Employer Expectations From New PR Hires Now!

Why PR Entry Level Is Changing

My guest suggests that boys need to know how the next generation is taking the future of public relations. So questions agencies, organizations, and communicators leaders know as they recruit and develop emerging young towns. Their impact on the industry and what agencies and organizations think about the new highlights. And then what can public relations graduates anticipate as they begin their careers? Joining me today from Newark, Delaware is the University of Delaware Public Relations instructor, Charger Gilmore. So thank you so very much for suggesting this topic to me.

Thank you so much for having me today.

Now you communicate with both your students' future employers, and you hear from the students themselves about their career prospects. What insights and expectations are you gathering as you talk to both students and employers regarding the future their futures in public relations?

I think that's a really great question and a question that we're seeing particularly with AI coming into play

Fundamentals Still Drive Hiring Decisions

and the changes that it's making to the landscape of PR. But I think what I'm hearing from both sides of regarding student preparedness and what the entry-level graduate looks like is that the fundamentals employers expect from a PR graduate haven't disappeared. But the definition of entry level ready really has expanded considerably. A lot of students they go out and we see that the numbers for the PR profession were still gaining. You know, we survived the pandemic, prior to the pandemic, after the pandemic, so we still are seeing that job growth. One thing, though, that we are also seeing from the educator side and at the entry level is the need to know more. We're a skill-based profession. And as a skill-based profession, employers are asking for this more diversity of skills. It's no longer, you know, can you write a news release? That expanded skill is do you know the angle? Do you know the audience? Can you write the news release for that right audience, for that channel, as well as that email page? So we're now seeing that expansiveness going into it.

So basically what you're saying is that most people, as you said, don't want to have just the press release written, but how so also about the digital use of information to get to reach those audiences as well.

Yes. One thing that I find very interesting is that when we talk about writing, that hasn't changed. People think that AI has been changing how the need for writing that we'll see less of a need. And in fact, that's kind of opposite when we look at these PR graduates and what the employers are expecting of them. We're seeing more so of an AI literacy, that they understand how to use these applications in order to really get the message out to benefit the relationship between the client and their public.

So at the University of Delaware, how many of these new platforms, as you said, AI knowledge and

Using AI Without Losing Voice

experiences, what sort of new AI-related programs are you teaching them how to use?

What's interesting, and we're kind of seeing, even though AI has been around for five years, we're we've seen this crest where it's no longer about having a specific AI course. Don't get me wrong, we do have an AI course, but it's also about really weaving in AI literacy and AI usage throughout our courses, even starting at the intro to PR level. I currently teach PR writing right now, and part of my PR writing that AI is interwoven in is prompt writing. Writing a really good prompt, not to write the news release, but to serve as a layer of review. Saying, here is my news release, here is my audience, this is my message, this is what I hope to gain based on all these factors. You know, is this effective? And it's a nice kind of bounce-off piece when you're writing a 2 a.m. news release and you can't really call a colleague or text somebody.

But that's where we're teaching them to use it strategically, not in place of, but you know, I guess that brings up the question of when you say write the press release, how do you feel about students bringing you a press release that perhaps was actually written by some uh AI platform?

I I can always say I can tell, I let students know even before they hand it in. We can tell when AI has written a piece. Okay. I don't think I think in our industry, I think there's even people, we can tell when it's written by AI. It's just it's I say it's the inauthentic authenticity. Being basically not being authentic. There's something about AI in its writing, in its language, when it puts it together, it just doesn't sound authentic. And I say, you read this, and I give give an example of somebody who didn't. And I say, Do you hear the difference? Can you see the difference? Because also Chat GPT loves to bold and give those M-dashes out and put stuff in bullet points, which is great for that. But then when it comes to our writing, our types of writing, it's not always effective. And part of what we do here and what we do in our classrooms, what we do in our labs, is this is where we get students to start thinking like that. Like, okay, you used AI for this, but was it effective? You as a person have to do the polishing. You as a person, honestly, and I tell my students, and this is introducing them to that process. You do that first draft, you write it out, and then let AI help refine it. But ultimately, before it goes to press, you should have that last readover and lookover.

