What are best practices for engaging an audience? How have you stayed in touch with the local community and visitors, and continued to reach a diverse audience internationally, following the challenges of the past few years with the pandemic?

We recognize that people may want a podcast because they can’t just come to our programming whenever they feel like it. So, we have a podcast that comes out every Tuesday, where we dive into all sorts of burning intelligence questions of today. We talk to experts, historians.

We also have our specialty programming for audiences who may have difficulty coming during regular hours. We have all types of access programming to prevent the obstacles that may exist from getting in the way of someone enjoying their museum experience. For example, [with a neurodiverse] audience, we don’t want to have the lights and sounds going.

Our museum experience is very interactive. It’s bright and dark. It’s loud in moments. That’s what brings it to life for our audience, but that’s not always the right experience for someone, and we recognize that. So, we have two different days. One is for the family audience, and one is for the adult neurodivergent audience — that’s a group that we haven’t seen a lot of programming for.

People age out of this family programming audience, and then what? They’re adults who still have the same needs. So that was exciting, when a couple years after we created our first family programming, we realized we [needed to] address the older audience of the same community.

As far as our local community, D.C. is its own total environment in and of itself. We’re birthed here; we’ve been here for 23 years. We love being a part of the fabric of D.C. When events like the government shutdown occur, we recognize that they’re affecting our local community. So, we put together a 50% federal furlough discount. How do we show them that we care and we are part of this community? Because they’re part of our community — it’s finding ways to connect with audiences where they are.

The International Spy Museum is doing some great education work in the community — with programs for memory care (Spy with Me), the neurodivergent community, hospitalized children, Title I Schools and even cybersecurity awareness tips.

We have someone who does our memory care programming, which is once a month for an hour online. It’s personalized. I’ve sat in on that programming before, and sometimes we have repeat goers, sometimes we have new people. It’s so open — it’s wonderful.

Then, [there’s] our partnership with WeGo. Several years ago, the group connected with us. They work with pediatric patients in hospitals — kids who certainly cannot just go and experience the museum, so we bring the museum to them. It’s a result of WeGo that we get to use these robots — they’re super cool. Ours is named Patrice, and the kids direct where the robot goes. Our Youth Education team will walk the kids through and give them the most exciting tour and talk about animal spies.

What’s great about this place is that people are so passionate about sharing knowledge and creating opportunities. It comes through in every sense of it. I feel fortunate to work with people who are so excited to do the work that they do.

We had our first-ever online exhibit on open-source intelligence, which speaks to all the information publicly available online. With that, there are some things that people probably should know about for their own cyber safety, right?

So, there are issues that we touch on without it necessarily being obvious, but once you get into the nitty-gritty, you realize they are in our purview. We want to make sure that whenever we’re diving into exploring these subjects, we’re helping people be better consumers of news or whatever it might be to live life in a more successful way for them.

How do you protect and promote important parts of history authentically — and real-life stories of intelligence officials — while also keeping the information fresh, fun, accessible and relevant to today’s consumers and a wide-ranging audience? 

The Digital Learning HQ — the question is finding the right channel for it. In whatever industry you’re in, PR is something totally different — if your tool is a hammer, then everything looks like a nail. So, figure out what the right channel is for the story or information you’re working with is. Sometimes that’ll mean pitching an article to a specific group. Sometimes, that’s something that lives on your YouTube channel. Sometimes, it should be a podcast.

Look at each individual story and figure out where it will help you achieve your goals, and what your goals might be. It’s not just numbers for the sake of numbers. Is there something you want your audience to take away from it? How do you know if they took that away? Do you want someone to join as a member? Or [maybe it’s] tickets to the museum, or people attending a free program and knowing that you get to share some information. Everything looks different, and how you approach it should vary based on what you want to get out of it and what you want your audience to get out of it.

We have so many stories to tell. I don’t have enough time to [tell them] all, but that also means there’s so much to dig into. Sometimes it’s telling a story of a moment in history through the lens of today. And there are ways to refresh them naturally.

I did an article in 2019 with Refinery29 that was looking at Taylor Swift — whether the album was likely to come out, and what information an intelligence analyst might use to identify what might be going on using rumors intelligence, imagery intelligence — all these trappings of forms of intelligence. That’s a way that you take something a little older and make it new. You can do that with anything. At the time, I paying attention to Taylor Swift.

