Public Relations Specialists
Skills & Knowledge
Most Important Skills for Public Relations Specialists
- Being Aware of Others—Being aware of others' reactions and understanding why they react as they do.
- Speaking—Talking to others to convey information effectively.
- Coordinating with Others—Adjusting actions in relation to others' actions.
- Listening—Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
- Making Decisions—Considering the relative costs and benefits of potential actions to choose the most appropriate one.
- Managing Time—Managing one's own time and the time of others.
- Reading—Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.
- Thinking Critically—Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
- Writing—Communicating effectively in writing as appropriate for the needs of the audience.
- Learning New Things—Understanding the implications of new information for both current and future problem-solving and decision-making.
Most Important Knowledge Areas for Public Relations Specialists
- Communications and Media—Knowledge of media production, communication, and dissemination techniques and methods. This includes alternative ways to inform and entertain via written, oral, and visual media.
- English Language—Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
- Sales and Marketing—Knowledge of principles and methods for showing, promoting, and selling products or services. This includes marketing strategy and tactics, product demonstration, sales techniques, and sales control systems.
- Customer and Personal Service—Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
- Clerical—Knowledge of administrative and clerical procedures and systems such as word processing, managing files and records, stenography and transcription, designing forms, and other office procedures and terminology.
- Administration and Management—Knowledge of business and management principles involved in strategic planning, resource allocation, human resources modeling, leadership technique, production methods, and coordination of people and resources.
- Sociology and Anthropology—Knowledge of group behavior and dynamics, societal trends and influences, human migrations, ethnicity, cultures and their history and origins.
- Computers and Electronics—Knowledge of circuit boards, processors, chips, electronic equipment, and computer hardware and software, including applications and programming.
- Education and Training—Knowledge of principles and methods for curriculum and training design, teaching and instruction for individuals and groups, and the measurement of training effects.
- Mathematics—Knowledge of arithmetic, algebra, geometry, calculus, statistics, and their applications.
Interests
Different careers may be a good fit for your personality or interests. This career is:
- Enterprising—Enterprising occupations frequently involve starting up and carrying out projects. These occupations can involve leading people and making many decisions. Sometimes they require risk taking and often deal with business.
- Artistic—Artistic occupations frequently involve working with forms, designs and patterns. They often require self-expression and the work can be done without following a clear set of rules.
Learn more about your interests. Take the MnCareers Interest Assessment.
Describe Your Skills
People who have worked in this career typically perform the following tasks.
These statements can help a prospective employer understand what you can do, on a resume or during an interview.
- Collecting information from different sources.
- Communicating with people outside your organization.
- Communicating with supervisors, co-workers, or people that work under you.
- Using computers.
- Thinking creatively.
- Creating and maintaining interpersonal relationships.
- Developing objectives and creating strategies to achieve them.
- Keeping up-to-date with new knowledge.
Careers that Use Similar Skills
The following careers use skills, knowledge, and abilities that are similar to those used for Public Relations Specialists.
View more careers in the Marketing, Sales, and Service cluster
View more careers in the Marketing Communications pathway
This page includes information from the O*NET 24.2 Database by the U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration (USDOL/ETA). Used under the CC BY 4.0 license. O*NET® is a trademark of USDOL/ETA.
Source: You can learn about our data sources in the About Us section.
