Text 2 My speciality is pr

I study at Moscow State University of Railway Engineering, which is the largest educational and scientific complex in Russia. I am a student of the Humanitarian Institute. My speciality is Public Relations. We study both general and special subjects. The general disciplines are: history, Russian, philosophy, foreign languages and others. The special subjects are philosophy, psychology, sociology, marketing, advertising, culture of communication and so on. Each year is divided into two terms. At the end of each term we take exams and tests. Those, who pass all their exams successfully, get grants.

I am going to become a PR specialist as it is very interesting and challenging profession. Nowadays corporations, politicians, non-profit organizations use public relations. PR helps in two aspects: first in keeping close to the customer to satisfy needs and anticipate changes in customer demand, and second, to create a favorable impression among the people which advertising may sometimes not do.

One can be a good PR professional if he is smart and outgoing, a go-getter who enjoys meeting people and has a flair for media relations. The plus point of the job is that one meets high profile people from various fields. There is a certain amount of glamour. The effectiveness of PR is judged on the basis of reports that are actually published; it is a tough job indeed. When things go wrong, client companies will want the news to be blacked out or that their own viewpoint is published as well, so it is the PR department which must handle the negative publicity and try to create a favorable impression.

A PR specialist must have excellent communication skills, both spoken and written, an organising ability is required too, as one may have to organise press conferences, lectures, exhibitions and events. A person must have resilience and the ability to work under pressure.

Effective PR is a lot of hard work; after all, changing mindsets is not an easy task. This is not only difficult, but very challenging too. The PR professional becomes a jack-of-all-trades writing press releases, organizing news conferences and producing company newsletters.

A PR professional has several options for jobs. The first is to join companies or organizations in their PR departments and hope to rise to the level of Public Relations Officer (PRO). The second option is to join professional PR firms which work for their client companies. Such agencies work on contractual basis. Many advertising agencies have started sister PR firms. A third alternative would be to set up one's own consultancy, provided that one has some contacts with media persons.

So, the future of public relations is very bright. Finally, it may be said that a career in PR is a promising one, as more and more organizations are realizing its importance.

I am looking forward with pride and confidence in my future profession. I am sure that I have all the reasons to feel so, because nowadays globalization has made a lot of difference to the business environment and the importance of PR is growing by the day.

Questions:

1. What university do you study at?

2. What disciplines do you study?

3. What is your future profession?

4. How can PR help to corporations, politicians, non-profit organizations?

5. What skills should you have to be successful in PR career?

6. How could you describe the job of a PR specialist?

7. What functions do PR specialists assume?

8. Why it could be said that a career in PR is a promising one?

9. What are the options for job?

10. What are the plus points of the job?