That’s part of the fun. You can bring a lot of this into today’s world, especially some of the more lighthearted stuff, and help people understand, because learning is much easier when you’re not seeing it happen. Then, try to figure out the truth from the noise. We talk about that in the “Fateful Failures” exhibit. How do you know what’s real and what’s extra?

You recently spoke on a panel about AI-powered media relations and what journalists and news influencers need from PR. Can you share some of those trends, tools and tactics — and what’s next for media relations?

AI is coming in as a massive piece of the PR landscape and of life, right now. We have to look at it as any other sort of technology. So, whether good or bad, if people are going to be using it, we need to consider how we’re going to interact with it. The same way that I look at how Gen Z and Gen Alpha turn to TikTok now as a place where they ask questions — that’s where they Google, right? So, we have to figure out if people are going to start Googling on the equivalent of a ChatGPT, and we need to know what ChatGPT is pulling.

When you’re doing your PR research, trying to figure out who you’re pitching — what media outlets and individuals — you want to know what’s being scraped by ChatGPT and other AI-related enterprises. That has to be part of the strategy behind it. We have to find audiences where they are, and if audiences are going to AI ventures, then we have to meet them there.

Below, Bran offers advice for PR’s next generation.

Exterior credit: Nic Lehoux, courtesy of RSHP

Image of Aliza Bran: Amy Jacques

The post More From the SPY Museum’s Aliza Bran on Storytelling and Engagement first appeared on PRsay.

We didn’t call it judgment back then. We called it experience.

But if I’m honest, most of what shaped me over the last three decades had very little to do with the visible outputs of the job. It wasn’t the press releases, the media lists, the campaign plans, or the rewrites that mattered. Those were table stakes.

What mattered were the operating conditions those activities put me into: watching narratives form without my permission, realizing too late that silence had operational consequences, seeing how credibility actually moves through an organization or a political system, or owning a decision that affected customers, employees, regulators, or investors and couldn’t be undone once it was in motion.

That’s how judgment used to get built — almost accidentally — and that apprenticeship largely no longer exists.

AI now does much of the work that once created those learning moments. Drafts are instant. Analysis is cheap. Scenarios multiply. Speed is assumed. My instinct is still to preserve the old tasks because they feel like they “build muscle,” but if I do that uncritically, I miss the point—and I train people for a version of business and communications that no longer exists.

If judgment used to be learned accidentally, it now has to be developed deliberately.

How judgment was really built

Looking back, what actually made people effective early in their careers wasn’t mastery of deliverables. It was exposure to pressure inside real operating systems. You learned — often quickly — that narratives don’t wait for approval, that silence has downstream effects, that some voices carry decision-making authority and others only advisory influence, and that credibility is often borrowed long before it’s earned. You learned that the response itself can reshape the business problem, that timing affects trust, cost, and risk — not just perception — and that accountability mattered because there was no undo button.

None of that came from training programs. It came from being close enough to consequence to feel it.

Over time, what we really developed were a small number of durable instincts: the ability to anticipate what will happen if nothing is done; the ability to recognize who actually has influence and authority in a given moment; the ability to think past the first move and anticipate operational, reputational, and stakeholder reactions to the response itself; the ability to know when speed improves outcomes and when restraint preserves trust; and the ability to own results rather than just produce recommendations.

Those instincts haven’t been made obsolete by AI. If anything, they matter more now.

What AI can’t replicate

AI is exceptionally good at mechanics. It drafts, summarizes, models scenarios, and analyzes faster than any team I’ve ever led. What it does not do is decide. It does not prioritize enterprise risk. It does not understand power, fear, incentives, or organizational context the way humans do. And it does not live with consequences.

The risk isn’t that early-career professionals will rely on AI. You should. The real risk is that you begin to confuse speed with maturity, fluency with judgment, and output with leadership. If organizations don’t intentionally create ways for people to experience pressure, tradeoffs, and accountability, they will end up with leaders who sound polished, move quickly, and haven’t developed the instincts that actually protect the business when it matters.

Hiring for judgment, not just output

This is why hiring — and especially hiring recent college graduates — has become so consequential. After all these years of working at the intersection of communications, marketing, government relations, legal, and business operations, I’ve learned that when we are hiring new graduates, we’re not really hiring for output. We’re hiring for trajectory. And in the AI era, that distinction matters more than ever.

AI makes it remarkably easy to sound finished. Answers are structured. Language is confident. Thinking appears clean. None of that tells me much about how someone will perform when priorities collide, information is incomplete, and the business is under pressure.

