People are vital to communications. Not only do they make up the audiences marketeers try to reach, but they are often the sole ‘asset’ a communications team or agency has.
Given this fact – and that the number one concern to big agency owners is recruiting the right people (according to Hill & Knowlton‘s Sally Costerton) – it was disappointing that not more employers joined the hundred or so students at the ‘Education in Public Relations’ debate at the University of Westminster.
Plenty of arguments were made in favour of PR degrees as a route to provide practical experience and theoretical knowledge of the industry. And while there is still a job to do to sell these degrees to employers, it seems that the PRCA-approved PR degrees will provide a return on student’s investment.
Which is all well and good. But if the majority of your PR degree students come from a background where they can afford tuition fees and want to spend three years at university, this is going to make for very small pickings in the diversity stakes.
As Richard Ellis from the PRCA pointed out at the debate, 94% of PRs are white. And 89% are graduates. You don’t need a degree in anything to tell you that an industry which is so selective will struggle to understand the very audiences it tries to communicate with.
Take me for instance. I can tell you how to appeal to Coventry City fans. Or what 34 year olds may be concerned about. I have a pretty decent understanding of what appeals to gay men (well, not all gay men). And what concerns Kentish Town residents and homeowners. Why – because I belong to each of these ‘tribes’.
As I am a communications professional, I can also tell you what appeals to readers, viewers and listeners of the media (well, what journalists think appeals to their audiences). I can extend this to some creative digital and broadcast channels and through career experience add an understanding of older people, younger people and some other socio-demographic groups. I can also work with partner organisations who know more than me to reach audiences – or conduct research to help me understand groups I don’t know enough about.
But in an age where we are seeing the ‘democratisation of everything‘ and where immediate, social, interaction is becoming increasingly important in communications, there is nothing which can compare to belonging to a ‘tribe’ to intuitively understand how to communicate with the audience.
The PR Paths to Success - email simon@simonfrancis.org if you'd like a higher-resolution version
This is even more important for junior recruits who do not yet have the career experience to rely on. Yet in belt-tightening and social times, these juniors are increasingly used to come up with creative tactics, brainstorm ways to reach people and actually stand on the virtual front line – having to communicate directly with members of the public.
Therefore, diversity in recruitment is vital. And it was disappointing that, while the PRCA pledged at the Westminster debate to start developing an Apprenticeship in PR, more is not being done to encourage a diverse workforce.
So, rather than just talk about it, here is my chart setting out how a PR agency or communications team could re-structure its entry level training and recruitment to broaden its diversity and ensure there are many ways to enter the profession.
Please debate it, use it or contact me to discuss it with you!
Ramblings Of A PR 
Bob
08/11/2011
Interesting point of view. I’m from the U.S., so I can’t comment specifically on the patterns you see in the U.K., but there are some similarities. That said, I will center my comments on diversity in the U.S. public relations community. There is none. The vast majority of professionals are what a female client of mine once called, “skinny girls in black suits.” The number of men has dropped significantly since I joined the profession. Yet, the call for diversity in the profession still presumes we need more young, white women with PR degrees! Some will make the “glass ceiling” argument, but that holds less and less water these days.
As for education, to attract any sort of competent work force, you must require a four-year college degree, though after 30 years in the business I am still not sold on PR majors. We actually could use more people with business, political science, economics, science and education/teaching degrees. Of course, I would not limit it there. The communications specialty could call for a life sciences background, for example.
On the ethnic diversity issue, in the U.S., it’s difficult to comment on the pool of candidates. Truth is, the pool of those interested in PR is not very diverse. Mostly white women. And if you just look at the hiring patterns, white women hire white women in the largest numbers. This is no different than in years past when white men tended to hire white men when they were the majority of the business. And yes, I’ve worked with some creative shops owned by gay men and women, and like everyone else, they tend to hire more people like themselves than from dissimilar backgrounds.
My point is, no one group is any more resistent to diversity than the next. We all tend to hire people who look like us, act like us and think like us. It just so happens that right now, the PR business is largely controlled by white females, and it shows.
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01/02/2014
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