1. Most PR people don’t write well. This includes old flacks who’ve been around since Adam announced his snappy new fig leaf attire. If you can explain complicated situations or argue positions in writing, you’ll leapfrog ahead of your peers. Really. Make this a priority.
2. You don’t have exclusive access to this line of work. There are a lot of people who come to the field from journalism, law, marketing, psychology, business, catering, investor relations, event management, human resources, finance, administration, politics or on the advice of their parole officer. Your degree is worth only what your applied skills and intuitiveness make out of it.
3. PR is not the end result of itself. The world is full of facile publicists and tacticians who think the whole point is to pump out materials or get media coverage. It isn’t. If what you’re doing isn’t making a difference — selling the product, improving opinion, increasing the stock price, building support, winning the vote, etc. — then you’re just another flack adding to the clutter. Your entire career will have no more meaning than a sticky note. Strive to be relevant.
4. There’s too much sleaze and falsehood in this business. Decide right now if you’re going to be the kind of person who rationalizes bad behavior, lies to the press, creates fake grassroots organizations or attacks the integrity of people with legitimate issues against your employer or client. You don’t have to sell your soul to be an effective corporate, political or marketing communications specialist.
5. Grunt work and details get you promoted. It’s nice that many PR students study the Tylenol crisis. But most of you will have less dramatic introductions to the profession. You’ll spend your day doing routine research, stuffing envelopes, proof-reading someone else’s material and taking notes at meetings. The sooner you prove that you don’t make mistakes or let things fall through the cracks, the sooner you’ll get thrown into the more interesting deep end. Invest your time in getting good, because most of your peers won't.
Update to this post: One more rule for PR students who still don't quite get it.
(Concocted at the request of Karen Russell at TeachingPR blog.)
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