Why you should consider becoming a PR pro

For today’s new job market entrants, it’s totally normal to have several jobs and careers all at once. Known as the “slash generation”, you see young people who are marketing execs/yoga instructors/DJs—all at once! But for those who have been working for a little while, and have gone a bit further up the food chain, change can be daunting.

There are not many benefits from the COVID-19 crisis, but it has given many people the time, space and courage to really think long and hard about what they are doing. If you have found that the career you are in is not for you—know that there are other options out there.

A career in PR is a great way to use many transferable skills developed across a range of industries in a fun, creative and challenging profession.

PR of course has media relations at its heart, but so many of the skills that we look for in our top people can just as well be found in management consultants, professional services, marketing, recruitment, advertising, technology, education, public sector, business and many more careers with similar transferrable skills.

Are you good with people? Do you have a calm demeanor that can help guide a stressed client through a challenging situation? Are you organized and good at planning? Are you strategic and not afraid to ask difficult questions and challenge the status quo? Do you thrive on meeting new people? Training junior staff? Learning and talking about interesting new companies?

Can you distil a lot of technical information and pull out the key points? Can you write and talk clearly? Are you interested in the world around you, keeping up to date with news and current affairs?

If you can do most, or all of these things—even if you have never spoken to a journalist in your life—then you could well have the makings of a great PR consultant.

After university, all I really wanted was to work in London in the U.K. Lawyer, investment banker, management consultant or “Big Four” accountancy firm, I didn’t mind which. I had not even heard of corporate or financial communications at that point. After two years at Deloitte, I realized my strengths lay in business development, building relationships, talking to clients and consulting.

I cared very little about the technical nature of the job and was not very good at that part of it either. I met a head hunter by chance in a pub who spotted how transferable these skills were to the communications industry and after a few months of interviews I took the plunge, and never looked back. That was 16 years ago.

My story is not unique. But I was lucky—right place right time and all of that. You don’t need to be lucky, you just need to think laterally and get in touch with pro.

You never know, you could have a great new career waiting for you.

Marc Cohen is co-managing director at The PR Office. A version of this originally ran on the PR Office blog.