Public relations(PR) staff is a hot job. A public relations staff is a person who is responsible for building the company or business image. Are you young, resourceful, good at communicating, and looking to apply for this attractive position? The full set of interview questions and answers for public relations recruitment interviews shared by Navigos Search below will assuredly help you succeed.
1. Most frequently asked interview questions
Regardless of any job position, the employer always asks general questions to get to know the candidate briefly at the beginning of the interview. These questions are relatively simple, just for introduction and conversation between the two parties. For instance, you will encounter the following questions when engaging a public relations staff review:
- Could you briefly introduce yourself?
- Why do you follow your passion and choose to work in the media industry?
- What would be your ideal working environment in the media field?
- What are your strengths and weaknesses?
- What do you know about our company?
- Why do you apply for the public relations staff position in our company?
Most frequently asked interview questions for public relations staff position
2. Interview questions about skills and qualifications
Question 1: What will you do to enhance the reputation of our brand?
The primary responsibilities of a PR staff are establishing and maintaining close contact with the media to build the image and expand the reputation of the business and coordinating with the marketing department to develop the company image through PR campaigns, social networks, and advertising. An excellent candidate will have reasonable action directions to raise public awareness about businesses, including launching websites, messages, and information on services and products.
Suggested answer(example for the fashion industry): For a business specializing in youth fashion, social networks and e-commerce websites are the most effective media channels today. I will focus on these channels first when building marketing strategies such as running Facebook ads, creating short content with attractive images, inviting celebrities, influencers, or Key Opinion Consumers to write product reviews, and doing affiliate marketing on fashion products.
Question 2: How will you deal with the PR crisis?
No business wants crises to happen in the media field because it profoundly affects company reputation and business operations. Therefore, when asking this question, the employer wants to know if the candidate can handle and resolve incidents and crises to help the business minimize losses.
Suggested answer: With two years of working in this field, I have experienced many PR crises. The most memorable crisis was that I could not set up ad campaigns on time as my Fanpage was blocked by Facebook. Although I have applied many ways and complained to Facebook, I still couldn't find a solution.
After that, I studied and considered advice from experts and came up with the best solution. That was creating a new account as a business. As a result, I not only solved the problem of being blocked but also prevented my account from being locked and maximized my ability to promote future campaigns.
Question 3: What will you do if there is a difference of opinion with your superiors when implementing a PR campaign?
Questions about handling situations will make it difficult for candidates because the employer will assess the candidate's behavior and working attitude through these questions. The occurrence of conflicting views and opinions is inevitable when working as a team. Asking this question, the PR staff recruiter wants to judge the candidate's teamwork, communication, and persuasion skills.
Suggested answer: Each person always has their own opinion, and they will always defend that opinion. It's no exception for me. There have been many times I gave different viewpoints. At those times, I will calmly sit back and listen to the analysis of other leaders and colleagues. Besides, I give arguments to convince them. I also give myself and everyone more time to think and consider what is reasonable and best before making a final decision.
Interview questions about skills and qualifications
Question 4: Can you describe how you reach the target audience in the PR campaign?
The purpose of PR is to reach target customers effectively. Thus, the employer is very interested in how you do it. Through this question, they can evaluate the PR candidate's capacity, experience, and knowledge.
Suggested answer: First, I will analyze the target customer's age, occupation, and gender to capture the behavior, habits, interests, touchpoints, and customer journey map. After that, I make short-term and long-term PR campaigns to reach the largest number of customers possible and keep them with the brand. I also plan the future PR campaigns in advance to aim at the right target audience and bring the highest PR efficiency to the business.
Question 5: How do you create effective public relations messages?
One of the ways to help you develop products and services and increase brand recognition for your business is to give effective PR messages. Through this question, employers will know whether your creative skills and brand development capabilities can bring their business up.
Suggested answer: It's not easy to create an effective message. For me, to find a development direction for PR messages and attract customers, I will first focus on their prime needs and the strengths of the service/product of the business. It means that products and services created must help customers solve their needs.
Instead of mentioning product features only, I also pay attention to the benefits it brings to customers. In other words, how customers will change after experiencing a company product.
3. Important notes for public relations staff recruitment interviews
Notes to employers
Before announcing the public relations recruitment, businesses need to determine which is the most appropriate recruitment channel for their companies. Once you have an explicit orientation, prepare a detailed job description.
The more the description is specific, the more it shows the professionalism of the recruitment process and the business. Avoid recruitment information like "We are urgently recruiting a public relations staff for the fashion product segment. Vacancy: 2-3 people. Salary: VND 9 - 15 million/month. Candidates can send CV to xyz@gmail.com”.
Such information recruitment will not be able to attract the attention of potential candidates because there is no business name, no specific job description, and no requirements. Talented candidates would never apply for such a job description.
Notes for public relations staff recruitment interview
Notes to candidates
To successfully apply for the position of public relations staff, you need to keep in mind the following:
- Do not change the interview schedule many times (unless you or your relative has health issues and encounters unexpected problems).
- Find out about the business on the website before going to the interview because most media job recruiters ask the question "What do you think about our business's public relations campaigns?". If the answer is incorrect and doesn't show your understanding of the business, you will fall.
- Arrive at least 5-10 minutes early before the interview starts.
- Dress politely, neatly, and professionally.
- Do not abuse the sentence "This is the job I have desired for a long time".
- Do not speak amiss of the former business and co-workers.
- Interpret your words with your body language confidently.
- Emphasize your interest and commitment to working as a public relations staff to state you've carefully read the job description.
- Ask for feedback on the interviewer's attitude and how to improve it from the employer.
- Ask for the employer's business card (email) at the end of the interview
- Send a thank-you email after the interview is over.
Above is a popular full set of questions and answers for public relations recruitment interviews. Through this article, We hope you will prepare yourself thoroughly to pass the interview handily and grasp the interview experience to increase confidence and make a strong impression on the employer.
In particular, you can look to reputable headhunters on the market to find your dream job and receive interview advice from experienced experts. Navigos Search is a prominent example. We always accompany the candidate from the beginning to the time the candidate successfully has a job offer. We aim to satisfy businesses in every position, creating the perfect working environment for candidates.
If you want to hunt for a quality public relations job, don't hesitate to contact Navigos Search as per the information below.
- HCM Headquarters: 20th Floor, e.town Central Building, 11 Doan Van Bo, Ward 13, District 4
- Hanoi Branch: V. Building - 125 Ba Trieu street, Hai Ba Trung District
- Hotline: 1800 585 826
- Email: contact@navigossearch.com
- Website: navigossearch.com
- Fanpage: facebook.com/NavigosSearchVietnam
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