Public relations professional - career development

As a public relations professional, you’ll manage the image and reputation of an organisation or person, giving a positive representation to consumers, businesses and the public. Learn more about a career in public relations and what you’ll need to study and do to get a role.

Find out how you'll build skills and experience below.

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How will your public relations professional career progress?

Career development in PR depends on your experience. If you work at a PR agency and demonstrate success with a few clients, you should find you’re given more clients to look after.

As a graduate, you’ll probably start out as a junior account executive (agency) or a PR assistant (in-house). After a couple of years, you may find that you’re promoted to account executive or PR officer.

Self-employment is always an option later in your career once you’ve built up your experience and contact base. You could work as a freelance consultant or set up your own firm.

What opportunities are there for career development?

Some larger firms have in-house training programmes for new starters. These organisations may also offer continuing professional development (CPD) courses.

Some external courses and programmes are run by professional bodies. These courses may be run by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR), the Henshall Centre or the London School of Public Relations (LSPR).

You could also look to join the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM).

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