Tundra - Public Relations Manager

 

With all due respect, I think you or your representative in Ottawa may not understand what sort of person you need to find for this position, or maybe even the employer does not understand what they are looking for or should be looking for.

 

It might be because you or your representative in Ottawa or the clients, some or all of the people in the equation have no idea as to what Public Relations is.

 

The words in the posting for the position that CNC and Tundra have posted, and what Tundra are really looking for are disjointed.

 

The reason I have low expectations when dealing with an employment agency, is that most who deal in this area (Communications, Public Relations, Marketing, Government and Media Relations) are doing it as a side line to their core area of expertise. I must know what I am doing as I have several offers of either full time or contract employment in various states of negotiation or consideration by both sides.

 

Any employment agency I have dealt with thinks it can't be that hard to find someone, and don't do any research from their side, nor help inform their clients (or hoped for clients). Hence all are spinning their wheels and wasting effort and energy.

 

Public Relations is a part of marketing.

 

Public Relations can be political communications, and it can be government relations, a part of both, or have nothing to do with them in a corporate setting. The latter position of a company is not smart thinking, but it is the mindset of some in the corporate offices.

 

Public relation is more than just getting an article published, or a pretty picture of the product or service done.

 

Public relations is more than just getting an article written and published somewhere.

 

Anyone that has worked in the public relations, media relations, government relations, or corporate communications on a contract basis, does so on piece meal basis, unless retained on a contract full-time basis by a specific company or organization.  This will mean exclusivity, and a narrow focus.

 

Your company is doing a disservice to Tundra by just throwing resumes at them, without providing some experienced advice as to what they should be looking for, and not just what they think they need. It could be that by throwing just any resume at them, with what you think the person should have, and not educating the employer, you are wasting everyone’s time and efforts.

 

I realize you do not have a contractual exclusivity for this position or employer, but may have helped them to hire other IT people. The two areas are not the same, and it takes as much expertise to hire someone to be an effective Public Relations Manager as it would to hire someone as an IT Manager.

 

The employer must also realize that hiring a good and effective Public Relations Manager requires a different skill set on their part as well.