactive and reactive, within Barnsley. She plans and implements campaigns, as well as working with South Yorkshire Police partners. Working within the police calls for a lot of crisis and internal communications, allowing Laura to put into practise the skills she learnt at University.

To date, Laura is particularly proud of the Christmas alcohol campaign in which she led across all public sectors within Barnsley. The campaign, that is making the public aware of the problems alcohol can bring, is continuing to be a success.

Laura enjoys that fact that not one day is the same within her job, especially in the police, there is no way you can predict what jobs will you have day in and day out. However, Public Relations isn’t for everyone. It was only until Laura researched the course after visiting open days that she decided it was what she wanted to do. She claims the placement opportunities she gained, particularly her year out in the NHS, were what cemented in her mind that this was the career for her.

Working in in-house Public Relations, her clients are mainly her work colleagues which can be from different areas of the organisation. People such as SNT staff, CID and response officers are members of the Police in which are useful to Laura’s work. The public sector is much different from the private. Laura stated that her placement within University, where she worked for the NHS, decided that this is the area in which she could see herself working. However, Laura does have experience in other fields which she gained at University.

Laura doesn’t believe she was lucky in obtaining her position so soon after gaining. She believes with the right experience, along with a good degree, a recent graduate stands a good chance of getting a future job. She does firmly believe however that it is a combination of both experience and knowledge, and argues that without experience working in the PR industry people will struggle.

According to Laura, it is not the case that you get paid more if you live in London when working within PR. Salaries can vary from £16,000 to £25,000 for graduates, a good sum for those who have the experience and knowledge to work well within the roles.

It is debated today by practitioners in the PR world that Public Relations has overtaken Journalism. Laura believes they are two separate industries, but without one and other they would not succeed. She believes journalism is changing as it is now easier to publish anything. However, she believes PR has shifted from concentrating on traditional media to more blogs and social media sites. It is this shift that keeps the industry more exciting than others.

In the future Laura hopes to become a recognised and successful PR practitioner. Her advice to anyone studying Public Relations is to get as much experience as possible.