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

What is a public relations writer and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

3 min read

Quoted experts

Stefanie Leiter,

Jody McBrien

There is more than meets the eye when it comes to being a public relations writer. For example, did you know that they make an average of $27.18 an hour? That's $56,528 a year! Between 2018 and 2028, the career is expected to grow 8% and produce 22,300 job opportunities across the U.S.

What general advice would you give to a public relations writer?

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 Relations WriterUS Average

Salary

4.4

Avg. Salary $56,528

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 5.35%

Black or African American 10.40%

Hispanic or Latino 12.26%

Unknown 5.12%

White 66.27%

Gender

female 60.54%

male 39.46%

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 writer

Explore public relations writer education requirements

Most common public relations writer degrees

Bachelor's

83.3 %

Master's

10.0 %

Associate

3.4 %

Start to develop specific public relations writer skills

Skills	Percentages
Web Content	21.34%
Internal Newsletter	7.30%
Feature Stories	7.26%
Blog Posts	6.68%
Copywriting	5.81%

Complete relevant public relations writer training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New public relations writers 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 writer based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real public relations writer resumes.

Research public relations writer duties and responsibilities

Manage SEO web developer and occasional writers to fulfill objectives across various projects assign by company owner.
Develop and write content for corporate Facebook pages.
Host Facebook contests to attract more public attention.
Work closely with developers to integrate UI standards into the application and to build intuitive navigation and functionality.

Get public relations writer experience

Generally, it takes 2-4 years to become a public relations writer. The most common roles before becoming a public relations writer include reporter, editor team lead and internship.

Prepare your public relations writer resume

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

Build a professional public relations writer 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 writer resume.

Apply for public relations writer jobs

Now it's time to start searching for a public relations writer job. Consider the tips below for a successful job search:

Browse job boards for relevant postings
Consult your professional network
Reach out to companies you're interested in working for directly
Watch out for job scams

How do public relations writers rate their job?

-/5

5 stars

4 stars

3 stars

2 stars

1 star

Public relations writer reviews

A zippia user wrote a review on Jul 2019

Pros

I learned to read and write at an early age and have avidly pursued it since. Beside school publications and assignments, I've sought out numerous outlets for my love of writing, from features and sports writer for my local weekly news paper, to AP stringer for election coverage, to a Pohlad family internship at one of southeastern Minnesota's most respected dailies.

A zippia user wrote a review on Apr 2019