In my last agency job, I remember being asked in my probation review why one of my annual goals was to teach and train junior team members. After all, my primary role was to focus on the sensitive nuances of client relationships, chase payments, manage 'the health’ of the account, and ensure my team were delivering on client deadlines. 

It wasn’t supposed to be a crash course in PR 101 whenever something went wayward, and I wasn’t supposed to be as involved as the account managers. The topic didn’t come up for another few months, until one of the many PR support WhatsApp groups I was a part of had a barrage of messages due to the discourse of the day. 

It was another irate editor who had posted a screenshot of a message she received from a "random" PR individual. The photo had a curt message written over their text exchange decrying how tired the editor was with dealing with incompetent PR people, threatening to name and shame them if this incident repeated.

Group members started debating whether or not the editor’s response was out of order, some decried how that response was undeserved and not the fault of an unfortunate junior person tasked with follow-ups. However, the consensus was clear – the average junior PR professional cuts a deeply sorry figure in the landscape of the GCC PR and media industry. It’s not their fault.  

Grooming the next generation

In the last 11 years of my communications career, I have witnessed a very real but underrepresented problem that most PR agencies seem to suffer from when it comes to hiring and retaining junior talent. Everyone wants to have a team to support them, but no one has the time (nor bandwidth) to teach the basics, and unspoken rules. The work is plentiful, and we’re all so used to running like well-oiled cogs in a rig that if something were to stop one cog – that variable will need to go immediately.

People expect perfection from a generation that, frankly speaking, sees a job as a job. While that is a normal and healthy way to divide work and personal life, it is also important you do not set them up for failure by not cultivating their talent. It almost seems like no one wants to share industry knowledge, tricks of trade, or give insight into the nuances of the GCC PR industry. I believe gate keeping is fine if you do not want the masses to discover your favourite matcha spot, but not when you need to explain how to successfully pitch a journalist without being named and shamed on social media, or even a task as basic as understanding how to work on an industry or awards calendar.

I was a self-taught PR person who learnt the trade entirely by osmosis and benefited from a strict, encouraging and excellence-driven line manager. The career I currently enjoy is credit to them, and the colleagues I had in my first PR role as I would not have grown without their nurturing. This is why I put this burden entirely on managers and agencies. You are not just hiring someone to execute work for clientele, you are hiring someone who represents your agency’s culture, work ethic and quality. This is your legacy and wherever they go next, that is the bar by which they will be judged. All of this is not to say that fresh graduates or juniors are not completely blameless. Effort goes both ways.

You get what you pay for

But the hard truth is that people go where they are treated well, and what makes talent stay is giving them room to grow, as well as compensating them for the effort they put in. You get what you pay for. However, it is unfair to expect a junior hire to be an expert in all the media publications, have gold-star media lists ready to plug and play, and then be told to ‘hit the ground running’ once they join a new firm.  

No one is perfect, and while there is no such thing as a unicorn in PR, it is important to offer and receive mentorship that helps to build and develop a solid foundation. While the region’s PR boards and chapters are making leaps and bounds by announcing different initiatives targeting the industry’s diverse demographics, there is still so much more that can be done for those who do not have access. PR might not be rocket science, but it is gruelling work. The stats say so. But if you genuinely enjoy being a storyteller, it is extremely rewarding and nothing quite measures up to the rush of seeing an earned placement going live.

Which is why I offer this simple but effective solution to other senior peers – take time to know your team. Understand what they do best, and where their shortcomings are. Train them the way you used to be trained. Find actionable solutions for them, and advocate for them in rooms they are in, and behind closed doors. Invest in their growth and learn how to be better for them. You are setting the stage for them. Be the kind of manager that you wish you had when you were young and struggling.

I strongly believe that with the right guidance, support (from the management, particularly) and reinforcement, we can fix the nonexistent mentorship setup we have in our organisations, and ensure we are equipping the next generation with what they need.

I do not believe the system is broken, I just think we must do better, and light the path forward.

Sharanya Paulraj is a freelance senior PR and communications professional with over 11 years of experience across luxury, lifestyle, hospitality, and consumer brands in the GCC region.

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