You know, actually, that's not like what basically what I do is that uh I come up with, you know, write some things out and put it in one of the platforms and then I'll read it and say, well, no, that's not quite me. And then I'll go in and make adjustments as I see fit. So that uh and and then send it out. But the bottom line here is that it saves a lot of time for me just to write an overview of it, if you will, slip it into one of them, it comes out, and then I'll make the changes as as it would fit how I would have it sound.

And exactly, and I think this goes back to this idea of what we're expecting from our PR graduates when they're going into the entry-level positions, what employers are looking for. And this is something that we've had to learn being in the industry for 20 years. I had to learn how to utilize AI in my own work. And I think this is asked being asked of the graduates that something that we've just learned, they need to know upon graduation. And it is an expectation.

What other platforms or AI platforms do you have them or you are there uh accessible for them for public relations?

Yeah, so different professors use different types. For me specifically, just because I think it's the most common and everybody has experience and use of it, is ChatGPT. For better or for worse, whatever our thoughts may be, that is the dominant AI platform that we see students, regardless actually, even of major, but we see that's what they're used. Part of what we do in other classes, and part of what I try to do is yes, Chat GPT is good for what it is good for, but there are other better ones depending on what you're trying to achieve. ChatGPT is fun for designing an image, but maybe we should use another type of platform, another consideration outside of ChatGPT. And I think that's where we come in as well, starting to have them explore what's outside of ChatGPT. I always say when students go and I see on the resume and they're saying, you know, one of their skills is ChatGPT, and I was like, oh, well, they probably wrote your resume then. Because saying ChatGPT, you know, that's a platform. We're really talking about that AI overall.

What other activities do you engage your students in, such as maybe uh putting together a PR platform, if you will, suggest uh, okay, fine, the client needs A, B, C, and D. How would you go about doing that? And uh have them as a group or individuals come up with a platform or program to find, here's how we're going to approach this particular problem, what what their concerns were with A, B, C, and D, here's how we address A, and here's how we address B, that sort of thing, and here's the eventual outcome that we expect. Do you put them through those sort of paces as well?

Always. Always. I start group work in intro

Campaign Work Inside Classroom Labs

to PR because in our profession we work in groups, whether we like it or not, whether we want to or not. It really is group work to come up with our messages, to bounce off those ideas. So I'm always having them work in groups, and even in my intro to PR 200 level course, they're putting together a campaign because I'm introducing them to that RPI, the research, programming, implementation, evaluation. And it's something that, you know, not just that they're learning. How about you learn it as a group? Because this is something when you actually practice it, you have to do. And in those intro levels, it's make-believe, you know, if we're starting a new Quidditch team, we're not really, but we're starting a new Quidditch team on campus and we need to do recruitment. Some, you know, simple campaigns or introductory campaigns that we do. But later on, as we're moving up and kind of going through the courses and they're building their skill set, that's when we do start introducing those real world problems, those real world campaigns. I love the I think I will say on the education side, it does take time to build client relationships, to bring clients into the classroom because I like to say our classrooms are our labs. This is where we're experimenting. This is where we're testing messages, techniques, and tactics. And working with real world clients, it's important that they understand that students are chopping their teeth. They're learning, they're experimenting, they're trying to figure out what works and doesn't work. And really how that research provides insight that identifies our problem, that gives us our goals and objectives, taking us through that whole process. And we build upon that as they go through a sequence of courses, so that by the time they do get to a campaigns course, or we're here at the University of Delaware and several other universities and colleges, we have our student-run agencies where they can actually work with a client on specific campaigns or specific tasks.

You know, that that was gonna be my next question. You know, how have they worked on any outside projects because those projects as they come to the students might not be clearly articulated as to what we want or how we want to go about getting or what our expectations are. So do students have a chance to ask those kinds of questions? Well, you said you want A, B, C, and D, but this is gonna be very kind of difficult. You know, we need to do a X, Y, and Z to make this happen. You know, do they have those kinds of exchanges?

