PR - Problems Recruiting, not Public Relations

In an industry that is meant to be all about communication and transparency, it is a shame that events like the ones Stephen Waddington describes still happen (not to mention people posting abusive comments anonymously on his blog...).

I was fortunate enough to experience a smooth recruitment process with my current employer. A good recruitment agency followed by a good interview process followed by a good introduction to the job, all with good communication throughout from all parties - rare, I know.

Also, it was the first and only job I applied for after graduation and I managed to land it - even rarer (and much to the jealousy/annoyance of many of my friends).

But friends of mine have horror stories to tell similar to Stephen's. One friend got a graduate job with a PR agency that turned out to be not to dissimilar to a call centre. She was made to put a list of 100+ journalists together, push out a press release, then follow up call every single journalist on the list.

Not only does this lazy practise give that particular PR agency a bad name, but it also further poisons the bad name that these practitioners give to the PR industry.

Furthermore, the experience has disillusioned my friend from pursuing a career in PR, a career that I think suits her perfectly, not to mention putting off other potential PR greats as after her bad experience she tells them not to get into PR.

It's also a shame when you consider the excellent PR graduates and young PROs trying to get quality jobs in the industry.

Stephen's post is a wake up call for those who are thinking of playing the recruitment system. Let's hope it doesn't happen again.