So the job of an interview isn’t to reward fluency. It’s to see past it. I listen to how candidates respond to uncertainty, challenge, and shared outcomes. When your first instinct is questioned, do you become defensive — or more thoughtful? Do you take ownership of results that didn’t go as planned, or do you explain them away? Blame stops growth faster than failure ever will.

The idea of ‘judgment velocity’

At this stage of your career, I’m not looking for confidence. I’m looking for what I think of as judgment velocity: how quickly you learn as the complexity and stakes increase.

Early careers aren’t shaped by a few visible wins nearly as much as they’re shaped by patterns. People remember who made things clearer, who made decisions easier, who reduced risk, and who made fewer things worse. Reliability compounds. Recklessness does too.

In part two on May 27: how to teach yourself judgment on purpose — without waiting for authority, or a crisis, to do it for you.

David J. Chamberlin is the managing director of the Strategic Communications Advisory Team at Orrick, where, alongside Orrick’s lawyers, he advises clients on reputation risk, communications strategies to address those risks, and global business operations issues. He previously served as the head of global communications at Nortel Networks, the chief communications officer at PNC Bank, and the chief marketing officer at SonicWall.

Illustration: DesignHunt

The post Judgment, Early Careers and the Age of AI first appeared on PRsay.

This spring, communications graduates enter a profession reshaped by AI, ethics, and digital strategy. Success requires mastering office culture and unspoken rules. Like interns, these new hires navigate their roles with nerves and ambition. I recently asked senior-level PR pros for advice on starting this professional journey.

1. Finding your niche in PR

According to Sophia Kianni, co-founder of Phia, successfully transitioning into a new role requires adopting critical mindset shifts. Her insights serve as a valuable guide for young professionals seeking to make an immediate and high-impact impression.

“The goal should be understanding what are the skill sets, what are the non-negotiable attributes required to reach the highest echelons of this field. Within that field, pick a specific area to be proficient in.”

Kianni added that critical thinking remains essential when using AI tools: “Above all else, people need to apply critical thinking skills that inform how they prompt large language models. 

2. Applying critical thinking to AI tools

Matt Panichas, executive vice president of corporate & special situations at HUNTER PR, outlined a strategy for transitioning from the classroom to the profession’s front lines. Critical thinking remains essential in the age of AI.

“Above all else, people need to apply critical thinking skills that will inform how they prompt LLMs. If you’re putting in garbage prompts and garbage thinking, that’s exactly what you’ll get back. Don’t let critical thinking atrophy because of the notion that AI can do the thinking for you. That approach won’t succeed in today’s environment. The professionals who will thrive are the ones who can push deeper, assess a situation, identify what actually matters to stakeholders and build a strategic narrative around it. That’s not a skill you can automate.”

PR success is a two-way street: pros bring skills, and agencies provide growth. Not all agencies foster success; new hires must master narrative intelligence while ensuring their environment supports their goals.

3. Choosing the right agency fit

As Tiffany Rolfe, chair & global chief creative officer, R/GA, emphasizes,  “Young adults should explore agencies. Find the agency that fits you vs fitting into an agency.”

Professionals succeed when they align with company culture rather than forcing themselves to adapt. Matt Panichas builds on this by showing how agency philosophy drives development.

“If an agency talks about AI like it’s a replacement for critical thinking rather than a tool that amplifies it, that tells you everything you need to know about how they’ll invest in your development. The best shops will teach you why before they teach you how — and that makes all the difference,” Panichas said.

 More than mere advice, these insights offer a blueprint for modern communicators. By mastering narrative intelligence and vetting their workplaces, emerging professionals don’t just enter the workforce — they lead it.

4. Managing a crisis in the golden hour

In elite communications, the “Golden Hour,” the first 60 minutes of a crisis, determines whether a brand recovers or collapses. Navigating this window requires precision and speed. Julia Parisi Wendelken, director of global marketing at Tiffany & Co., shares insights on leading effectively when the stakes are highest.

“Common sense is really powerful in these situations, thinking about yourself as a consumer and what you would want to see from the brand you are representing is probably the best way to navigate out of a crisis.”

Beyond managing crisis response, relationships are built before conflict ever arises, and trust becomes the foundation for resilience. This sets the stage for the final discussion.

5. Building stronger professional networks

In PR, a professional’s network defines their reputation. These relationships don’t just support a career; they ensure its survival. To understand how to move beyond transactions and build lasting, meaningful professional bonds, Margot Edelman, general manager of the New York office and co-lead of the U.S. Tech Sector at Edelman, discussed the role of friendship in a high-pressure field.

