What does a public affairs assistant do?
Public Affairs Assistants can enjoy a salary of around $44K per year and requires a bachelor's degree in either marketing, journalism, public relations, or communications, as well as work experience in public affairs or related positions. Skill-wise, one must have experience in drafting press release materials, coordinating press meets and other events, applying knowledge of marketing and advertising strategies, and understanding social media to be successful. This position will mandate the provision of public relations departmental support through filing, copying, answering the phone, assembly of press kits, customer surveys, and social media content to customers, and conducting media research.
Public affairs assistant responsibilities
Here are examples of responsibilities from real public affairs assistant resumes:
- Manage alumni database, and communication with other departments and alumni.
- Work on the park's social media platforms including Facebook.
- Provide copywriting ideas for ads, as well as, edit all agency-written communications.
- Assist in the development, creation, and maintenance of the U.S. Embassy's website, Facebook and YouTube pages.
- Develop, and maintain @ america intranet SharePoint website.
- Establish a development account to support multicultural scholarship opportunities for students.
- Create sales PowerPoint presentations, proof and assemble marketing materials, arrange domestic and international travel and conferences.
- Develop new and innovative services and programs design for a multicultural student population and to educate the CCBC community.
- Develop PowerPoint presentations; organize and reconcile shared drive templates, database, and files; coordinate records management binders.
- Gather information & initiate necessary paper work for post mortem examinations by analyzing decedent medical records under HIPAA and JCAHO requirements.
- Work with the Latino community and provide info on city services and programs
- Provide personal and academic support for racial and ethnic minority students.
Public affairs assistant skills and personality traits
We calculated that 14% of Public Affairs Assistants are proficient in Data Entry, Public Affairs, and Press Releases. They’re also known for soft skills such as Interpersonal skills, Organizational skills, and Problem-solving skills.
We break down the percentage of Public Affairs Assistants that have these skills listed on their resume here:
- Data Entry, 14%
Created monthly publicity reports, formatted community calendars and performed data entry.
- Public Affairs, 14%
Performed public affairs and administrative tasks for communications department in a 50,000 member private, non-profit lobbying organization on Capitol Hill.
- Press Releases, 12%
Prepared press releases for public dissemination, developed training materials for community organizations.
- Event Planning, 5%
Provided Administrative assistant with HR functions, I-9s, personnel matters and event planning.
- FDA, 4%
Maintain chronologies of correspondence with the FDA and international regulatory agencies in accordance with internal Standard Operating Procedure.
- Administrative Tasks, 3%
Performed and assisted Director of Regulatory Affairs with administrative tasks.
"data entry," "public affairs," and "press releases" are among the most common skills that public affairs assistants use at work. You can find even more public affairs assistant responsibilities below, including:
Interpersonal skills. The most essential soft skill for a public affairs assistant to carry out their responsibilities is interpersonal skills. This skill is important for the role because "public relations specialists deal with the public and the media regularly." Additionally, a public affairs assistant resume shows how their duties depend on interpersonal skills: "coordinated interpersonal communication and cover community relations and outreach events, including interviews. "
Organizational skills. Another essential skill to perform public affairs assistant duties is organizational skills. Public affairs assistants responsibilities require that "public relations specialists are often in charge of managing several events or communications at the same time, which requires excellent skills in coordinating arrangements." Public affairs assistants also use organizational skills in their role according to a real resume snippet: "increase organizational awareness by 35%, increasing command facebook page membership by 312 members in a two-year period. "
Problem-solving skills. public affairs assistants are also known for problem-solving skills, which are critical to their duties. You can see how this skill relates to public affairs assistant responsibilities, because "public relations specialists sometimes must explain how a company or client is handling sensitive issues." A public affairs assistant resume example shows how problem-solving skills is used in the workplace: "resolved department of insurance complaints *managed the kansas, missouri and federal political action committee (pac) accounts. "
Speaking skills. A big part of what public affairs assistants do relies on "speaking skills." You can see how essential it is to public affairs assistant responsibilities because "public relations specialists regularly speak on behalf of clients or their organization." Here's an example of how this skill is used from a resume that represents typical public affairs assistant tasks: "created and delivered press releases, media relations content, corporate newsletter content, social media content and speaking proposals. "
