You Know You Work in PR When…

You Know You Work in PR When…

By Laura Baumann, Intern

It takes a certain kind of person to thrive in PR. If you read any PR job posting you will find that to work in this industry you need to be “detail oriented, a multi-tasker, organized and an excellent writer.” As a college senior, preparing for my last year of school I often wonder about my future career. Yes, to work in PR you must embody those traits, but excelling at PR is so much more than the qualities you possess. Somewhere between the countless media lists, client phone calls, and bottomless cups of coffee we PR pros find our niche in the PR world. In celebration of the holiday (and a little help from prdaily.com) I’ve decided to dedicate my blog post to some of my favorite habits of a PR pro and the often humorous behaviors that bond us as an industry.
How do you know if you’re a PR professional?

1. You justify new clothing and accessories by telling yourself and others that you are “in the image business.”
2. Your day starts and ends with a cup of coffee.
3. You see a celebrity or politician on TV and can tell whether they’ve had media training or not.
4. You are so used to putting the client first that you usually forget to eat lunch.
5. You scrutinize every single word you write. Yes, there is a difference between “over” and “more than!”
6. It’s detrimental to your health and workday when you forget your headphones.
7. You can toggle among a PowerPoint presentation, a press release, Twitter strategy, and PSA outlines—all in an hour.
8. You find yourself using acronyms nobody outside of PR understands.
9. You proudly put “PR pro” in your Twitter bio, knowing it’s the one place you don’t have to explain your job.
10. You rely on to-do lists to get you through your day, but often don’t get to cross anything off until 4 p.m.
11. You check your Smartphone before brushing your teeth.
12. You are incredibly grateful for “unlimited” data plans. Smart phones have changed your professional (and personal) life forever.
13. You think and speak in 140 characters or less.
14. Your friends and family think you attend awards shows and after parties all day long. (No, our lives are NOT that glamorous).
15. When the day is over you prefer the solitude of complete and utter silence to any and every other alternative. Silence IS truly golden.