In a field where who you know is sometimes much more important than what you know, and where trends are pointing to career news directors and reporters being hired into high-profile public relations positions, increasingly obscure and PR-centric titles are becoming less relevant to career advancement and overall success.
At the risk of committing PR blasphemy, I do wonder if the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) Accredited in Public Relations (APR) designation is losing the luster it once had? I'm increasingly concerned that it will slip into oblivion until our profession’s leadership at the national, regional and local level take a more assertive role in advocating for trained practitioners with would-be employers.
Sadly, I write this as a long-time, accredited member of PRSA. While I may eventually let the APR designation slip – I’ve been accredited since 2001 – I will remain a PRSA member until I retire or leave the profession. So, while this will be seen as a critical piece, I will always stay loyal to PRSA, for it is still the profession’s best hope for representation.
It is my desire that through criticism comes an awakening that there is more work to be done at all levels, right down to me. This is work that transcends designations, and focuses more on what we can do as professionals to bring increased credibility to what it means to be a strategic communicator.
I distinctly recall being told over and over again by long-time PRSA members that an APR designation would reap near-instant respect among employers and inch you closer to the top of the applicant stack. In fairness, perhaps I only heard what I wanted to hear. After all, that was 13 years ago and my dreams were slightly grander than what they are now.
Rosy, self-imagined glory aside, my personal journey and that of some of my closest friends in the field is one that points to the APR as an overly-hyped designation that has done little to help one progress through the highly competitive field that is public relations, much less get an interview for a key job.
Let’s face it, bias reigns supreme on most hiring teams seeking their next PR practitioner. While there are still pockets where that bias prefers members who are accredited, I’d argue that it’s becoming increasingly rare. Instead, I’ve been told of entire statewide hospital systems not hiring or even interviewing people who did not have a background as a reporter or news director. That news should send a big message to those of us of the more traditional mindset.
There have been several instances regionally where highly qualified, accredited members were unable to land even a phone interview for positions that ultimately went to a former news director or journalist, or a person from a former big-name employer or city with otherwise similar credentials to the bypassed, accredited practitioner.
Rather than addendums to a name, it’s so much more about landing in the right place at the right time, networking relentlessly, learning leadership skills at a young age, sampling the news industry and embracing diversification from the start – all qualities employers seem to be craving from their PR hires.
In this tough economy and in a field where everyone and their grandmother believes they can excel in PR because they can write or meet a deadline, employers have tremendous latitude and selectivity when picking their next PR leader. Such latitude pushes accreditation titles way down on the list.
Rather than encouraging practitioners to pursue an APR, perhaps we should be pointing them toward a master’s degree instead? Not that they’re mutually exclusive, but if titles and certificates matter to an employer, I’d venture to guess that a master’s degree in business administration will trump an APR every time. So, for example, would a PRSA-sponsored, masters-level scholarship program be a more worthwhile use of resources?
Nothing against my colleagues in the media industry, but if experienced public relations professionals are losing out on key positions, we ultimately have no one else to blame but ourselves. For the profession to not become even more marginalized into an employer’s desire for “positive press” and an over simplification of ROI, we – both collectively and personally – have to be willing to shake things up and become more assertive in defining what it means to be strategic public relations professionals.
Accreditations are still nice to haves, if anything for personal growth, but obviously have little meaning to employers who are looking for the quick fix in a challenging marketplace.
