The process of which a newcomer , graduate student, sis adapting to the PR organization.

1. Socialization in
Public-Relations
Michal Liberman
Communication and PR Major
Eastern Michigan University
Class of ‘19

2. Definitions
Review

3. Brief Review of the Article
U.S. Public Relations Students’ Perceptions of PR
▪ In an article about student’s perceptions of PR by McKinno and Fullerton (2015), the
public relations industry was found to have varied perceptions by U.S college and
university students.
▪ Most of the students believe that their college degree has prepared them well in
terms of experience and skills for a career in the PR industry; however, some were
concerned about finding a job after graduation.
▪ “A third-person effect” was emphasized among PR students: many students believed
that the negative portrayals of the PR industry had more effect on their peers than it
did on them”. (McKinno & Fullerton, 2015)
▪ Another interesting finding pointed out a dissonance among students with their
chosen profession.
▪ Lastly, the article has suggestions for PR education and optimal socialization in the
PR work field.

4. Organizational Socialization
▪ In organizational communication, socialization is being approached as adaptation
processes that is being developed over time and experience, where individuals
become a part of an organizational life, culture, and approach. (Madison, 2017)
▪ During socializations, individuals are becoming familiar with formal aspect; the roles
of the organization and formal information that applies to the organization. In
addition, the non-formal aspect of the process is being adapted by the individual;
becoming familiar with colleges, learning the culture, gaining confident, feeling
recognized with other people in the workplace, becoming involved in the practices,
and engage in competency (Madison, 2017)

5. Research Findings
(McKinno, Melton and Fullerton, 2015)
▪ The perception about the PR industry among college students were relatively
negative, and a research showed that many people thought PR is dealing with
advertisement, or lies. However, a research done by Gleeson (2013; from McKinno,
Melton and Fullerton, 2015) PR students their perception of public relations
positively changed after one semester of taking public relations courses.
▪ About 20% of the subjects response to ethical issues included transparency (2%),
and lack of public trust (2%). Some said: “Balancing your personal values and ethics
in relation to the company. I feel like I will face a decision between losing my job or
lying about an incident. I think it would be best to work for a company whose values
you align” (From McKinno, Melton and Fullerton, 2015)
▪ About 10% of the subjects were concern about finding a job at the PR industry after
graduation. Some said they expect increasing in the difficulty of getting a job in the
field. In addition, many students express their frustration for the demand of
employers with experience.

6. Findings Continue
▪ 9% of the subjects responses mentioned that the poor reputation of PR as an
industry have been a challenge for the profession. “People see it as very deceptive”.
▪ 53% of the subjects thought that the PR industry was ethical, but only 15% of the
subjects believe that the rest of America thought the same.
▪ Students tended to think that the advertising profession was less ethical than their
chosen profession, the PR. “The advertising industry will do whatever it takes to lure
people in while the PR industry is looking out for the wellbeing of the people.“ (from
McKinno, Melton and Fullerton, 2015)
▪ A majority of the subjects said that they chose PR as a profession because of its
creative aspects. This finding approves the US News & World article that placed PR
as the “top creative job” in the United States (“Best Jobs,” 2013)

7. “What do you see as the biggest challenges
facing public relations in the next few years?”
39.88%
24.49%
20.45%
20.04%
5.47%
5.47%
6.48%
New Media / Technology Ethical Issues PR Profession Job Concern Communication areas External Enviroment Other

8. Socialization
Phases in
Public -
Relations

9. Socialization Phases in PR
1. Anticipatory Socialization: before entry to organization. Includes all the basic and formal
training that a PR major student will go through at an institution. Includes personal research
that a student might do.
2. Encounter: the phase where the graduate will start making sense of his organization when
first entering a job. The newcomer need to abend his old values in order to adapt to his new
organization. In PR, that will be the phase where the graduate will work with his mentor and
start his specific training when starting his new job.
3. Metamorphosis: socialization process completed. The PR graduate has adapted to his
profession and become an expert in his field, he now can be used as a mentor to other fresh
graduates.
▪ (Katherine, 2015)

10. Starting the Socialization Process
Encounter Phase: Socialization in the PR industry after graduation:
1. Getting involved with local PR's students for an empowering experience
2. Seek mentorship through the PRSA mentor match online. "Can give you valuable
guidance your first steps into the industry. In other words: necessary" (Deady,
2017)
3. PRSA training courses online. "These are essential skills and strategies that will
prove themself handy in times of demand" (Deady, 2017)
4. Read bestsellers in the industry and watch webinars. This will demonstrate an
inner-sight on how industry leaders think.
5. Earn a native social media platform certifications (through Facebook Blueprint,
Twitter Flight School, Google Analytics, Google Adward)

11. Possible Socialization Approaches in PR
▪ Classical: Focuses on maximum effectiveness and efficiency with training.
▪ Human Relations: Focuses on the employee satisfaction of the organization’s
members.
▪ Human Resource: Focuses on the maximum contribution that the employee can
provide to the organization
▪ Systems: Focuses on the transition of the outside (institutional training) to the inside
(organizational training)
▪ Culture: Focuses on the process in which the newcomer understands the roles,
norms, implicit and explicit norms.