“Going to conferences and attending meetups are great ways to build relationships. Organizing and hosting events is an easy way to bring people together and have something to offer instead of asking people to spend time with you. It is also a key way to bring clients to these discussions, to keep them on the flow of information, and you are seen as a connector. Organizing events such as showcases and luncheons is an effective way to add value by inviting guest speakers to engage and contribute to the conversation. If you can provide that, for people whom you want to know more about, it will build a relationship.”

PR thrives on long-term relationships and consistency. Credibility comes from showing up and providing value well beyond simple transactional exchanges.

6. Leading through information noise

Modern communications demands leadership, not just survival. While AI rewrites the rules, judgment and empathy remain the industry’s core. To succeed, specialists must lead conversations rather than just manage noise.

For graduates, branding equals reliability; “on time” is late in PR, and arriving prepared is fundamental. Your presence — from mastering strategies to punctuality — defines your professional brand.

Katherine Orellana is an NYU graduate student and member of the PRSA New Jersey and New York Chapters, specializing in crisis prevention and crisis management communication. She focuses on navigating complex brand narratives and strategic reputation defense within the ever-evolving media landscape.

Illustration credit: Jonmart

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As AI-generated content becomes embedded in daily communications work, legal experts say many PR teams are moving faster than the policies and protections meant to govern the technology.

“It is estimated that the number-one consumer of news content is going to be AI,” said Cayce Myers, Ph.D., LL.M., J.D., APR. “For those of us working in the communication realm, the legal realm, there’s opportunity, and there’s risk.”

Myers, a professor of public relations at Virginia Tech’s School of Communication, was among the guests for the May 11 episode of “AI Pulse,” PRSA’s monthly livestream hosted by Ray Day, APR, vice chair of Stagwell, executive chair of Allison Worldwide, and PRSA’s 2026 immediate past chair.

“For PR people, particularly those on the content-creation side of things, you’re using AI, and you get a good product, but where is that product coming from?” Myers said. “Is it the aggregate of intellectual property owned by someone else? We’re seeing a proliferation of lawsuits in that area.”

Panelist Samantha Rothaus, a partner at Davis+Gilbert, a law firm in New York, advises marketing and communications clients on issues related to AI-generated content and intellectual property.

Accuracy is important for communications professionals who are using AI to generate content, she said, “Not only because inaccuracies look bad for you and your clients, but more importantly, inaccuracy can be misleading and deceptive. And that can create regulatory risks and legal risks.”

Around the country, laws are emerging on different AI-related topics, she said. Those developments “are hard enough to figure out and keep up with, and on top of all of that, in recent months the federal government has been taking steps to try to minimize a lot of those laws, to defang many of those laws. There’s a lot of uncertainty in how to comply, what does compliance look like, what does enforcement look like?”

Creators file copyright-infringement lawsuits

Dozens of AI-related, copyright-infringement lawsuits have been filed, primarily in New York and California, “by any kind of creator that you can imagine,” Rothaus said. “Authors, novelists, journalists, media companies, musicians, labels, filmmakers, visual artists: Groups of these plaintiffs have banded together and filed many, many lawsuits against AI companies such as OpenAI, Meta and Anthropic.”

Panelist Michael Lasky, a senior partner at Davis+Gilbert who founded the firm’s public relations law practice, said he sees significant gaps in AI policies and governance within the field. “And that creates significant risk.”

Day asked the panelists to explain the differences among intellectual property, copyright and privacy.

“Intellectual property, or IP, is the umbrella term,” Lasky said. “For most public relations practitioners, the key pillars are copyright, which protects the fixed, tangible expression of an idea; trademark, which is a tagline, slogan or logo that connotes the origin of goods or services; and the right of privacy, which includes a person’s name and likeness in all of its manifestations — their distinctive voice, their look, their photograph, their persona.”

According to a report the firm produced, 99% of public relations firms are using AI. The top reasons are to write content (79%), take notes or summarize meetings (75%), spark ideas (58%), and monitor media (53%).

Myers said it’s important for communications companies to create policies on how they use AI. Lasky concurred, saying, “It’s a question of using it responsibly to meet a particular need, and of having an intelligent conversation with the client about their concerns.”

In a survey the law firm conducted last fall, 37% of PR companies were developing their own closed, proprietary AI systems, specific to their clients.

“That’s something we’re going to see more of,” Lasky said. But when it comes to using AI responsibly, “you’re either [going to] get this, or you’re [going to] be left behind.”

