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Public relations officer

Create and maintain a good public image for a business or organisation.

Also known as: press officer, PR officer, media relations officer, communications officer

About the job

Salary (before tax)

Entry

£22,000

Arrow

Experienced

£40,000

In this job, new workers in Scotland start around £22,000 per year. Experienced workers can earn up to £40,000.

Vacancy demand in Scotland

168 unique job postings for Public relations officer roles in Scotland. From March 2024 to March 2025.

Source: Based on vacancy data from Lightcast

What it's like

You would create and maintain a good public image for a business or organisation. You’d make sure that it has a good reputation with the public and the media.

You could work for one company or organisation in its communications department. Or you could work as an account executive at a public relations consultancy which provides services to a number of clients.

First of all you would find out how the organisation would like to be seen. Then you would come up with ideas to create that image and maintain the reputation in the future.

You would:

  • Plan public relations campaigns

  • Monitor the public and media's opinion of your employer or client

  • Write and edit press releases, speeches, newsletters, leaflets, brochures, websites and social media

  • Arrange events like press launches, news conferences, exhibitions and open days

  • Set up sponsorship deals, for example of sports teams or arts events

  • Develop good working relationships with the media

  • Commission adverts or promotional films

  • Get the organisation or business to raise funds for charity

  • Represent your employer or client at presentations and conferences or in radio and TV interviews

You would also deal with bad publicity. You’d try to explain the situation to the media and the public and find ways to repair any damage to the business or organisation’s image and reputation. It can be a busy job with tight deadlines, so you’d need to be flexible and able to multi-task.

"I could be working on a social media campaign one minute, then the next minute I’m presenting to chief executives. Sometimes my job doesn’t even feel like work because it's so enjoyable."

Daniel Waddell

Stakeholder Engagement, Communications and Events Lead, Scottish Government

Hours

You would usually work 9am to 5pm, Monday to Friday. Hours could be more irregular and may involve early starts, late finishes and working at the weekend if you are meeting a deadline or reacting to a crisis.

Environment

You would normally work in an office.

Travel

You may travel to attend PR events and conferences, and to meet clients.

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