What is the career path for public relations?

The career path for public relations includes careers in both the promotional and the protective side of public relations. Promotional public relations includes the main job of getting the media to write a positive story about you. Protective public relations includes the job of managing a company's reputation and managing a crisis in a company.

How To Become A Public Relations: What It Is and Career Path

What is a public relations and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted experts

Stefanie Leiter,

Anonymous Professor

Public relations are specialists in building and maintaining a positive public image for the company. They create and maintain relationships with the consumer, employee, and the public interest. You will relate with the marketing and advertising teams to maintain open communication with the management. You will also develop public relations campaigns and media relations strategies that you can edit and use to update the existing promotional material and publications. You will make sure you seek opportunities for partnerships, sponsorships, and advertising. In addition, you will prepare and submit the PR reports to the management.

The educational requirement for the public relations post is a degree in Public Relations, Journalism, Communications, or a related field. Experience in project management software and the ability to edit videos and photos are also handy. Plus, you must be able to work under pressure, have goal-oriented and problem-solving skills. Strong verbal and written communication skills are equally required for the post. You will earn $22.53 an hour or $46,854 annually.

What general advice would you give to a public relations?

Stefanie Leiter

Assistant Professor of Public Relations, Anderson University

My advice is for students to start connecting early via LinkedIn. Years ago, employers looked at GPAs or resumes. Now, they are wondering who you know and what you did to excel in your program before your career.

ScorePublic RelationsUS Average

Salary

3.8

Avg. Salary $48,383

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.3

Growth rate 8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.59%

Asian 5.29%

Black or African American 10.05%

Hispanic or Latino 11.94%

Unknown 5.09%

White 67.04%

Gender

female 63.88%

male 36.12%

Age - 40

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 40

Stress level

7.3

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.8

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a public relations

Explore public relations education requirements

Most common public relations degrees

Bachelor's

75.2 %

Associate

9.3 %

Master's

7.7 %

Start to develop specific public relations skills

Skills	Percentages
Press Releases	22.28%
Web Content	12.42%
Facebook	4.89%
Event Planning	3.78%
Blog Posts	3.63%

Complete relevant public relations training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New public relations learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a public relations based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real public relations resumes.

Research public relations duties and responsibilities

Manage LinkedIn profile updates and new leads.
Manage all copywriting elements for live broadcasts and promotional commercials.
Create an official office page on instagram to facilitate interaction with students.
Track and analyze local talent and trends on social networking sites (MySpace, YouTube).

Prepare your public relations resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your public relations resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a public relations resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable public relations resume templates

Build a professional public relations resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your public relations resume.