Illustration credit: THIBNH

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Keep your language clear enough, so AI (and humans!) can parse it easily. But deliver sophisticated data to prove to AI (and humans!) that you’re a top-tier source.

How? By understanding LLM — and by keeping your webpages tight and to the point.

1. What’s Large Language Model (LLM) readability?

LLM is the technology behind ChatGPT, Claude and other AI tools. LLM readability describes how easily an AI language model can read and extract a passage to use in a response or citation.

To increase LLM readability, write webpages, sections, paragraphs and sentences that:

• Cover a single idea. AI folks call this “atomic” writing — as in the smallest indivisible unit of thought. One idea, fully expressed, ready to lift.
• Lead with your main point. AI extracts from the top of a webpage, section or paragraph first. Put your most important information there.
• Stand alone. AI lifts passages out of context. If your paragraph or sentence depends on surrounding text to make sense, AI will skip it. So write every passage as if AI might pull it out of context. Because it will.

Get these right, and every passage becomes a potential citation.

2. How long should my webpage sections be?

Make your webpage sections — the chunks of copy between subheads, or H2 headings — 120 to 180 words long.

Why? Because when AI lifts a chunk of your webpage to cite in an answer, that chunk typically runs 120 to 180 words. That’s long enough to provide a complete answer, short enough to be efficient.

As a result, pages with sections of 120 to 180 words receive 70% more ChatGPT citations than pages with sections under 50 words, according to a 2025 study of 129,000 domains by SE Ranking, via Search Engine Journal.

When sections run too long, the page becomes harder for AI to segment into meaningful ideas. AI can’t extract a clean passage from a 600-word block — so it moves on.

Make each section a self-contained answer to one question. Cover one tight, complete thought per section — not a blog post, not a bullet point.

3. How long should my paragraphs be?

Keep your paragraphs to one to two sentences — short blocks focused on a single, tight point.

Why?

AI passes over long blocks of text because bots can’t cleanly extract a citable passage from dense prose.

Humans also prefer short paragraphs. Paragraphs of one to two sentences received more than 2x the attention online, according to The Poynter Institute’s Eyetrack III study.

“The longer-paragraph format discourages reading,” Eyetrack III researchers said. “And the short-paragraph format overwhelmingly encourages reading.”

Plus, visitors tend to read only the first two sentences in a paragraph, according to research by the Nielsen Norman Group. So keep paragraphs to that: just two sentences.

So keep every paragraph short, self-contained, front-loaded — easy for humans to read and for bots to lift.

Clear writing serves both readers.

Good writing has always been about clarity: Make the point fast, make it clear, make it stand alone.

AI search hasn’t changed the rules of clear writing. It’s just raised the stakes.

Ann Wylie (WylieComm.com) helps PR professionals Catch Your Readers through writing training. Her workshops take her from Hollywood to Helsinki, helping communicators in organizations like Coca-Cola, Toyota, Eli Lilly and Salesforce draw readers in and move them to act. Never miss a tip: FreeWritingTips.wyliecomm.com.

Copyright © 2026 Ann Wylie. All rights reserved.

Photo credit: Sammby

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These are the findings of new research by the Arketi Group, a digital marketing and PR agency in Atlanta, and JM Search, an executive search firm in Chicago. While CMOs are increasingly accountable to grow revenue, lead brands and develop talent, only 38% of CMOs surveyed say the role is positioned to succeed.

“CMOs today carry unprecedented responsibility across revenue, brand and transformation,” said Mike Neumeier, APR, CEO of Arketi Group.

All marketing leaders surveyed report using AI in some capacity. Some 79% say they’re very or moderately reliant on AI to achieve their objectives this year. Chief marketing officers are adopting artificial intelligence to create content (80%), conduct research (57%), generate analytics and reporting (45%), and spark ideas (45%).

Some 67% of marketing leaders surveyed cite alignment with the CEO and C-suite as top drivers of success, Neumeier said.

Despite ongoing concerns about how roles are structured, CMOs report positive relationships with their colleagues in the executive suite. Relationships with CEOs also remain largely positive, with 77% of CMOs reporting a good or very good relationship.

According to Arketi Group’s research, CMOs are taking a disciplined approach to marketing that is led by purpose and places credibility first.

Some 69% of marketing leaders surveyed say organizations should comment on social issues only when there is a clear business or values-based reason to do so. Among marketing executives surveyed, 70% say companies must be able to speak credibly, based on their demonstrated actions, before taking a public stance.

