The Indispensable Role of Today's Public Relations Pro

As we enter 2015, the importance of public relations today can not be underestimated. And for aspiring PR pros this is especially relevant to keep in mind.   Public relations is essential to a functioning of society and its enterprises. Public relations is crucial in building trust with people who have a vital stake in an organization’s operations and success. And public relations is an important mechanism in helping organizations, including governments, effectively carry out their missions and responsibilities.

Fasten your seatbelts. As the next generation of public relations professionals proceed with their academic studies in public relations, it is useful to consider these facts about the role of today’s practitioners.

• PR practitioners are no longer gatekeepers between their companies and the media. PR professionals are activists seeking to engage, enlighten, and energize an organization’s many stakeholders.

• PR professionals advocate not just for their organizations but also for their organization’s constituents and stakeholders, which adds the important role of presenting the stakeholders interests and views to management.

• PR practitioners also serve as strategic content developers and storytellers, helping their organizations formulate key messages that are resonant with the corporate culture and nature of the organization.

• PR practitioners help an organization build mutual trust by encouraging transparency and integrity throughout the organization.

• PR practitioners are counselors who actively advise and guide organizations in honestly communicating and behaving in the best interests of society and constituents such as customers, employees, shareholders, and the communities in which they operate.

• PR professionals are enablers and connectors, helping organizations stay grounded, stay human, and stay sensitive to the needs and desires of their communities. In essence, the role of today’s public relations practitioner is akin to being the conscience of the organization, being ever vigilant to ensuring that the organization is “doing the right thing.”

Terms of "Undearment" -- Words You Should Strike from Your Career Content

In this age of personal branding and virtual knowledge, we all struggle with how to best describe our value, and the talents and abilities we bring to the party. And as we know instinctively, no amount of hyperbole or word inflation will mask our true character to people we know and who know us. Honesty, authenticity, and simplicity are the rules of the day when it comes to describing ourselves, our values and, most important, our value.

With this in mind, I have taken some time to enumerate words and phrases that should be eliminated from our lexicon and the written words in profiles and resumes. The envelope, please:

“Seasoned.” The word may be analogous to long experience, but let’s face it, you are not a piece of meat or fish. It’s a good word to use in gastronomy but not to describe your experience, value, accomplishments and career track record. A better alternative is “experienced,” “tested,” “accomplished,” or “veteran.”

“Results Driven.” The sad fact is that the term “results driven” has been overused and abused. Everyone is results driven and many hiring managers now look askance at the term. So don’t use it. A better alternative may be “focused on accomplishing the task at hand,” “focused on achieving business objectives,” or “driven by strategy and business goals.”

 

“Team player.” It is a given. Unless you are not working, virtually every job requires people to work in teams or at least with one other person. And hiring managers tend to assume that if you have been successful at a job that you are able to work well with others. Possible ways of indicating that you are a team player, is to use terms like “diplomatic,” “tactful,” “able to excel under high pressure,” and “patient and resilient.” Another surefire method is to actually describe a project where you led a successful team. Keep it short, sweet, and succinct.

"Proven." Proven is an important descriptive word to employ but by itself is an empty promise.  If you have a skill that has been verified in practice, give evidence. Tell a brief story of the “proven” attribute. An example might be “led a team of 13 people in the successful development of an application to automate the validation of source code, ” or “managed a team of six to produce the company’s 48-page annual report to shareholders, which was awarded a ‘Best of Annual’ award by the IR1 Association.”

“Top flight.” Generally a term of performance, “top flight” connotes “high achiever,” “top caliber,” or “pinnacle of human performance.” If in fact you are at the top rank in your profession, say it in a way that is evidentiary, such as, “recognized as the top Hadoop coder by XYZ company for ‘project take off,’” or “awarded an LMN Award for best critical business writing.” In this way you have given demonstrable qualification of your skill set.

 
“Self Starter.” Unless you are the new Nissan Leaf, leave the term behind. Hiring managers and HR folks want visible proof. Simply saying it is not sufficient. Like a defendant, you need to present the evidence in the form of an impeccable statement like, “initiated the revamp of the widget manufacturing process that save the company 20% on raw material costs.” You get the idea.
 

 
“Perfectionist.” Gold at 24 carats is pure gold and perfect. We all strive for perfection, but no one is perfect. So lose the term and describe what value you bring to the table instead of the word “perfectionist.”

 
“Flexible.” Unless you are made of neoprene, provng flexibility could be painful. If, however, your thinking is flexible and you are able to easily adapt to changing environments or new conditions, you will likely want to visibly show how you have done so. Here is an example:  “developed successful strategy for communicating last minute CEO transition that resulted in favorable news coverage and a sustained share price.” 

“Trustworthy.” If you are pledging for the next rank in Boy Scouts, “trustworthy” is worthy. However, on a resume, it could beg the question. Another way of demonstrating trust is to note that you have previously held a security clearance from the Government (If you have) or simply to not worry about it unless you are applying for a job where it is an essential requirement such as “security officer” or “bank teller.” The fact is, unless the job is in the “security” domain, it need not be noted and can be handled in the interview.

Wordsworth - What are yours? Eight Ideas to Enhance Your Voice.

What you say and how you say it matter significantly. Your words and the choice of the words you employ say much about you, your character, your integrity, your brand and the very essence of who you are and what you represent.

So as you write your resume, your cover letters, your social-platform profiles, your blog, your twits and other prose, pay critical attention to your words and how you use them.

Here are some thoughts to keep in mind to help you stay true to your character and resonate with your personal brand.

1. Write like you speak. Use words that are natural to your inner voice. Do not use vocabulary that does not fit your personality.

2. Use simple declarative sentences -- a subject, verb and object. Keep it simple and succinct.

3. Tell a story. From our infancy, we are read stories to entertain, engage and educate. It is a form of communications to which we all have become accustomed. Use words that tell a story and paint a picture of the point of view that you hold, the achievements you have made, the opinions you have and the knowledge you possess.

4. Say what you know and believe. Speak from your experience, your knowledge, your research, your understanding, your premise. Forget invention unless fiction is your intention.

5. Be honest. Tell what is true. Do not lie, obfuscate, hide or distort. Human nature is savvy. People can often sense insincerity. Even if, in some cases, the insincerity is not obvious, the truth will out.

6. Use active voice. People often respond better to language that is energetic. So in simple terms make the subject the actor and the object the recipient of the action. An example: “The company benefitted greatly from my focus on return on invested capital” is passive. Instead use: “My strong focus on return on invested capital significantly improved the company’s financial position.”

7. Edit yourself. It is human nature that we can be our own worst critic. Yet, we can also be great editors if we give enough time and space in between writing and editing. So after you have written your latest blog or cover letter, sleep on it then edit.

8. Get other opinions. Sometimes the people who best know us can be authentic editors. They can tell us if our voice is stretched, out of tune or not in sync. Objective critics can sometimes be that final tuning fork that makes our words and word strings harmonize.