Comments on: The Flack’s Revenge: Do PR Execs Discriminate Against Ex-Journalists When Making Hiring Decisions?

By: Bob

Bob — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 19:21:46 +0000

It doesn't help that HR departments put every job into a "silo"—meaning that if you don't have X-Y-Z, you're not qualified. After creating their own "industry," HR people prefer to use a litmus test instead of independent reasoning. Why? Because if they hire through that method, those that don't work out aren't their fault. The person had all the chops on paper and interviewed well, so it must be the bad hire's fault that it didn't work. So, the mentality is that you can't possibly be a PR person, tech writer, corporate communications person, etc., because you don't have experience, a certificate, a marketing/PR degree.

By: Scott Baradell

Scott Baradell — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 20:07:00 +0000

To the last anonymous:

I think the longer you’ve been in the news business, the harder it is to make the initial transition — because employers don’t want to pay the salary you’ll expect without know whether you’ll thrive in a corporate environment — which is very different from a newsroom.

That said, after you get over the hump of getting that first PR job (either on the agency or corporate side), I think all that journalism experience will eventually be equated to PR experience in the mind of potential employers.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 17:18:00 +0000

As someone with 20 years in a variety of news jobs, and the last four years serving as a writing coach and media consultant of sorts to PR practitioners, I have also found it difficult to get past being able to show I don’t have corporate communications experience.
I would have thought that my media background and the fact that I’ve won awards for my writing would have been rather portable into a full-time PR job.
However, headhunters have told me that agencies want people with agency experience.
Outside of agencies, I am often confronted with people who never worked in the news business, and really have no clue about how to reach out to the media in an effective way. But because you don’t have PR experience, somehow you’re not well-suited to do PR.
I agree with an earlier comment that the non-profit route might be more efficacious and professionally rewarding. Unfortunately, not in position to take a pay cut, so I’m a bit stuck for now.
Yes, it really is not easy to get a job in any profession. But after all the years I toiled in newsrooms, I would have thought I had something more to show employers in another field than I do, at least from their vantage point.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 16:42:00 +0000

Short-sighted and dimwitted PR folks might not have the brains to hire a journalist; not to pat myself on the back too hard, but I just brought one on board and couldn’t be happier with her results thus far.

By: Ike

Ike — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 15:09:00 +0000

Nancy – I took a pay cut getting out, but my hourly rate went up!

And within three years, I was WAY ahead of where I was in teevee.