Nguon Serath, Professor of Public Relations at the Department of Media Communications and alumnus of Ateneo de Manila University in the Philippines, responded to Sin Siekly’s question of how to get a job in public relations (PR).  

He said that the PR industry is still booming, which means that there are many opportunities to develop skills. If you do not have good writing skills, it is very critical to master writing.

“In order to become a PR person you need to have good writing skills to produce press releases, media advisory,  and speeches, especially in the Khmer language,” said Serath.

In addition to writing skills, he also has advised Siekly of other skills she should learn, such as event management to organise press conferences and anniversaries, among others, how to do research to discover the problems of the company, how to have good relations with supervisors within the organisation, and how to maintain good relations with the media.

“You need to know well about the communication process of sender and receiver, especially the levels of the receiver, which is variable,” he added.

Serath thinks that it is important for PR workers to have friendly personalities and to interact with different kinds of people. He also said that Sikely should have familiarity with social media outlets such as Facebook and Twitter, which allow companies to advertise for free.

Serath also suggested that people who want to work in PR ask themselves a few questions in order to decide whether or not to pursue a PR career: “Do you have multi-skills? Are you a good writer? Do you know how to organise events? Can you manage crises  well?”