The Stressful Life of PR Professionals

 

Are you feeling stressed? Public relations routinely ranks in surveys among the most stressful jobs. It’s a competitive field with tight deadlines, high visibility, and interactions with hostile members of the media or public. The topper: Crisis can engulf PR pros at any time.

Public relations executive was number six on CareerCast’s list of the 10 most stressful jobs of 2014 behind obvious high-stress jobs such as enlisted soldier, firefighter, military officer, and event planner. The CareerCast survey examined 200 professions and analyzed 11 different stress-provoking factors, including travel, growth potential, competitiveness, physical demands, hazards, environmental conditions and risk to one’s own life or risk to others’.

Susan Adams at Forbes said PR’s ranking may seem surprising to some. “Though many people may picture PR execs wining and dining and taking lunch with friends and connections around town, in fact they face almost constant rejection from people like me.”

Shawn Paul Wood at Talent Zoo explained why he thought PR was listed as one of the most stressful jobs, citing difficult clients, high turnover in media contacts, and difficulty quantifying PR’s worth.

The PR measurement conundrum is especially stressful, Wood says. Clients understand advertising equivalency value (AVE), but that’s antiquated. “Sure, you stress tonality, share of voice, and overall impression,” Wood laments, “but when your client is the number cruncher, you hear America’s three favorite letters ringing in your head: “R-O-I.” So, you trek back to the 80s and give the AVE. Just don’t tell anyone at the next networking function.” Clients still requiring the discredited AVE metric create a no-win for the PR professional who may satisfy the client but will almost certainly be tarnished in the PR community for using AVE as a measurement of PR success.

At the Mercy of Others

Public relations executive ranked as the second most stressful job in CareerCast’s 2011 survey, following commercial airline pilot. The executives are “completely at the mercy of their clients and buyers,” says Tony Lee of Comcast. Success depends on the decisions of clients. Plus, PR professionals are connected constantly to social media while simultaneously managing small details of several campaigns.

PR executive was not listed among the most recent top 10 most stressful occupations. CareerCast instead cited jobs such as actor, broadcaster and newspaper reporter as more stressful. The report doesn’t explain why the occupation dropped from the list, although a rebounding economy and improving job prospects could be a factor.

Especially Stressful PR Jobs

Although working in PR may be challenging, PR jobs within certain industries or organizations are even more stressful, writes Ben Silverman, a business news columnist for The New York Post and publisher of DotcomScoop.com. He offered his opinion on the most challenging PR jobs, in a post for ereleases.

Some of them are:

∙ Airlines. The industry is distressed and reviled due to its new fees, delays, canceled flights and other customer service problems. Plus, PR jobs may be axed when airlines profits fall.

∙ Oil companies. Oil companies are hated by almost everyone except their shareholders and lobbyists. They are constantly attacked by consumer groups, politicians and environmentalists.

∙ The White House. If you handle PR at the White House at least half the population won’t believe a word you say, and at least half the population at any given time probably hates your boss. Even if you do something right, a thousand voices will tell you that you’re wrong.

∙ Wal-Mart. Nothing PR can do can will stifle criticism of Wal-Mart for low wages, puny benefits, destroying small businesses and other society ills.

∙ Recording Industry Association of America. Recording companies are slowly dying and despised by consumers. The association’s only solution is “intrusive lawsuits that often inaccurately target people who have no clue what you’re talking about, not to mention creating lots of bad press.”

Other PR challenges include working for widely despised sectors like tobacco manufacturers, national banks or financial services, private equity firms, and the Pentagon.

Bottom Line: PR is typically a challenging occupation. Although perhaps not as stressful as a police officer or firefighter, PR is can be stressful due to deadlines, difficult clients and combative media, and the pressure of being in the public eye.

What do you think? What are the biggest stressors in PR?