I thought to do a quick post regarding my two months at my internship and how I now feel about Public relations as a profession or career in my home city.
To start I would like to say that I've enjoyed my time and experience with the company I'm currently with. My duration is now coming to an end sadly, however what they have given me is more than just an insight into the profession. But also what PR practitioners currently face each and everyday in my city.
The PR profession in Miri isn't treated as a upstanding profession . People here tend to regard accountants, Engineers, Lawyers, Managers and Doctors (name a few) as upstanding professionals, while PR is viewed as a profession on the level similar to a salesman going from door to door trying to sell a product. I did not understand why that perception has been cast on PRs in my city until I started the job.
During my first month with my company I was introduced to an array of individuals who are public realtors by title. They each share a network of people whom they meet on a monthly basis to build their business relationship between their represented companies or businesses.
This practice usually involves regular meetings at cafes or coffee shops. They last around an hour or two where the two individuals discuss propositions and ideas on from their respective companies which later ends with an agreement or reexamination of proposal ( which means someone dislike the idea). It is odd that discussions like these are treated as PR work when it's obvious it isn't. Regardless the people here tend to believe that PR workers are similar to salesmen and therefore not require a degree to practice.
Often I find myself trying to defend what I have studied and answer questions which usually have the topics of "what I do" and "why PR should be a profession worthy of recognition".
Even a company as vast as Li & Fung have people who question the benefits of being a PR officer, due to vastness in size of the corporation, not every part of the company feels that having a PR officer is important or needed. Due to this the job of a public relations falls on to the manager or in my case the branch manager.
This man would maintain relationships with other companies in regards to crisis or continual support. I have asked him if the role is in his job description and he just said "I just do whatever they tell me to do".
That sounds very concerning because as long as a person is in charge their role will include PR regardless of your job role.
Another example is with the PR officer of our general hospital I was working with on the blood donation drive. She told me that she had never studied the subject of PR yet she's here running it for the general hospitals' blood bank. The question which surprised me the most was about what I would study in a degree about Public relations. I explain about the classes we have of course and then asked if whatever I had studied would be applicable to their work. The officer said not really as they would only need to do is organise events and occasionally contact the newspaper agents for upcoming events. Which to me sounds exactly like what we learn about in our classes anyways.
A little long of a rant however my conclusion is that I believe, this problem is relative mostly to encounters with people that either do not understand the complete aspect of what PR professionals can do or are urgent jus untrained in the art, as I have not heard similar testimonies from others that currently intern in Miri. However if any of you who share similarities in your company or city please do share what you have been gone through so at least those who have graduated and have already entered the PR world in Malaysia have an idea of what to expect from their companies, while hopefully change the perception people have of the Public relator profession.
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