PR professionals entering the field in the past several years have experienced both the feast of the dot-com boom and the famine of the subsequent bust. And while hundreds of
PR folk have gone from stock options to COBRA options, some might argue that on the whole the industry has benefited from the roller coaster ride.
The imposters have been cut loose, and the survivors have adapted to keep pace with a more competitive environment. The result, as morbidly Darwinian as it may sound, has been
a clarification within the field, and the evolution of the species. While specialists may have ruled in the past, even the largest companies are migrating toward people with
broader skill sets. The bar has been raised for fledgling professionals entering the field.
Today's PR director expects a more well-rounded professional than ever before -- someone equally skilled with his pen, phone, computer and, lest we forget, wits. So as the
economy rebounds and you begin to re-expand your team, how do you make certain you're getting the cream of the crop? Following are some tips -- culled from conversations with
senior communications professionals -- on hiring responsibilities from several settings, which can separate the wheat from the chaff.
1 Make them write for you on the spot. Speaking of pros(e), there isn't a member of your team who doesn't need to be able to write well. Asked where the biggest gap in young
PR pros' skill sets are, senior professionals scream back, "Writing skills!" You may think you cover that by requesting writing samples whenever you're conducting your search for
new professionals. But does this really give you a view of applicants' actual skills? Most often, these are items that have already been edited by their former superiors, or
perhaps even written in a team atmosphere. You simply don't know what that first draft looked like. A good writer can, on the fly, take any set of messages and orient them into
cohesive, compelling communications. So ask your interviewees to write something on the spot.
2 Make them pitch you on the spot. In addition to asking candidates how they'd approach a day where the power went out but the phones still worked, put them through the
gauntlet of an actual "phone" pitch. Much like the writing exercise, this activity will force interviewees to demonstrate their ability to effectively and efficiently communicate
- to get a quick read of their audience and choose the words that will inspire action. If your company's positioning is a bit complicated for a first-blush pitch, have them pitch
you on a well-known consumer product, even if that doesn't reflect your company's usual audience. If someone can convince you that Yoo-hoo! belongs on the front page, you've
probably got a winner. And even if (s)he can't, you'll be able to tell just how comfortable the interviewee is when verbally spinning in real-time.
3 Ask them about the initiative that went wrong. During the boom, many communications professionals' titles and salaries inflated past their expertise levels, and many never
really did the high-level work that would have been associated with their roles ten years earlier. As a wise colleague says, if you haven't been on a team where a program went
awry, you probably haven't been doing anything particularly interesting. Asking about specific incidences of failure goes beyond the usual, "What are your faults" type questions.
Their answers will illustrate not only whether they have the general experience they claim, but also whether they learned anything from it. Top candidates will explain how they
saved programs despite obstacles, illuminating problem-solving skills, and perhaps even revealing their stress threshold.
4 Ask them all about your company. A decade ago, if you weren't a public company issuing an annual report, it might have been unrealistic to expect the interviewee to
understand your business and be aware of your philosophies. No longer. Your Web site alone furnishes a wealth of information about your company, including descriptions of
clients, offerings, approach, milestones and even personality. A simple Google search yields further intelligence, including media coverage, industry buzz and sometimes even
issue-specific indicators of perception. Research is a keystone in the foundation of our profession, and a lack of knowledge about the people to whom they're talking demonstrates
either a lack of enthusiasm and/or experience.
5 Get a read on the interviewee's sense of entitlement. Do your prospects 'get it?' Are their compensation expectations in line with their experience level? Do they ask fewer
questions about your business and clients than about your 401K? Are they convincing when they say they don't mind administrative work? The bottom line is that candidates without
a "can-do" attitude usually end up canned.
6 Find out what they're doing to hone their craft. In PR, proactive people do the best work. Weed out the paycheck-cashers and look for candidates who want to improve their
skills -- and can prove it by regularly participating in professional development activities. Don't settle for vague answers on the degree of their involvement, as it's easy to
get on an organization's committee and not do a lick of work. Ask questions about specific projects, activities and relationships to determine whether they are passive
participants in organizations or, potentially, future leaders.
Altogether, these recommendations will give your candidates a chance to truly stand out in their interviews and demonstrate their actual PR knowledge and skills. After all, in
a world of spin, assuring your candidates can actually "walk the walk" they talk may save you from a lot of ramp-up time, and even the burden of restarting your search.
Contact: Ian Lipner, the founder of YoungPRPros.com, is an account manager at Washington, DC-based Stanton Communications. He can be reached at [email protected].