An issue with succession: What does the future hold for the PR industry?

There is an issue with succession. Nope, not the TV show.

A few weeks ago, I attended a PR careers networking breakfast at King’s College London. The event was intended as an informal opportunity to speak with students about breaking into the PR industry. While that goal was achieved, I was struck by some of the stories I heard. 

Students spoke about applying for jobs that did not exist or reaching the second round of interviews and then receiving no response. The job market is TOUGH right now for a multitude of reasons, and I worry about the future of the roughly 11,000 media, journalism and communications students who entered courses last year. Not only in terms of the number of roles available, but how these roles will actually look.

Which brings us to everyone’s favourite topic: AI. Every PR agency is investing in AI tools to improve productivity and automate some of the more mundane tasks. But we can’t escape the fact that this will fundamentally change the job specification for entry level roles. Zoe Scaman wrote a brilliant article outlining her very real concerns that while senior staff use AI to improve their productivity, junior employees may miss out on the very foundations of becoming strong comms professionals.

She has a point.

Looking back, I can’t say that I enjoyed putting together every coverage book (especially when it involved scanning physical papers and manually aligning clippings on a PowerPoint slide), but it did instil a discipline of reading stories closely and understanding how journalists structure their articles. Similarly, updating WIPs rarely excited anyone, but it prepares you for knowing what is happening across an account – which is critical for any Account Manager worth their salt. For every mundane task, there is a deeper benefit that only became clear later in a career.

So, now what?

As senior leaders, we need to dedicate time to really think about what the junior job roles of the future will look like and what support they will need. It’s clear that these roles will fundamentally change, but we need to bear in mind that junior employees will also become the future leaders of the industry. Skills that can only be honed through trial and failure can’t be lost in the wash and we need to be intentional about how AI is going to enable this education – especially when it comes to skills like writing different types of copy.

Some thoughts to consider

I absolutely don’t claim to have the answers, but I’d like to put forward a few ideas that might be worth an agenda point in an upcoming leadership meeting:

• Recognise that this is or will be a problem

It’s time to stop burying our heads in the sand when it comes to what the future of the PR industry will look like and what type of leaders it will need.

• Revisit current junior JDs

If your agency is investing heavily in AI tools, do current job descriptions reflect what skills are actually needed for the day-to-day? What core skills does the organisation value that cannot be replaced by AI? What training does this require and how do you address this now?

• Hire diverse talent

Considering the ongoing issues with AI bias and drawing from the same sources, having a diverse workforce seems like a future-proofed strategy for preventing middle-of-the-road work.

I don’t know what the future holds for the PR industry, but avoiding the issue is no longer an option. Any conversation about how AI supports senior leaders should also consider the potential impact on junior employees and candidates.

A thoughtful and intentional approach will help the industry navigate this shift, and maintain standards we can continue to be proud of.