They do. It's it's a learning process, and I would say that's part of the learning process is talking to your client, asking them those questions because you do ask the questions that they haven't considered, because you're trying to get to the root of the problem or the opportunity. So engagement directly with the client is very important. And again, this is where the relationship between educator and the profession is so important. I try my best to keep in touch with some really great professionals out there, those that own their own company, some that work for companies, so that there are opportunities for students to meet them, either through a guest lecture or in that client-based campaign development. I requ I always have the client come in. They meet the client face to face. And then I also try, depending on what the organization is, have the students go to how or where the company operates. We've had clients where they're food banks, we've had clients where they're community centers. I'm I'm come from a nonprofit background. So I tend to go to nonprofits, and I also find that they always are open and willing to accept some type of project-based work for our students. But I require the students to do some element of interaction with the client. I'm I'm there in the background. So they also get that experience and they get comfortable and they're learning that element of professionalism too, as well as they're learning the skills needed for a profession.

I really asked that question because you know, when I was uh practicing with my business, I I I would ask a lot of clients, well, wait a minute, you say you want this, this, and the other, but you know, the outcome is not going to be what you want. I'm gonna suggest to you that we do it this way, go and so forth, blah, blah, blah, and so forth and so on. Because a lot of times those exchanges are needed because the people making the request may not fully understand, you know, what it is that they completely want and how they want it. This is just an idea to them. So sometimes those exchanges need to be in-depth with uh with clients.

Yes. And this all goes to the learning opportunity of the student and being able to practice that ability of speaking to the client, understanding and having the client participate and give that background. And students learning, and sometimes I say there are questions you still need to ask. Like, don't let this opportunity pass, and I want to speak up. And for me, sometimes I'm like, no. They need to learn. And this comes into that risk taking and that failing. I participate in the PRSSA, I just say I, but our university participates in the PRSSA statement competition. I mean, this is where competing PR programs work with one national client to implement a campaign, you know, in their area or on their campus. And students really have to take the lead. I take my role as advisor. I say, look, I'm the advisor. You are deciding even from the beginning what research strategies you want. Do you want to do the survey? What are the survey questions? Why even are you doing a survey? What are you trying to achieve? I I guide them with their questions, but I really want that to develop. I really want them to develop it. And sometimes I see something they may have missed, and I do I drop hint. I I try not to interfere because I want it to be their campaign. It's their learning experience. The one thing about these graduates is that we're giving them these kind of learning experiences where they can fail, they can make mistakes with it being in this kind of protected environment. It's not detrimental.

Well, I I think those those uh, you know, having done this for a number of years now, those relationships with clients are very, very important. And, you know, obviously they a lot of clients have you know they have ideas of what they want. And a lot of them are open to suggestions to make that idea they have better than what they think it can be. So, you know, it's uh it happens a lot of a lot of different times. I've had to go back. Are you sure you want this? You say A, B, C, and D. Let me suggest X, Y, and Z. You know, those kinds of things that uh, you know, because the the the end result is if you don't give them something they really like, then then you've got a problem.

Yeah. The ability to go back to the client and say, you know, I know this is what you wanted, however, this is what we found. This is really the situation, and this is what needs to be addressed. I under and you you and I could talk the talk already. I understand what you want. However, what's best for the company, what's best for the client, what's best for this situation is this. We've developed that skill set. That's a skill set that we're developing in these students. And really for me, I say just getting comfortable because that's a hard thing to do, to go back to a client and say, No, you're wrong. This is what is being found out, this is what's going on. And that can be a really difficult thing, particularly for new graduates, to do when given that opportunity.

Well, you know, I agree with you there. Uh in a lot of cases, it is necessary. Sometimes you have to sugarcoat it that, you know, all right, you wanted this, here's why this will not work. In my estimate, this will not work because A, B, C, and D, if you do that, here's what the potential outcome could be. However, if you shift it to what we're suggesting here, here's what you will get, and I think you'll prefer the outcome as we can get it for you.

Yeah. And I I agree with that. The directness and the clarity and helping them get to that point. So again, they're comfortable. They have that confidence because they're still learning it, and it is a question like, can we do that? And my answer is absolutely.

You never know until they need that.

Exactly, exactly. And this is why I love student-run agencies, I love campaign courses, I love the Bateman competition because it gives them that opportunity.