Fewer than 50% of respondents believe pressure from employees alone justifies a company publicly taking a side on social issues.

Illustration credit: Kornkanok

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I’ve hired many early-career talent over the years. But this time, as applications came rolling in, I noticed a pattern: every resume was polished, and every cover letter closely aligned with the job description. On paper, the candidates looked nearly indistinguishable.

We last hired for this role in early 2024, when AI technology was available but not as widely accepted. This time, the difference was unmistakable.

While these tools enable applicants to present more refined and structured materials, they also make it harder for hiring managers to distinguish between surface-level sheen and true capability. As a result, hiring teams must look beyond presentation and focus more intentionally on how these prospects think, evaluate information, and communicate in real time.

 Why traditional signals no longer work

For years, we have relied on familiar indicators as evaluation tools, like strong writing, attention to detail, and relevant internship experience. Today, those signals are less reliable. AI is helping candidates refine grammar, structure their experience, and elevate their tone, resulting in a deep pool of applicants who appear equally strong on paper. This makes it more difficult to distinguish who truly has the skills needed to succeed in the role.

This isn’t to suggest that applicants are misrepresenting themselves; rather, they are using the same tools they will likely rely on in the workplace. The responsibility, then, falls to PR leaders to evolve how we evaluate talent, particularly in the early stages of the hiring process.

To address this, we evaluated applications for deeper signals of substance, such as specificity in how work was described, clarity around individual contributions, and evidence of real experience behind well-structured language.

Prioritizing real thinking

As application materials become less reliable as differentiators, interviews have emerged as the most important evaluation tool, with a focus on how candidates think in real time. Because of this, we placed greater emphasis on phone screenings, using them more intentionally as an early filter to determine who would advance to in-person interviews.

We also revised our interview questions, shifting toward prompts that require real-time reasoning and critical thinking:

• How would you begin building a media list for a new client?
• What makes a story newsworthy today?
• What recent headline caught your attention—and why?

Questions like these don’t have perfect answers, and that’s intentional. We’ve found that the strongest applicants demonstrate curiosity, awareness of the media landscape, and the ability to connect ideas under pressure, skills that are often obscured in overly polished, AI-assisted application materials.

 Ask directly about AI use

As the tools shaping communications work have evolved (think fax machines and press kits in the 1990s, to email and Google in the 2000s, to Cision, Meltwater, and Grammarly in the 2010s), hiring practices must now evaluate experience with AI platforms.

Avoiding the topic of AI means missing an opportunity. Instead, bring it into the conversation. Be direct and ask candidates how they used AI in their application process or how they might use it in their day-to-day work. Their responses can reveal far more than the application itself.

Look for individuals who:

• Acknowledge using AI as a starting point (not a final product)
• Describe how they edit, fact-check, and refine AI outputs
• Understand where AI can fall short (especially in tone and accuracy)

In PR, judgment matters as much as execution. Candidates who can articulate how they use AI thoughtfully will be better equipped to apply it responsibly on the job. 

Emphasize growth potential and culture fit

After weeding through stacks of resumes and interviewing our top selections, I found that the final step isn’t as cut-and-dried as I thought. Identifying the right fit, both in terms of growth potential and culture, can be just as important as background and experience, because long-term success in PR depends as much on adaptability and mindset as it does on what a candidate has already accomplished.

But beyond gut instinct and personal rapport, what’s the best way to objectively determine which candidate is the strongest fit for the team?

What worked for me was focusing on qualities that are harder to manufacture:

• Curiosity about industries, trends and media
• Initiative beyond required coursework or internships
• Self-awareness about what they know and what they still need to learn

These traits often signal long-term success more effectively than a perfectly written cover letter or prior project experience.

The bar has been reset

This hiring cycle was one of the toughest I’ve had to navigate. The caliber of applicants was remarkably high, but what made it particularly challenging was how adeptly many leveraged AI to craft a near-flawless first impression.

More notably, this generation of candidates has adapted quickly to these technologies and is already fluent in using them. That level of adaptability raises the bar for hiring managers, making it harder to differentiate between applicants. Still, it also reflects a workforce that is learning and evolving in real time. And while that may make hiring more challenging, it ultimately strengthens the industry as a whole.

Laura DiCaprio, APR, is a PR strategist who loves the challenge of uncovering and shaping stories for leading global brands. Connect with her on LinkedIn.

