Significant Career Lesson From a Global PR Manager at a Major Footwear Brand
Olivia, a Manager of Global PR, advises that entry-level PR roles typically involve starting as a "PR coordinator," with two main career paths: working in a PR agency for diverse client experience or going "in-house" at a single company, a route Olivia herself took. The choice depends on whether a new graduate has a clear industry preference.
Public Relations, Entry-Level Jobs, Career Paths, Agency vs. In-House, Communications
Advizer Information
Name
Job Title
Company
Undergrad
Grad Programs
Majors
Industries
Job Functions
Traits
Olivia Nelson
Manager, Global PR
Publicly-Owned Footwear Company
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo
N/A
Creative Writing, Journalism
Apparel, Beauty, Retail & Fashion
Communication and Marketing
Greek Life Member
Video Highlights
1. There are two main paths for new graduates in PR: agency and in-house. Agency work exposes you to diverse industries and clients, offering broad learning opportunities and a clear career progression. In-house roles focus on a single company, ideal if you know your target industry.
2. Entry-level roles are commonly titled "PR Coordinator", sometimes including "Communications".
3. Consider your preferences: Agency offers diverse experience, while in-house provides focused industry experience within one company. LinkedIn is a useful resource for finding relevant roles.
Transcript
What entry-level positions are there in this field that an undergraduate college student might consider?
I think there are two main paths a new grad might consider for PR. The first is agency, and I think this is the most common route for a new graduate. For the vast majority of people, this is a really great fit.
When you work for a PR agency as a coordinator, you'll work on a handful of different accounts, and those accounts might be in very different industries. I've found that for new graduates, this is a really great path if you're not quite sure yet what industry you want to be in, or you want exposure to businesses in different spaces and of different sizes. The learning opportunity at an agency is huge.
It's also quite a linear path. Typically at an agency, you start as a coordinator, and in a year or so you move up. In another year, you move up again. I've found that that's a really beneficial path for a lot of new graduates.
Another path to consider, and the way I went, is to go in-house. Rather than working on a variety of clients, you're working for just one business. I went in-house with Oracle on their PR team post-grad. I think that's a really good path if you have a lot of certainty about the industry you want to be in and the type of business you want to work for.
Whether you go agency or in-house, the most common title you would be looking for on LinkedIn is PR coordinator. You might also look for titles that have "communications" in the job title, but PR coordinator is definitely the most common.