Skills
Public Relations Specialist Skills & Tools
The technical skills, people skills and tools employers look for in public relations specialists, and how to build and show them.
Public Relations Specialists need technical skills such as writing, media relations, and crisis communication, plus people skills like communication and relationship building. They also use tools such as Media databases such as Cision or Muck Rack and Social media platforms.
Technical (hard) skills
- Writing
- Media relations
- Crisis communication
- Social media
- Event planning
- Media monitoring
People (soft) skills
- Communication
- Relationship building
- Composure
- Creativity
Tools, equipment and technology
- Media databases such as Cision or Muck Rack
- Social media platforms
- Content management systems
- Media monitoring tools
- Presentation software
- Design tools such as Canva
Skills in action: common tasks
These step-by-step guides show how public relations specialists put their skills to work:
How to show these skills on a resume
- Lead your skills section with the technical skills from the job posting, for example, “Writing” and “Media relations.”
- Prove soft skills with results: instead of listing “communication,” describe a situation where you used it.
- List credentials such as Accreditation in Public Relations (APR) near the top, with the issuing organization and date.
- Use the employer’s vocabulary. Our public relations specialist glossary covers the terms hiring managers expect.
How to build these skills
Formal training, supervised practice and certification are the most direct routes. Our Public Relations Specialist training introduces each of these skills with plain-language lessons, procedures and a final knowledge check: a strong foundation before hands-on training or your first day.