Public Relations Resume

You may have written countless press releases, but do you know how to pitch yourself in a professional resume? Convince employers you can build positive publicity for their business with an outstanding resume, and your next PR gig isn’t too far off.

Use these three tips to write a public relations resume that generates buzz for all the right reasons:

1. Highlight your public relations skills

A job-winning public relations resume highlights your experience supporting PR campaigns, as well as your relevant soft skills like communication, creative thinking, attention to detail, and problem-solving.

To show employers you meet their basic job requirements, list key PR skills in your resume skills section to make it easier for them to assess your qualifications. And when elaborating on your work experience, emphasize job-specific skills in each bullet point to position yourself as their ideal candidate.

Here are important PR hard skills to include in your public relations resume:

Just remember: when it comes to creating favorable press, your technical background isn’t everything. From managing a brand’s image to averting or navigating through a PR crisis, a great publicist possesses a variety of soft skills.

Here are key PR soft skills employers look for:

Here are a few examples of how to incorporate some of these PR-relevant skills into your resume bullet points:

• Devised and executed public relations campaigns for diverse industry clients, including creating marketing strategies, writing press releases and stories, and pitching ideas
• Drove brand awareness and growth for clients in financial, legal, and healthcare industries
• Proactively identified opportunities to add value to accounts through new/additional services, which increased new account growth by 27%
• Effectively managed 30+ company accounts and projects simultaneously, providing clients with actionable recommendations for growth

2. Open with a strong public relations resume summary

PR professionals need to draft press releases, media pitches, and website copy — so employers will pay close attention to your writing abilities when reviewing your application. Sum up your skills and experience in a compelling resume summary to prove you’re capable of writing persuasively.

Knowing how to pitch yourself in a resume summary will help you set yourself apart from candidates with similar qualifications, while also demonstrating to employers you’re an excellent communicator.

Here’s a great example of an effective public relations resume summary:

Highly resourceful public relations strategist with 10 years of experience in both in-house and agency settings, with a track record of success in driving reputation and growth of diverse industry organizations. Instrumental in leading campaigns, measuring results across traditional media and digital channels, and protecting the company and its interests by managing relationships with public stakeholders and media outlets.

In this example, the applicant provides a brief snapshot of their skills and experience as a public relations strategist, while simultaneously highlighting their track record of success. Very concisely, they emphasize essential PR skills and list their key strengths in the field, such as campaign development, performance analysis, and media relations.

3. Customize your public relations resume to the job post

Though you may have the passion and skills to thrive in a dynamic public relations role, a resume that fails to address an employer’s needs is often overlooked. That said, customizing your resume to the job post will strengthen your job application and ensure it resonates with a busy hiring manager.

It’s critical to research the company you’re applying to so you can gain a sense of their PR goals, along with what skills they’d value most in a PR professional. With this knowledge, modify your resume bullet points to showcase job-specific skills, and focus on how you can use your skill-set to drive results for an organization’s PR campaign.

Unsure how to position yourself as an employer’s ideal candidate? Here are a few ways to customize your public relations resume:

• Only include information that’s pertinent to the job, and cut out any jobs that are irrelevant to public relations. For example, your experience tutoring students has few transferable skills to working in PR, and probably won’t do much for your job application.
• Analyze the job posting to identify what skills the employer values most. To show employers you’re the right person for the job, highlight these skills throughout your resume.
• Include PR-related resume keywords, such as Campaign Development, Press Releases, Press Kits, Relationship Management, Media Relations, and Crisis Communications.
• In your resume bullet points, focus on the success you’ve achieved with past PR campaigns, and use strong action verbs to make your contributions sound more significant. For example, “Devised and executed public relations campaigns for diverse industry clients, including creating marketing strategies, writing press releases and stories, and pitching ideas.”

Write a cover letter to further highlight your writing prowess.