The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) was founded in 1947 and quickly became the largest public relations organization. In order to fully understand the nature of PRSA, it is important to know exactly how PRSA defines public relations. According to the Society’s definition, public relations mutually aid the public and an organization so they can adapt to each other. The organization works with public relations professionals and student members to promote the profession and the professional – whether those individuals represent businesses, technological firms, the military, the government, organizations, associations, schools, hospitals, or other industries.
There are three main areas where PRSA is most influential: advancing the public relations profession, advancing the public relations professional, and advancing PRSA, itself. By advancing the profession, PRSA hopes to become the main source of information on the profession, as well as the educational and research initiatives surrounding public relations. Through advancing the professional, PRSA strives to advance the needs of professional and student members, especially in times of failing economies, to help them become recognized for their hard work and successes. Lastly, by advancing PRSA, the goal is to promote the Society so that it is strong and well-organized and thereby an asset to its members.
Because so much of the profession revolves around special interests, PRSA has a professional interest section in its organizational makeup. The special interests section gives the members the opportunity to communicate about issues that are directly related to a specific practice. It also allows those interested a specialized practice area in which to network. Although there are 19 different specialized practice areas, examples of a few of the practices included as a special interest are associations, nonprofit organizations, corporate, environmental, health academy, international, technology, and travel and tourism.
For those that are seeking a new job, or for those who have a position that they would like to fill in their own firm, PRSA has a career resource center, called JobCenter. It is easy to search for jobs through the JobCenter. The database has a list of public relations positions that are open. In addition, members can add their resume to the database free of cost. Job posts remain in the database for 30 days.
Each year there are a variety of awards that are handed out by PRSA. The Society attempts to recognize those public relations professionals who have excelled in their jobs and therefore encourage and unite those in the profession. Highlighting those individuals who have done exceptional work will encourage others to follow them as role models and, as a result, better the profession.