So, one of the things that

Skills You Must Demonstrate To Get Hired

I did when I started my uh uh PR front some years back was I needed to get in front of people. I needed people to know I was here, uh I had the capabilities, blah, blah, blah. You know, having work for Congress, President of the United States, uh, all that sort of good stuff. I I know what I'm doing. But I need to get in front of somebody and uh convince them. So what I had what I did is I made I made arrangements for the government, I did some work for some state council members down and that's fine. I said to them I will for free. So no money has to stay here. All I need you to do is open some doors for me. You know, just get me into the place to see somebody. And you know, no commitment at all either. I and I'll stand to fall on my own. They said, hey, fine. So I got a lot of business that way, simply because I had somebody else to get me in that door that I perhaps might not have been able to get in on my own.

And that's a really also a great way to get experience. Experience doesn't always come in the classroom. We have a very active, and I always encourage anybody considering, any student considering entering the PR world, definitely participate in the Public Relations Student Society of America for the simple fact of the chapter engagement, simple fact that you have around like-minded people. Networking sideways is just as important as networking up. And I say if you can't be a part of it, there's other opportunities in other organizations. I always see organizations where we have director of social media, director of community engagement, director of publicity. Those are PR fields, those are PR terms, those are PR opportunities where students can get involved and practice their skills.

Did we talk about what other uh what when you go to uh an organization or company or firm, do they stipulate what they would like to see in PR students that might be coming their way?

Yes. And I will say this goes to they still expect the foundational. They still expect the strong writing, the interpersonal skills, the teamwork. But we're also seeing more so the skills that they should have are more defined. I tell a student, just like you have ChatGBT on your resume, they'll put down social media. MuckRack released a 2026 report, kind of a state of the industry. And as a social media person, I'm typically used to social media being that first line, but it was AI. AI was that first line and a couple paragraphs and a couple pages before we got to social media. And the interesting about it was what platform was it used, or how do you use it? And I'm going through it, and of course, LinkedIn's number one, but then here comes influencer relations. Here comes I think content creation was like almost 50%, like 40 or 50%. And what we're seeing and we're starting to hear is not so much what do you know and what can you show, but what can you demonstrate? What have you known, not just you've done social media, have you done content creation? Have you designed that social media strategy for branding, for engagement? We're seeing

Rebuilding Public Speaking After COVID

that definition being a little bit more clearly asked, and that it's being should be demonstrated by the students.

How good are your students at public speaking? One of the other issues I hear from uh some folks is that a lot of students are afraid to or haven't had experience of standing up speaking to a group, you know, explaining what it is that they're doing for some odd reason uh students don't get a lot of exposure doing that.

Yeah, and I think I think we're coming back to that. I saw a lot of we lost our some interpersonal skills with COVID. Students got real comfortable with doing presentations via Zoom and online, which also give you kind of tools. to make it more engaging. When you go back to where it's just you and the projector in front of a group, it's definitely different. And teaching public speaking via Zoom, having taught a public speaking class via Zoom. Very awkward, very painful. And honestly, it it wasn't effective because there is something lost about being face to face versus computer to computer. And I think for our students, we are all about group projects and presentations, practice presentations, we actually have oral communications consultants. We have student-led kind of a communication group where they provide and assist students with developing their presentations and their public speaking because we saw they needed that extra need and support. So really what we're doing is just getting them up and talking more. You know, first and foremost we're just trying to get them to talk in class. That that takes us a couple weeks. You know, and then once we get them talking in class then we have to get them talking to each other for feedback and peer reviews. And then we get them talking in class but it's a development. It's a skill start a skill skill starter that they are developing where I do feel that by their graduation year they have a little bit more understanding. If not confidence I would say they understand themselves more as a public speaker. Here at the University of Delaware we also have opportunities like symposiums. Actually later this afternoon I'm going to the internship symposium where hundreds of interns are going to be highlighting in poster format, standing in front of their posters, speaking to a crowd, speaking to their audience who comes to their poster about their internship experience. And I pushed so many of my students who I knew did interns, internships and some said Professor Gilmore, I I don't know what to do and I said that's fine. You can speak about that. It's about getting out there, getting the exposure and again getting that practice which is what these four years five if you do a five plus you know four plus one program is about getting that practice and developing those skills.

You know that's interesting because uh you know as I mentioned Julie I have uh spoken to a lot of PR college students around the country as a result of this podcast. And one of the things that I heard from a lot of professors is that a lot of the students they can't get up on their feet and speak to a group because a lot too too often they they got their noses buried in their phones and so forth and so on and they don't understand the implications that being a public speaker so to speak is a leadership trait. So if you expect to move forward on something like that and you can't do it, then you have a problem.

