Educational qualification and personal qualities to enter into PR profession.

What are the educational qualification and personal attributes required for entering a PR field?

Generally, for entering a field of PR, a Bachelors degree in any stream would do but it would be advisable to do this with social science, liberal arts and humanities. There are numerous diploma courses as well as post-graduate courses in this field. Duration of most of the courses is of one year. Apart from the orthodox courses there are also short term certificate courses designed to help students. There are entrance exams conducted by some institutes while other prefers admission on merit basis. These courses mainly cover the areas like public relations principles and techniques, public relations management and administration, including organizational development writing, emphasizing news releases, proposals, annual reports, scripts, speeches, emphasising social science research and survey design and implementation.

As far as personal attributes are concerned the major attribute that you should have is excellent communication skills, both spoken and written so as to express your thoughts clearly and simply. An effective personality and the ability to get along with a wide range of people both inside and outside an organisation are necessary. You should be polite and should not lose patience under pressure. You should not be provocative. You must have good organising ability, as you might have to organise press conferences, lectures, exhibitions and events. Self- confidence and far-sightedness is a key to success. Analytical skills are required to interpret research information and plan activity.