Pre-Public Relations Reflection

Public relations is huge field comprised of many different aspects, or at least I think it is. To be honest, I do not know very much about public relations at all.

I am currently a senior at Grand Valley State University but I did not become an Advertising and Public Relations major until my junior year, so I have not taken many advertising or public relations courses yet. Most of the courses I have taken have been general education courses or basic advertising courses, and had little to do with public relations. I hope I learn more about the many aspects of public relations in this course and the rest of my public relations courses here at Grand Valley.

What I do know about public relations is that it involves a lot of communication. Many companies have public relation departments to communicate their services, products, or goals and desires with the public. Public relations makes sure companies maintain a professional and good name for themselves.

In one of my past classes, my professor invited a public relations professional working at Spectrum Health in Grand Rapids to our class. She told us about her job history and how for one of her public relations jobs, she had to travel often. She had to travel with professionals from her company to press conferences and meetings and make sure they said the right things. She explained that a big part of her job was making sure her company was represented well.

Also, a huge part of public relations are integrated communication plans. From my experience, these plans are made up of the marketing and advertising objectives, media and advertising strategies, and goals of a company.

What I don’t know about public relations is what it all entails. I am interested in learning what the main jobs and responsibilities are of people working in public relations. I would like to know if these jobs and responsibilities differ from company to company, or if they are generally the same. Also, if one person normally handles all of these responsibilities or if different people are hired for each responsibility.

I am also interested in learning how public relations jobs differ from advertising jobs. Though I am an Advertising and Public Relations major, my emphasis is in advertising, so most of my classes are advertising, not public relations. I hope this class will teach me the differences and similarities between the two careers.

I also hope to learn how one obtains a career in public relations. I want to know the general job requirements of public relation careers, such as the required abilities and experience candidates must have. I also am interested in learning the average salary and benefits of public relation and advertising careers.

Overall, I would say I know a little bit about public relations, though I am not all that sure that what I think I know, is actually correct. There is a lot I need to learn about public relations and I have a ton of questions but I look forward to getting most, if not all of them, answered during this class.