Mm-hmm. And this is the encouragement for them to find those opportunities. Those opportunities aren't always in abundance and sometimes they have to be created and this comes from the initiative having great mentorship finding those moments and those opportunities even if it's something not directly affiliated perhaps with PR you know you're standing up at another type of program at a church event or something but taking any moment you can to practice those public speaking skills whether it's in front of I say public means if it's one other person in front of you and you're sitting on a bench that's public speaking. Absolutely you know start there. Start there and then work your way up to the 300 people crowd because I bet you by the time you do get there you'll have a better understanding of yourself if not more confidence.

Well not only that is it a better confidence but but it could be a deciding factor uh depending upon where you are because if you go interviewing and somebody asks you to you know make a presentation on ABC and D so I so we can better understand and you aren't able to do that in a comfortable manner that that could be a problem.

Yes. And I use an example I had to give a presentation talking about social media engagement and ROI conference a couple of years ago and I had my beautiful Canva presentation all designed out actually spent time designing specific images had Theodore Roosevelt handing holding a cell phone. Like I spent time on this beautiful presentation and don't you know in the middle of the presentation my computer asked me to update my password and I said I don't have time for this and my computer told me well guess what you're not going to do today so I had this presentation I had these 300 people waiting for me to speak and I did not have my outline my outline was part of my PowerPoint part of my Canva presentation and this really fell to me and not you know being the person I am I'm like okay well that sucks let me move on let me give my presentation I can't cancel it. I'm not going to cancel it I need to now rely on me and I need to give a really great presentation without any visuals and then during actually the presentation somebody hit the light switch and then the lights went out so I was like giving this presentation and then all of a sudden it goes dark and I was like well that's cool you can still hear me talk and I'm gonna have one last point I gotta make and then I'll let you leave I think that comes also from me being an instructor being a teacher for 15 years. It's like you know we're used to things happening in the classroom and as the PR profession we're used to things changing any given minute and it's just that level of being prepared and going with it.

Well you know you know and again no argument for me there. I like I said public speaking is something that came to me not directly but I had to get engaged in it. And you know I jump in I I'm open to it uh you know quite a few times because having worked for Assistant Secretary of Education a lot of times she would say Peter I don't want to go to this meeting would you go and uh you know represent me there well fine I you know I'm jumping on a plane I'll go and and actually feel very very comfortable doing that so that is one thing in terms of leadership that that is hugely important that a lot of people don't they don't do it as well as they should or or at all at all when they should yeah it's it is definitely something I public speaking typically in university or colleges that's something that students take their freshman software year sophomore year.

And I will say it's having taught public speaking it is academic based and we do focus more on the in-classroom presentation. I would love kind of you're about to go into the world here's a public speaking course for you so you can actually do client presentations. And I think that's where it's nice too that we build it into our courses to kind of help them so that they do remember it. I'm teaching a digital storytelling class and I'm actually doing audio stories right now and I keep saying talking about tone and your voice and enunciation remember public speaking and I get blank looks and I I was like I'm not going to reteach this I know y'all took public speaking recall this has to be a recall moment because those elements are important. What we learn in public speaking also supports those other areas such as podcasting and telling stories.

Well look uh you know it's been very very interesting talking to you I think we've covered a lot here have we missed anything

Mentorship And Final Takeaways

that you you want our listeners to hear.

Oh my goodness we did talk and there was an enjoying talking with you I think you touch upon a lot of points and I would say overall like we are doing a great job the three students educators and the professions getting the graduates ready but also understanding that we're asking them to demonstrate a lot more skills than we had asked them five years ago 10 years ago and 20 years ago. And as much as we as educators prepare them and give them the experiences we also need those working professionals those hiring entry level and offering internships to continue to help mentor them, to give them those opportunities now to practice it.

Well very good I really appreciate that you know I'm very happy that you reached out to me to uh bring this to my attention because I think uh a lot of uh listeners will uh get uh get some benefits from that and perhaps we might even have some student listeners and they can benefit from it as well.

That would be great. Thank you so much.

Well thank you and you know uh I'm gonna tell my uh hope that the my listeners will appreciate this and uh if you'd like to get more information at the university and we hope that you can do it appreciate