Need a Hand? What to Look for in a Recruit’s Educational Background

When hiring staff or developers for Publictivity, we like to consider all angles:  experience, education, whether they fit our company culture, location, etc.  It would be dumb not to.  However, depending on the position that we’re trying to fill, some of those things become less important.  For example, if a person approaches us for a developer position and has 10 years of experience, great references, a flawless code sample, but doesn’t necessarily have the most appealing educational background in computer science, we’re still going to give the guy (or girl) a good look.  On the other hand, if we were looking for a CFO, education does matter.  So, here is the question:  Does a degree with a specialization in public relations really matter when hiring staff for your agency?

 

Of course, there are two sides to every issue, but my opinion is that it should not weigh too much on your hiring decision.  While PR certainly has its rules, strategy, and finesse points that could be taught in a book and class, PR is more so about a person’s ability to communicate and spread information effectively, to a targeted audience, through some sort of medium.  This relies heavily on personality and shrewdness of an individual.  It takes a certain kind of person to be a PR professional, so learning how to approach a PR campaign or make a pitch in a book won’t be all that helpful.  My point is, if you are looking to hire additional staff for your agency, look for educational backgrounds that will diversify the skill set of your staff as a whole.

 

What type of educational backgrounds, you ask?  How about someone with a specialization in Social Computing as part of a Master in Science Information?  The University of Michigan has a great looking program that offers this degree.  As part of it, students learn the ins and outs of social networking, user generated content, and online sharing.  The program doesn’t seem to be too technical in nature, and puts heavy emphasis on the study of human relationships and information sharing on the web.  While digging around on the subject, I ran into this Wall Street Journal article that pointed out that the Social Computing programs “tend to draw as much from the sociology, psychology and communications departments as they do from more traditional computer science classes.”

 

Also another good thing to look for is experience in Social Media, which is related, but not exactly the same thing.  A lot of universities are beginning to catch on to this demand and offering courses on the subject.  For example, our friend, Alex de Carvalho, teaches a course at the University of Miami that focuses on Web 2.0 and Social Media for collaboration, community building, and citizen journalism (course # CVJ 596).

 

With or without a formal degree, it’s imperative for a PR professional in this new landscape to understand how new media and online social interactions affect their industry.  I recommend looking for someone who understands this, whether they have good personal and professional experience on the subject, or have learned the ins and outs of it via the classroom.

 

Check out this post by a UK public relations blogger.  He seems to feel the same way, only more “passionately”.