Illustration credit: Nadia

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“Our mission is to broaden networks, enhance education and launch careers,” Alicia Caracciolo said, referencing PRSSA’s mission statement. Those elements help PRSSA members “set themselves up for career success beyond graduation.”

Caracciolo, PRSSA’s International president, was among the panelists for the April 27 installment of Member Mondays, PRSA’s livestream event for members and non-members alike, held on the last Monday of each month.

“We see that so many of our members know how to network and know how to promote themselves, from what they’ve learned and published as PRSSA students,” said Caracciolo, who graduated in December from the University of South Carolina with a major in public relations and dual minors in sports management and business administration. She now works as business communications coordinator for the Texas Rangers Baseball Club.

Members of PRSSA gain public relations experience as students, she said. “We have access to learning and real experiences through student-run firms. Or members are executing campaigns, from start to finish, from research to evaluation.”

Panelist Katie Thomas, APR, is PRSSA’s professional adviser. “I owe everything in my career to PRSSA,” she said. “Those connections have continued throughout my whole life.”

When Thomas was in college, PRSSA helped her develop leadership skills, she said. Being part of PRSSA “also gives members an early understanding of ethics and standards” in public relations.

“When I’m hiring, I always look to see if they were a PRSSA member,” Thomas said. “If they were, that puts them above, in my book. There’s so much credibility and career readiness that PRSSA gives to our students as they enter the profession.”

PRSA members helping students

Heide Harrell, PRSA’s 2026 Chair and host of Member Mondays, asked the panel what students and graduates need most from PRSA professionals.

Panelist Milagros Orcoyen, PRSSA’s immediate past president, cited “guidance and support, practical and real-world skills, honest advice and being a connecter” as ways that public relations professionals can benefit the next generation of practitioners.

“Professionals can help students and recent graduates navigate their transition into the workforce and encourage them to build their own board of directors — their own trusted network of mentors and advisers,” said Orcoyen, who in 2022 graduated from the Universidad Torcuato Di Tella in Argentina, with a degree in social sciences and marketing. She now works for a branding agency in Buenos Aires.

“This board of directors can provide insight into things we don’t necessarily learn in school, such as how to negotiate our salaries,” she said.

Caracciolo said, “So many PRSA professionals are going out of their way to be in [PRSSA] Chapter meetings, to build positive relationships, to help ground people … and give them foresight” about their careers.

Panelist Gemma Puglisi is PRSSA’s international faculty adviser and an assistant professor of marketing and communications at American University in Washington, D.C. Every year, the school hosts a “mocktails” event and invites PRSA National Capital members to speak with the students.

After Covid, “We’re still dealing with that generation of students who have been feeling isolated, and now they’re back,” she said. “Any kind of personal interaction is so important for students.”

The post Member Mondays Recap: PRSSA Helps Nurture Comms Careers, Say Students, Recent Graduates first appeared on PRsay.

In PRSA’s upcoming certificate program, “Crisis Communication Readiness: From Uncertainty to Action,” which begins on May 20, instructor Mike Gross, APR, Fellow PRSA, focuses on how communicators can show up as trusted advisers when it matters most.

Gross, president of AKCG — Public Relations Counselors, shared insights with PRsay on how communicators can better prepare for what’s next.

How should communicators rethink preparedness in this more ongoing, high-pressure environment?

Preparedness has to shift from just planning for a moment to planning for sustained uncertainty.

Most organizations still think in terms of scenarios alone — what might happen and how we’ll respond. The reality is that many situations don’t follow a clean script. They evolve. Information changes. Expectations shift, but the pressure is immediate.

So, we must start to focus less on simply having the right template and more on having the right foundation. Clear principles. Defined roles. Alignment on how decisions get made quickly, with as few barriers as possible.

If you have that in place, you’re better positioned to adapt as the situation unfolds. If you don’t, no plan will hold up for very long.

What are some of the most common missteps you observe when organizations depend too much on “playbooks”?

The biggest issue is false confidence. But let’s be clear that a scenario-based crisis response plan is still important. It just can’t be a communicator’s singular focus.

Playbooks create the impression that if you follow the steps, you’ll get the right outcome. But crisis situations don’t work that way. Context matters. Timing matters. Tone matters.

What we want to avoid is organizations relying on pre-written statements or rigid processes that don’t reflect the reality of what’s happening. The result often is communication that feels disconnected or overly cautious. There is little room for “corporate speak” anymore in these moments; we must be audience-focused.

