Essential Soft Skills for the Modern PR Professional
How can new public relations professionals accelerate their careers?
To accelerate their careers, new public relations professionals must proactively offer solutions to leadership, maintain a real-time ledger of quantitative results, and explicitly prioritize their mental and physical well-being by proactively scheduling paid time off.
At ICON, I had the opportunity to lead a discussion on the “New PR Professional Soft Skills Guide.” It’s a presentation I recently developed after spending the last two years reflecting on my career journey before launching Chasing the Sun. Here are a few quick takeaways from the session.
- Keep an active resume of accomplishments. It’s easier to update your resume and LinkedIn profile in real-time, not just when you’re looking for a new job.
- How? Schedule one hour every month to write down all your accomplishments. Focus on writing your accomplishments using a Situation, Action, Result approach that shows quantitative impact (when applicable).
- You’re hired to help solve problems. Lean in and offer solutions proactively by showing your critical thinking skills.
- How? Instead of saying to your manager, “I need your help. I don’t know what to do,” say, “I’d love your thoughts before I go forward with solving this problem. I think we need to solve it by doing XYZ. Do you agree?”
- Volunteer on a board of directors for a non-profit, allowing you to gain insights into running businesses.
- How? Start with a topic you’re passionate about, and identify local organizations that align with those values. Reach out and ask how you can get involved!
- Prioritize your well-being.
- How? One quick way to do so is to schedule your time off proactively. I encourage my clients and workshop participants to take at least one week off every six months, an extended weekend every quarter, and a day or half-day off every month.
My final piece of advice: one of the endless benefits of joining PRSA is the opportunity to learn from each other. Ask any member for advice for starting your career, and you will hear endless examples of valuable thoughts to take with you on your journey!