"Public Relations".
When you Google Image search public relations, you get this:
?
and this
...?
In the cases of those who don't Google Image everything (as I have a tendancy to do), and who watch E! as I most defintely do; public relations most likely brings the following image to mind:
*Picture aquired via Google Images
It is no wonder, really, why I am met with blank stares and looks reflecting mild-to-moderate judgement towards my area of study.
I would like to take a minute to recognize a few responses to the mildly-uncomfortable questions we've covered thus far. These responses not only developed some personal reservations about working in the relations field, they hightened my suspicions that people are generally not intelligent.
In no particular order:
Me: "I'm studying public relations."
MUQA (mildly uncomfortable question asker): My friend Debbie* got her wedding planning lisence in like, a month online. I'll give you her number, you could save a lot in tuition.
Me: "Public relations".
MUQA: "What?"
Me: "I'm in PR."
MUQA: "Oh wow. Do you ever worry about getting AIDS? I could never work with blood!"
I understand that not everyone has a negative (or non-existant) understanding of PR. Most people have heard of the field though few are familiar with all that it includes. Those few who are familiar with public relations have a hard time explaining what we do to small-talk Joe Schmoe. There are countless applications of my intended degree. After many tounge-tied attempts to explain what public relations is, I have drawn up my definition:
PR professions have one hand directing traffic in an organization, and the other on the ground feeling for earthquakes that could damage their client. Public relations deals with communication between groups. More often than not, public relations professionals are the liaisons of communication between their client, whether that be a person or organization, and the groups that benefit them. Networking, image, event planning and use of media all play into the job description.
S. H. Simmons provides my favorite definition:
“If a young man tells his date how handsome, smart and successful he is — that’s advertising. If the young man tells his date she’s intelligent, looks lovely, and is a great conversationalist, he’s saying the right things to the right person and that’s marketing. If someone else tells the young woman how handsome, smart and successful her date is – that’s PR.”
Even the most simplistic definition is not very simple.
Defining pr is child's play compared to explaining to MUQA what I plan to do with my misunderstood degree. This brings us to the climax of the mildly-uncomfortable slew of questions"
"So... what do you plan on doing with that?"
My two remaining years of college are ticking away like a time bomb, counting down to my impending doom of being tossed into the real world. Don't get me wrong, I have big dreams for myself. The problem is, I have too many big dreams for my future. In perfect land, answering the pinacle awkward question would sound something like this-
"The public relations field is exraordinarily broad. I've always been interested in working with large corporations, but my recent employment with a non-profit group has opened my eyes to a whole different aspect of the field."
That girl has her act together, right? Her plan of attack is not yet etched in stone; but she has vision, dammit!
Real-life me sounds more unfortunately like this:
"I don't know, um, school is really fun but work sounds good too. I, um, want an internship in New York. Doing PR. I like doing non-profit, plus I'm good at planning events.. yeah, I don't know."
Ugh. That was rather confusing, you may as well have Google imaged 'public relations'.
The truth is I don't have a post-graduation master plan. I love so many aspects of PR, it is an absolute necessity to explore as many jobs in communications that I can.
*Name changed to avoid uncomfortable follow-up texts
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