Playbooks are key to getting you going, but if they replace judgment, they become a liability.

You emphasize trust and credibility as guiding principles. In a rapidly evolving crisis, what does that look like in practice — especially when information is incomplete?

More than ever, we live in a skeptical world. There’s recreational outrage. There are deepfakes. Trust in all types of leaders is eroding.

In practice, there’s often a tendency to wait to communicate during a moment of challenge until everything is confirmed. In most cases, that creates a gap that others will fill for you. Credible leaders start with being clear about what they know, what they don’t know and what they’re doing to get answers.

Credibility is built through consistency and tone. And effective leaders work hard to avoid speculation and acknowledge impact early, even when details are still emerging.

Many participants will advise senior leaders. What does it take to be seen as a trusted counselor in those high-stakes moments?

It comes down to how you show up before the crisis, not just during it.

If you want to be in the room where it happens – when decisions are being made – you have to establish that credibility over time. That means being willing to offer a clear point of view, even when it’s not the easiest answer. Effective PR practitioners aren’t just advising on what to say; they’re advising on what to do.

Smart leaders are looking for clarity and sound input, in good times and bad. The ability to simplify a situation, frame the reputational risk and recommend a path forward is what builds trust.

For communicators who may not be in a crisis right now, what’s one step they can take today to be better prepared when that moment arrives?

A good place to start is by getting alignment internally on how decisions will be made when something does happen.

Who is involved in decision-making? How quickly can you respond? When do you engage legal counsel? What principles will guide your response?

Most delays in a crisis aren’t about writing a statement. They’re about uncertainty inside the organization.

If you can reduce that now, you’ll be in a much better position when it matters.

John Elsasser is PRSA’s publications director and editor-in-chief of its award-winning publication, Strategies & Tactics.

Photo credit: ty

The post Beyond the Playbook: Building True Crisis Readiness first appeared on PRsay.

Most people in public relations still rely on outdated, linear career models, she said. “You work your way to manager, director — it was this hierarchy. That’s all changed significantly. What has not changed, unfortunately, is how few individuals have a real career plan for themselves.”

Procter-Rogers was the guest on April 23 for Strategies & Tactics Live, PRSA’s monthly livestream on LinkedIn. For the April issue of PRSA’s Strategies & Tactics publication, she wrote a piece titled “Measuring What Matters: Choosing Your Career KPIs for What’s Next.”

Your career plan should include not just what you’d like to do more of, but also what you’d like to do less of, said Procter-Rogers, president of A Step Ahead Consulting and Coaching.

“Look at trends in your industry or discipline and see where you might have gaps” in your skills, she said. “What I find most, and I was a victim of this myself, early in my career, is that you meet with your boss, and you come up with goals for the next year — what you’re gonna work on, how you’re gonna be measured.”

Instead, she suggests, create key performance indicators of your career growth and how well you’re progressing toward your career goals.

“Regardless of where you are today, as a senior executive, an entry-level individual, or even the leader or owner of a firm, what are your KPIs?” she said.

John Elsasser, editor-in-chief of Strategies & Tactics and host of S&T Live, asked about her “Four C’s” framework of cabinet, career, capabilities and community.

Procter-Rogers, who served as PRSA’s president and CEO in 2006, said she based those principles on her own career path, and what she has observed in others. During her career, she has “come to understand some of the issues that prevent us from pivoting quickly when we hit a [career] speedbump,” she said. “Often it’s the result of not having a clear career plan in mind.”

Ask yourself, “Where do you want to be in three years, or 10 years?” she said. “What do you want your legacy to be? And how does that align with your capabilities? When you think about your capabilities, what are the certificates, degrees, or experiences that are going to be impactful for your career? What are the capabilities that underpin your career plan?”

‘Personal cabinet’

Elsasser asked her to expand on her idea of a “personal cabinet,” which she had written about in August 2025.

A personal cabinet “is a group of advisers in your life,” she said, “from your personal life, your professional life, who are helping you to craft and design your career. Those individuals should know that they’re part of your cabinet. Because they’re not only your thought partners, but they’re also your accountability partners.”

When you think about where you are today in your career, and where you want to go, who do you need in your personal cabinet that will help you get there? “You want individuals you trust,” she said, “who are able to give you feedback and bring expertise to the conversation that you don’t have.”

Here, Procter-Rogers takes part in the S&T Live lightning round!

The post S&T Live Recap: What’s Your Career Plan, and How Do You Measure Its Progress? first appeared on PRsay.