Essential Abilities

Each year thousands of university students work their way through the pipeline toward their ultimate goal of obtaining a job in the communication industry. Fortunately, despite the competitive nature of the field, communication or public relations remains a growth industry. The fact that more and more executives are recognizing the value of having professionally-trained communicators on their payroll is very good news for students. Their challenge, of course, is to do well in school and develop a viable level of proficiency in all phases of communication, especially in being able to come up with ways to establish and maintain ties with various publics.


Having said that, however, what specific qualities in prospective employees are employers looking for these days? What strengths do they want their communicators to have? In  new public relations textbook called "Think Public Relations," authors Wilcox, Cameron, Reber and Shin identify six what they term "essential abilities." They are: writing skills, research ability, planning expertise, problem-solving ability, business/economics competence, and expertise in social media. These qualities, the authors say, are important regardless of whether the college grad enters into the for-profit or non-profit sector.


The majority of these qualities need little explanation. Being able to write well, conduct research and navigate social media, for instance, speak for themselves. But what about "business/economics competence?" What does that mean? The answer, briefly, speaks to the communicator's ability to carry out their duties more as a manager rather than simply as a staff member. Employers want their communicators to be deciders; to sit with them at the conference table and view issues from a marketing and economic perspective rather than just as a public relations matter. For up and coming professional communicators, this means becoming well-versed in business and economics.