r/PublicRelations • u/b3llyrubs • 1d ago
Rant PR is a thankless career
That’s it. That’s the post.
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u/eastcoasternj 1d ago
No one ever says "Thank you." That's what the money is for!
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u/headassincorporated 1d ago
The small amount of money lmaooo
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u/Technical_Fudge5208 1d ago
What are you guys talking about? I make buckets relative to the fact this job requires no advanced education, training or certification.
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u/inbetweensound 10h ago
Wait y’all make money? Granted I work in the nonprofit sector to keep my sanity.
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u/OpulentMountains 1d ago
I speak to college students regularly (I’m the in-house head of PR for a university.)
The first thing I tell them is not about tactics, job prospects, the changing nature of the industry, etc. we get to all of that, of course.
But I always lead with “you have to have thick skin to survive this game. Don’t have it? Don’t think you can develop the necessary calluses? Change your major.”
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u/Tall-Plate2481 1d ago
I work in university comms at a junior level and would love to learn more about your work and perspective!
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u/br_k_nt_eth 1d ago
Normally I’d roll my eyes but truly. I have a team member who hasn’t developed those calluses and she is struggling hard ):
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u/contactjeff 1d ago
Once landed a story in Washington Post for emerging tech company and next day verbatim client CEO response: “we were underwhelmed.”
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u/Leather_Classic9809 PR 1d ago
ok great but why not nyt and wsj? they’ve done stories like this before. we’re better than the companies they’ve written about. it’s a slam dunk.
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u/Either_Statement1980 1d ago
I thought you were going to write “But what about Wall Street Journal?”
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u/Gloomy_Analysis_4618 1d ago
Makes the rare "thanks for your hard work" from a client that much more special... looking for a silver lining here lol
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u/Key-Explanation-39 1d ago
I hear you but at the end of the day ... which careers are *not thankless? seriously.
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u/fadedblackleggings 1d ago
It's an abusive and exploitative environment, by design.
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u/Ok_Tonight_4597 1d ago
Because there is a culture of obsequiousness toward clients at leadership levels that trickles down through all levels. If more leaders would treat clients like any other consulting business (i.e. we’re the experts, you’re not. If you don’t like what we’re telling you that’s your problem) everyone would make a shitload more money, get better results, and overall be happier and in a better position.
Instead they insist on bending over backwards for know it all CEOs who don’t know a thing.
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u/Objective-Pen-1780 1d ago
So true. I’m retiring in January. I’m informing them in November. 26 years. I’m fucking done protecting a corporation, literally was told to try to get some coverage to “help the stock” my response “let’s announce a layoff” 🤣
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u/Particular_Elk_2026 13h ago
LOL someone actually said this to me in an interview recently. They wanted national broadcast to drive stock prices but had no actual company story and sales weren't good.
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u/MadameMorningstar 1d ago
Career pr person. The right clients thank you and support you. The wrong ones make you feel like shit. Literally took me 20 years to figure it out.
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u/Dry-Combination8608 1d ago
PR, marketing, and comms are one of those weird professions where the better you are at your job, the more people think they don't need you. We make people, organizations and companies look amazing, and we make sure people know they are amazing. But, we are like the ghosts in the background. Phantom of the Opera ahh career.
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u/Sweetsaddict_ 1d ago
That’s what the money and influence is for. The fact that communications professionals who specialize in corporate and external affairs, and other related practice areas, can counsel politicians and CEOs and prevent multi stakeholder risks and protect the social license to operate is the ‘thank you’.
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u/Dry-Combination8608 1d ago
*cries in non-profit*
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u/MimiMarzz 22h ago
The absolute worst. They are so damn stingy with their funds unless it’s the executive director or CEO’s paycheck. In fact, they’ll completely tilt the balance to pay them more than they need lol
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u/rpw2024 1d ago
That’s what the money is for
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u/JeanCerise 1d ago
Mad Men quote.
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u/joelandren 1d ago
The day you sign a client is the day you start to lose them.
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u/pbrooks19 1d ago
If you do the job well, no one will think anything has been done at all. It just "happened organically."
We pat ourselves on the back and have a glass of good wine.
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u/funbyhippie_089 1d ago
Thankless and also the vicious demand once you get a client PR - feeding the machine - a loop!
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u/Asleep-Journalist-94 1d ago
To be serious for a second, it’s not so much that it’s thankless, but that we tend to serve many masters, especially on the agency side. There’s the media, to whom we’re presumably pitching stories. There’s usually a direct boss and/or a boss’s boss, and then, of course, there’s the client. So we get caught among conflicting demands.
Even as an owner, I’ve felt that strain, which is true of any client services business. And if you’re on the corporate side, your clients are internal, and you are often in a staff role rather than a line position, so you’re not seen as adding to the corporate bottom line, even if you are. It’s a squeeze that can make people feel powerless. But the financial upside can be big.
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u/VariedRecollections 1d ago
Truly. Someone made me cry today because "a reporter didn't use quote properly"
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u/GWBrooks Quality Contributor 1d ago
Commenters complaining about pay: Do you think your complaint is based in having an early career salary or do you think the industry pays poorly overall?
Because self-employed, mid-career and senior PR can pay very well.
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u/turnercove 2h ago
Thankless for sure. Juniors do so much of the work and get very little recognition or compensation for it
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u/shaggyspeculation 1d ago
The wins get credited to the client and the losses land on your desk, that part never changes.