‘I’m looking for a man in…’ PR!
For the uninitiated, this was a famous Internet meme that circulated in 2024. But I wanted to update the lyrics a bit to explain more about how PR hopefuls can break into the industry.
So, forget being ‘trust fund, six-five, blue eyes’ (and certainly being a man – women make up 60% of PR professionals!). If you can write like a pro, stay afloat of current affairs, be calm in a publicity emergency and juggle lots of different tasks at once, then this industry could be perfect for you.
The paths taken and not taken
There are so many routes into the industry; if you ask ten different PR professionals, they’ll likely tell you ten different things.
But regardless of your entry point, transferable skills and experiences are invaluable, especially with so much cross-over in skills across the wider media landscape.
For example, PR professionals engage with journalists every day when pitching stories and staying in touch with what specific publications are looking to put out. Naturally, lots of PR gurus started out as journalists, providing a killer eye as to what counts as a story versus what would make a journo scroll right past your press release email.
Many other routes, of course, start in education, whether this is completing a dedicated journalism or media degree or a similar qualification in a relevant field. Trade bodies like the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) offer and sponsor a range of specialist qualifications at undergraduate and postgraduate level alongside Continuing Professional Development training and resources for those already in-post. The last few years have also seen increased communications apprenticeships with private businesses and government departments, allowing participants to learn whilst undertaking paid work at the same time.
Getting your foot in the door
Next steps often start small. A short meeting over a cup of coffee can offer invaluable insight into trends in the wider industry as well as how that particular company or organisation fits into the bigger web. Are they part of an in-house communications team? Or, are they part of an agency that consults for other companies? Do they focus on B2B or B2C press? What does that even mean?
You never know what these conversations will lead to – especially with a follow-up connection on LinkedIn, to them and other professionals that they follow. If a job does come up, you won’t just be another random name in a pile of CVs.
Across the wider job market, it has become increasingly difficult to find a role, especially at entry-level. Young people are three times more likely to be unemployed, according to IPPR’s latest research, and over a million young people are out of education or work, the highest in over a decade.
New job vacancies have reached a five-year low, with a lot of firms cautious about new hiring thanks to increased costs, sluggish growth, squeezed budgets and the rise of generative AI. You now need to complete a video interview, attach your CV in a format that AI can read, respond to application questions where the answers are already in your attached CV, complete a proposal, complete another proposal, attend a group interview, attend a private interview, attend an assessment day, wait six months, and offer your firstborn child.
So, as ever, it’s worth doing anything and everything you can to stand out, however small. Look at different entry-level job descriptions under ‘PR Assistant’ or ‘Junior Account Executive’ and see what skills gaps you can fill. Read up on whatever you can about the industry and what the companies in your local area are doing. Email them with a tailored message talking about a campaign they have done recently and ask if you could shadow someone on the team or complete a temporary work experience placement.
The team’s top tips
If you’d asked me what PR was this time last year, I wouldn’t have been able to give you a convincing answer beyond ‘isn’t that like marketing?’. After visiting the office meeting with bClear’s CEO Debbie, I completed two weeks’ work experience and learnt so much about how the team manage their clients and how PR works day-to-day. Fast-forward six months, I’m now working in PR full-time as an Account Executive!
But how did the rest of the team get here, and what would be their advice?:
Ashley Robertson, Junior Account Director: My degree was in journalism but I did some work experience with a PR agency in Cardiff and that opened my eyes to explore a career in PR. Work experience is the best tip I can give. Find an agency local to you and offer your help. It’s a fantastic way to learn how an agency works from the inside. It may provide a future opportunity or at the very least, a reference and something great to add to your CV! I’d also highly recommend a journalism degree for those thinking about PR. It’s a great way to understand the fundamentals of what news is and what makes a good story – which are important skills in PR, as much as they are in journalism.
Debbie Staveley, CEO: I fell into PR by accident after looking for jobs in marketing. I was recommended internal communications by a recruitment consultant, with the brief that there were 1100 people in three different locations in a division of RBS, that everyone was unhappy with communication and I was asked if I could sort it. Of course the answer was yes and that started my career as a communications professional. Two years later I moved into PR and external communications at B&W and Bank of Ireland. I went back to university at the same time and gained a postgraduate diploma in PR, then started bClear Communications four years later.
My advice for anyone starting out is ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’. PR is a great profession where you can really affect the reputation and success of the companies you work with. The key to success is passion, enthusiasm and determination, while making the effort to specialise and be the best you can be will always pay dividends.
Adrian Jones, Client Services Director: I spent seven years in journalism, and was curious to see what life is like on the other side of the fence! I’ve never looked back, but that grounding in journalism and understanding what makes a good story has served me well throughout my career.
Thomas Hale, Junior Account Manager: Coming out of university, I wasn’t 100% sure where an English degree would take me. I knew I liked the skills I had used – researching, writing, crafting narratives – but wasn’t sure if I’d ever have the chance to utilise them. Scrambling for a role, I somewhat fell into PR (starting in automotive) and soon realised, by happy accident, that I could use these skills after all!
There are so many different options for getting started in PR and many different paths under the PR umbrella. The sector is growing, but it needs to better represent the country we live in whilst is continues to grow. Despite making up 60% of the industry, only 47% of PR’s directors are women, according to the CIPR’s 2025 PR Population Report.
Whatever your background, if you resonate with the key skills and values, PR wants you!
Written by: Madeleine Browne
Madeleine Browne graduated from Cambridge with a degree in English Literature and a ton of extracurricular experience. Entering the outside world, she found the job market borderline impossible, requiring experience to get experience and full automated rejection emails (if you were lucky enough to get a response at all).
After six months of searching, Maddy and bClear discovered each other and she came in for work experience. She was far too brilliant to let her leave and she came back as interim Office Manager, which led to a promotion as a PR Account Executive!
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