ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the roles of public relations (PR) practitioners and looks at what they need to be good at. PR practitioners communicate with many different publics or audiences, in many different ways. The chapter explains the main tasks involved in day to day PR and differences between working in-house for a specific organisation and in a consultancy. PR is carried out in-house, in a consultancy or as a freelance, and skills and experience are regarded more highly than academic qualifications. Bowden-Green carried out research into how Chartered Institute of PR (CIPR) members in the south-west of England practised PR. Ralph Tench and Yeomans suggest looking at adverts for PR jobs to see what employers are looking for. This will give an idea of what skills employers are looking for, whether that is technical knowledge or personal qualities, and what experience and qualifications.
