A-P-R: No other combined three letters have caused as much discussion and debate in the PR world and in the blogosphere as these have.
The most recent PRSA accreditation (known as APR) flare-up involves a group of prominent PRSA members, including Richard Edelman of Edelman and Art Stevens of StevensGouldPincus, distributing a petition to remove APR as a condition for being a national PRSA director or officer.
The goal is to obtain at least 1,000 signatures and present them to the PRSA Assembly on Oct. 15 in Washington, D.C.
That action sparked PR News to take a fresh look at merits of earning the APR moniker. Does it provide PR professionals with PR knowledge and cache that will help land jobs and/or clients, as APR proponents say? Or are the program’s potential benefits outdated and outweighed by the time and effort involved?
In a 2005 presentation titled “Give Yourself the Accreditation Advantage,” the Universal Accreditation Board (UAB), which coordinates all APR activities and administers the Examination for Accreditation in Public Relations, spelled out the benefits of being an APR professional as follows:
• Sets industry standards
• Legitimizes the profession through standards and uniformity
• Builds accountability through ethics and legal knowledge
• Meets human resource recruiting criteria
• Increases visibility among business and human resource communities
Fair enough. So surely a majority of the 20,000 PRSA members would want to earn their APR stripe. Think again. Only about 5,000 have done so—about a quarter of the current membership. And APR activity appears to decreasing, according to the latest UAB update (see chart below).
APR Enrollment: January - March 2010 Results & Quarter-Over-Quarter Comparisons |
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Activity |
Jan-Mar 2009 |
Jan-Mar 2010 |
% Change |
Grand Totals Since July 1, 2003 |
| Candidate applications approved by UAB | 110 | 89 | -19.0% | 2,175 |
| Candidates participating in Readiness Review | 41 | 37 | -9.76% | 1,611 |
| Candidates Advanced from Readiness Review | 38 | 27 | -28.9% | 1,381 |
| Candidates completing the computer-based Examination | 96 | 71 | -26.0% | 1,549 |
| Candidates passing the computer-based Examination | 60 | 53 | -11.6% | 1,036 |
| Computer-based Examination Pass Rate | 62.5% | 74.6% | 12% | 68.5% |
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Source: Universal Acreditation Board |
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UPPING ENROLLMENT
This drop is a trend that Anne Dubois, 2010 chair of the UAB, wants to put an end to. To do so, the board is targeting different markets. “This is an aggressive year in terms of new programming,” says Dubois. “Our goal is to increase the value of accreditation.”
The new programming includes a rollout of “APR+M”—for those PR professionals in the military. “We’re working with the Department of Defense in developing a special military component of our Readiness Review,” says Dubois.
The board is also researching the possibility of an entry-level APR credential for students just out of college. “Testing of KSAs would be more textbook-oriented,” says Dubois. Full APR designation would still be required later, she adds.
Ed Moed, managing partner at the PR agency Peppercom, says that the military component could be a good idea. “It’s an area of specialization that needs addressing,” he says. But that’s as far as Moed goes on being positive about APR.
“Our industry is so much about on-the-job experience,” says Moed. “I just don’t see the payoff with getting the certification from a cost/time standpoint.” The general fee to get accredited is $385.
That’s not to say that Moed sees absolutely no value in it. “Those with APR wear their badges proudly,” he says. “And I’ve never talked to one of them who has said it was a waste of time.” Yet as an employer, the APR credential has zero weight with Moed, who adds that clients simply couldn’t care less about the designation.
And how does Dubois answer that? “We’re about to launch a survey on employer practices for hiring PR professionals,” she says. “Hopefully, the results of that study will give us more rationale to ramp up our accreditation efforts.”
TACTICIAN TO STRATEGIST
In talking with accredited PR professionals, it’s clear that they do care about the program, and for a variety of reasons.
In his day job, Brad Lotterman, APR, is senior manager of external communications at OptumHealth, based in Santa Ana, Calif. By night, Lotterman teaches APR classes as accreditation chair for the Orange County PRSA chapter.
Lotterman, who earned his APR in 2004, sees nothing but positive in the program. “It’s not just putting some initials in back of your name,” he says. “It’s making the move from being a PR tactician to getting the skills to be a strategist.”
He believes that, especially in this economy, PR executives want to hire people who can be strategists. “In that respect, APR can only help you,” says Lotterman.
The APR program lays a good foundation—from research, to planning, to implementation and evaluation, says Lotterman. His rational for going through the process: “If I’m going to dedicate myself to a field and there’s something that says I’m qualified, I need to have that,” says Lotterman.
BACK TO SCHOOL
In her nearly 20 years in communications, an APR badge was something that Amy Friend didn’t have to have. Then, in 2008, she decided to set an example for her staff at Capital Group Company and took the APR plunge.
Friend, who is senior manager of corporate communications at the Los Angeles-based mutual fund firm, says it was “time to stop being lazy.” Even with her significant PR experience, Friend says she was on a quest to learn even more. And the APR program enabled her to achieve that goal.
For the most part, Friend says, the APR process taught her a lot, with a minimal amount of time spent—about three hours a week for eight weeks. She does, however, agree with one criticism commonly bestowed on APR: the program doesn’t change its curriculum with the times often enough, particularly in the area of digital communications. “They could have provided more guidance around social media and online PR,” says Friend.
POINTED CRITICISM
That’s just one barb on APR out on the blogosphere. Others include:
• PR is an art and not a science, and there are no hard and fast rules for the PR professional.
• Structured, top-down, inside-out communication, which is part of the APR curriculum, has gone the way of the carrier pigeon.
• APR is driven by a political party in the PRSA, and has little to do with education.
To those arguments, Dubois says: “This is not a mandatory license. I see it as a choice driven by two things: a person who wants to enhance their professional value, and a person who has some motivation in wanting to enhance the profession itself. I believe the more APRs we have, the better off PR will be.” PRN
CONTACT:
Ed Moed, [email protected]; Anne Dubois, [email protected], Brad Lotterman, [email protected]; Amy Friend, [email protected].