Starkman and Associates: Mere People Persons Need Not Apply
What exactly is a “people person”? Boasted by many candidates vying to get into the public relations industry as their number one qualification, the phrase is really empty in meaning. Sure, in order to be good at PR you have to be confident and social, but in my past ten weeks at Starkman & Associates I have learned that there is much more to it.
As an English major at Holy Cross I have an innate fondness for the complexities of language. In Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, the two protagonists comment on the power of language when they say “Words, words. They’re all we have to go on.” If I have learned one thing from my internship this summer, it is the importance of words and how they can be both your greatest asset or your biggest threat. Words are the primary tool we use to interpret the world around us and at Starkman & Associates I believe that good writing is the foundation of our business.
From press releases to website content, a large part of my responsibilities over the course of my internship have involved writing. Whereas in the English papers I write back at Holy Cross I can cover up a bad idea or statement with fancy language, PR writing strips language to its bare minimum, leaving no room to hide. PR writing is not about how many SAT words you can use in a sentence, but rather how clearly and effectively you can communicate your ideas. In PR writing, less is always more.
In the wake of the Bear Stearns scandal, I have learned that for better or worse every word counts. From the way one talks to clients on the phone to the way emails sent throughout the office during the day are worded, you have to be ready to be held accountable for everything you say or write. Being able to anticipate how the person at the other end is going to interpret your words is very important. Does this fall under the qualifications of being a people person? Perhaps, but the point is that you cannot simply get by in this industry only with charm.
Although my experience in this field is limited, I have discovered a common trait amongst the people I work with and that is their inability to settle. This company could throw out catchy press releases or become complacent with the success their clients have already had, but that is not the case. The true PR individual is always striving to learn more and do more. They find the most creative project to recently have been done and they find a way to top it.
According to the Public Relations Society of America “public relations helps an organization and its public adapt mutually to each other”. This description is aligned with the views of Edward Louis Bernays, one of the “founding fathers” of PR. PR firms and the media must reach a half-way point in which one does not impose their own ideas upon the other. PR therefore is largely about compromise.
While I do not claim to be an expert, I can say that my time at Starkman & Associates has revealed the public relations industry to be a challenging and exciting world in which only the ambitious will survive.