Pursuing career in public relations

Every year a large chunk of graduates entering the job market are not getting suitable jobs they deserve as per their merit or remaining unemployed. Currently 47 per cent graduates in Bangladesh are unemployed, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU), a special report of the reputed British magazine Economist. There is a pressure on the economy in the area of creation of new jobs. Until we figure out a long-term solution, we need to fully explore and understand the existing scopes and options which can reduce frustration of the unemployed or underemployed graduates and create employment opportunities.
In many cases, graduates especially from Business Studies are thinking of trying in the areas of FMCG and banking sector. But apart from adhering to one or two sectors, a person has many windows of opportunity open to build their career. For example, none thought of sports such as cricket as a career 15 years back. But building career in sports allows you to shine brighter and earn many times what you can earn by doing a job in a short period of time.
'Public relation' widely known as 'PR' is another sector in Bangladesh that is not fully explored in terms of building career for a graduate. PR started its journey from the beginning of 1900s by the founder father of PR, Edward Luis Bernays. Public relations are the management of communication between an organisation and its clients. PR is becoming extremely popular nowadays as a good alternative to advertising. It is less expensive as well.
American business magnet Bill Gates has said: "If I was down to the last dollar of my marketing budget, I'd spend it on PR!" The founder of Virgin Group, Sir Richard Branson, has said: "Publicity is absolutely critical. A good PR story is infinitely more effective than a front page ad." This tells us how important PR is and how it is notably different from conventional advertising.
If we have a look at the global picture, then we can conclude in favour of the statement that PR is an exciting career to pursue. Out of the top-5 globally renowned PR agencies, 4 of them are from the United States. They are Edelman, Weber Shandwick, FleishmanHillard, and Ketchum. The fifth one in the list is MSL Group from France. All of these agencies have more than 50 offices worldwide and employ around 15,000 people across the globe. The rate of employment and growth of these agencies in this industry are very promising. All of them have worked with major clients.
Some of the major Bangladeshi PR agencies have started their journey by their own and few of them are associated with the global agencies. Most importantly, each of the industry players is growing every year. PR is a relationship-oriented business and the firm that quickly understands the importance of it is sure to get a premeditated advantage over its competitors.
The primary growth factor of PR lies in the growth of our traditional and non-traditional media platforms. Currently there are around 25 national newspapers both in Bangla and English, more than 20 TV channels, more than 5 online news portals and around 10 radio stations operating in Bangladesh. These media houses have created ample working opportunities for general graduates and graduates who have specialised in journalism, mass communication, business administration, fine arts etc. These media houses also have widened the prospect for the PR industry in Bangladesh. Media houses require news to publish/air/broadcast and PR agencies support them by providing with the updates and news of their clients.
A good PR can wipe out the need of advertising both above the line and below the line. Both the employment and learning opportunities in PR agencies are satisfactory for the fresh graduates. Companies both local and international operating in Bangladesh have been recognising the indispensible need of PR communication and management since the beginning of PR in Bangladesh.
Another demand driver for PR communication industry is that many companies nowadays are investing less or no money in advertising and are investing heavily on PR communication processes. PR communication includes PR planning, media management, media mapping, copywriting, client servicing and relationship management with clients and media, monitoring and analysing performance and providing market intelligence as well.
Due to intensified competition and media clutter, diverting promotions towards PR is a good choice. It allows promoting the service or product aimed at the precise target market and creating a valuable impact. Many companies nowadays are not going for any television commercials but asking for their CSR activities to be highlighted in the proper media vehicles so that the target market can get attracted. A good focus through PR media on the initiatives taken by any particular organisation can create a long-lasting impact on a customer mind rather than a 90-second television/radio commercial.
As clients are diverting attention towards PR communication, this industry needs graduates in copywriting, servicing, creative thinking, negotiating, relationship management, strategic planning, analysing and other departments. A healthy PR agency has a good copywriter who writes for the clients keeping the media pulse in mind, a good strategist/planner who can plan effectively for both short term and long term so that the client needs are satisfied, a negotiator/lobbyist who can gather intelligence, debate and negotiate with media and government stakeholders to uphold his/her clients' interest.
Pursuing career in PR is undoubtedly exciting. It gives one an opportunity to think from different perspectives and serve the clients' purpose. Moreover, a PR job gives comparatively more flexibility than a corporate job. PR executives sometimes need to interact with people from different backgrounds. He/she has to maintain a rapport with a reporter to even a managing director of a company. This thrilling job earns you multi-tasking skills that help one executive carry out his/her daily tasks and simultaneously plan about the future scopes for the clients to put the clients in the strategic driving seat that facilitates the clients to enjoy a calculated advantage over its contenders.
This job, especially for executives serving in the client service and media relations department, needs frequent travelling, which is quite adventurous. In order to attend and organise different events, executives/PR professionals need to travel intercity and inter district. Adequate trainings are provided to PR professionals from the organisations so that they can develop the skills swiftly and reduce the response time. Understanding the clients' aspiration and media thump is very important for doing something brilliant in this industry. The scope of growth is also very satisfying in this particular industry. Anyone willing to show outstanding performance is sure to climb the designation ladder and benefit from this.
As the marketing gurus say, PR is more effective than advertising which is another reason for organisations to divert attention towards PR. To develop the penchant for PR, this particular topic should be in more focus in the curriculums, discussions and projects of journalism, mass communication and business administration. Adequate prior knowledge in this field will add value to the graduates and allow them to place themselves in the right departments of PR communication industry. Lastly, with the advent of digital media, PR communication gets another layer to grow, which is safe to say that PR is here to stay and graduates should consider its merits for building a career in a PR agency.
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