Public Relations is a people’s business where people form the core asset of consultancies; it is imperative that PR firms invest their time and money in training and grooming these professionals. Enclosed are some ideas that consultancies should inculcate and take forward consistently:
- Mentorship: Formal training should be organized for mentors (professionals who have over 7 years of working experience) & mentees and mentorship should become one of the KRA’s for senior professionals. It is important to train young and budding PR professionals and resolve their queries and issues on a timely basis, this keeps them motivated.
- Training & Development: PR Industry is only ranting about the lack of good talent but not doing enough to train and develop the existing talent pool. HR should work along with senior professionals to map out yearly training calendar’s for employees working across all levels. Companies should invite expert trainers for these sessions to be interesting and interactive.
- Networking for PR professionals: Though PR as a profession requires consultants to network with people, we often become mere email warriors and don’t actually have face-to-face communications with our peers. PR industry has some offline platforms for networking that can be leveraged to exchange learning’s and developments.
Author: Richa Seth, Account Director, Adfactors PR