12. How to Complete
the Socialization
Process in PR?

13. A Mentor as a Socialization Tool
It's almost impossible to build a solid career and advance in it without learning to
apply business practices and recent technologies that would baffled the mind as
recently as a couple of decades ago.
In her article, Kauffman (2017) is explaining the importance and benefits of a mentor
as an essential tool for socialization of fresh graduates in the PR industries.
Mentors benefits from mentorship as well, by learning about the recent methods of
training that have been proven to important only by observing the progress being
made by his mentee. Later this mentor can pass his learning experience on to other
mentors.

14. Mentors provide:
1. Emotional and Psychological Support: during times o anxiety, stress, frustration
and doubt. Human's creativity is at its pick when the person is calm.
2. Faster Learning Process: Even though formal institutional training is important,
mentors provide real-world experience. According to Kauffman (2017) those who
have mentors are usually higher achievers, earn more promotions and see more
frequent and higher salary increases than those who don't.
3. Job Socialization: Knowing the basic formal skill is not enough, in order to succeed
in the new professional environment, the graduates needs to develop ways to
adjust and fit to the organization in the implicit forms.

15. The Actual Means of Socialization in PR
Today's PR experts emphasize that socialization is essential just as the basic formal
degree. "Even if you have a progressive professor teaching integrated PR, there's still
no way you can learn every single marketing skill in one semester, or even four years"
(Vermillion, 2017). To keep up with the competition, one must learn constantly by
subscribing to podcasts, reading blogs daily and even starting a blog for his own.
To complete Metamorphosis phase: What do PR pros need?
1. Understand and identify valuable data: tell evidence based stories that can impact
decisions in the business (Edelman in Vermillion, 2017)
2. Learn Content Marketing: by doing content marketing for really understand how to
use it on the job "I researched and uncovered entirely new social and syndication
tools to help my content get found which, in turn, is used to help my clients
amplify their own content." (Dietric in Vermillion, 2017)

16. Continue…
3. Master Public Speaking: PR people constantly practice Face-to-Face
communication in sharing ideas, presenting a Q2, or annual plans to clients, it's
important to be able to eloquent (Miller in Vermillion, 2017)
4. Look for trends, not just hits: "look for trends hidden within clients' stories and
industries" (Sahin in Vermillion, 2017)
5. Understand the media landscape: media relations is an integral tactic in the
industry. A PR practitioner must read, watch and listen to news and use the
knowledge in the job. (Mireles in Vermillion, 2017)

17. Personal
Suggestions &
Questions.

18. Personal
Suggestions
▪ Learning about the positive outcomes that been
developed through mentorship relationship, I
believe a mentor period of a few months should be
a requirement for hiring.
▪ Recently, there has been a trend of many U.S.
colleges and universities to combine both majors
into one: advertising and public relations. The
phenomenon often called “strategic
communications.”
According to the research findings, PR practitioners
want to distant themselves for unethical
communication aspects, such as they believe
advertisement is. This trend in education could result
in a backlash and an addition form to the cognitive
dissonance among students and educators. I stand
with those who disapprove the trend of strategic
communication.

19. Questions:
1. In their research, McKinno, Lori Melton and Jami
A. Fullerton (2015) explained that the PR industry
suffers from negative inaccurate reputation. How
can we change that? And Where is it derive from?
2. One of the research subject said “The biggest
challenges (in the PR industry) would be social
media and gaining trust from the public”. And I
agree. However, social media is the most
common way to spread and promote ideas, what
other tool should be used for this purpose? Isn’t
using social media despite its low reliability
enhancing the problem?
3. Seems like the research subjects were concern
about the ethic value in the profession, how can
PR agency's enhance ethics as a primary goal?

20. Reference
▪ McKinno, Lori Melton and Jami A. Fullerton. "U.S.
Public Relations Students’ Perceptions Of PR: What
College Students Think About PR Education And
The PR Profession". PRSSA journal 9 (2015): n. pag.
Web.
▪ O’Neal Megan, Kauffman Erika, Vermillion
Stephanie, Perez Christine, Deady Anne. "From
Post-Grad To Professional: How To Jump Into The PR
World In 2017". Prnewpros.prsa.org. N.p., 2017.
Web. 19 Feb. 2017.
▪ Miller, Katherine. Organizational Communication.
7th ed. Stamford: Cengage Learning, 2015. Print.