Writing skills. Another common skill required for public affairs assistant responsibilities is "writing skills." This skill comes up in the duties of public affairs assistants all the time, as "public relations specialists must be able to write well-organized and clear press releases, speeches, and social media posts." An excerpt from a real public affairs assistant resume shows how this skill is central to what a public affairs assistant does: "research and completion of writing assignments including press releases and articles for external publications. "
The three companies that hire the most public affairs assistants are:
- Belcan1 public affairs assistants jobs
- TAD PGS1 public affairs assistants jobs
- Kaiser Permanente1 public affairs assistants jobs
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Compare different public affairs assistants
Public affairs assistant vs. Account coordinator
An account coordinator assists account executives by providing day-to-day administrative support such as preparing and filing sales contracts and reports. As coordinators, they must maintain a good relationship with their clients and vendors by addressing issues and with regular communication. Account coordinators must possess essential skills such as a strong business administration background, adept at both written and verbal communication, and excellent time management. They are also responsible for researching prospective clients and produce client feedbacks to their account management teams.
These skill sets are where the common ground ends though. The responsibilities of a public affairs assistant are more likely to require skills like "public affairs," "fda," "veterans," and "sharepoint." On the other hand, a job as an account coordinator requires skills like "customer service," "account management," "project management," and "account executives." As you can see, what employees do in each career varies considerably.
The education levels that account coordinators earn slightly differ from public affairs assistants. In particular, account coordinators are 4.7% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree than a public affairs assistant. Additionally, they're 0.9% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Public affairs assistant vs. Media coordinator
A media coordinator acts as a communications professional in charge of developing and implementing target communications and advertising for various media platforms. Media coordinators plan, implement, and monitor the social media strategy of an organization. They discern the most successful media outreach and establish advertising partnerships and business deals. They aim to increase their respective companies' brand awareness, strengthen their advertising campaigns, improve their marketing strategies, and increase their sales.
In addition to the difference in salary, there are some other key differences worth noting. For example, public affairs assistant responsibilities are more likely to require skills like "data entry," "public affairs," "fda," and "administrative tasks." Meanwhile, a media coordinator has duties that require skills in areas such as "instagram," "digital marketing," "social media marketing," and "social platforms." These differences highlight just how different the day-to-day in each role looks.
Media coordinators earn similar levels of education than public affairs assistants in general. They're 3.5% less likely to graduate with a Master's Degree and 0.9% less likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.What technology do you think will become more important and prevalent for public affairs assistants in the next 3-5 years?
Stefanie Leiter
Assistant Professor of Public Relations, Anderson University
Public affairs assistant vs. Media specialist
Media specialists are individuals who establish and administer content on various social media platforms. The job involves monitoring site metrics, overseeing creative design, and responding to reader comments. Specialists offer advice to administrators and teachers on the use of non-print social media. They work for huge enterprises with multimedia departments, new media departments, and in-house websites. The skills the job requires include trend awareness, social media ads, community management, strong visual aesthetic, and understanding SEO.
The required skills of the two careers differ considerably. For example, public affairs assistants are more likely to have skills like "data entry," "public affairs," "event planning," and "fda." But a media specialist is more likely to have skills like "digital marketing," "video production," "customer service," and "web content."
Media specialists typically earn similar educational levels compared to public affairs assistants. Specifically, they're 1.1% more likely to graduate with a Master's Degree, and 0.6% more likely to earn a Doctoral Degree.Public affairs assistant vs. Social media internship
In a social media internship, the primary role is to take part in managing a brand's social media platforms for public relations. One of their primary duties is to craft informative and captivating content while under the supervision and guidelines of a manager or supervisor. Furthermore, there may also be instances where an intern must participate in devising strategies that would bring more public recognition to the brand, such as social media campaigns to boost sales and improve client base.
Types of public affairs assistant
Updated January 8, 2025
