The 10 Questions You Must Ask On The First Day Of Your New Public Relations Job

by Katie Delahaye Paine

Congrats! You survived the application and interview process, and you beat out everyone else to land the public relations job of your dreams. Now it's your first day in your cubicle or office or at some start-up's dining room table.

You need to get the lay of the land quickly, and you want to assess the state of sophistication of the organization you have joined. So start off by asking the right questions. With answers to the following, you'll know where you stand, and you'll be able to start planning your progress. (And if you don't get answers, well, you'll have learned something about who you are working with. And where your job begins.)

Ten questions you must ask on the first day of your new public relations job:

1. Who are our most important stakeholders?

2. What are my SMART objectives and Key Performance Indicators?

3. How does this organization define success?

4. What are our key messages?

5. Who is the target audience for our messages?

6. Where does that audience get their information?

7. How does what I do influence that audience?

8. Who or what is our competition? How do we compare ourselves to them?

9. If I completely excel in my job, and exceed all expectations to the extent that you reward me with a case of champagne, what would be different in this organization? What does amazing success look like?

10. Do you prefer Powerpoint or Excel for my weekly reporting?

(Thanks to HealthcareIT Today for the image.)

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Katie Delahaye Paine is Chairman, KDPaine & Partners, (a Salience Insight company), and Chief Marketing Officer of News Group International. KDP&P delivers custom research to measure brand image, public relationships, and engagement. Katie Paine is a dynamic and experienced speaker on public relations and social media measurement. Click here for the schedule of Katie’s upcoming speaking engagements. Katie and Beth Kanter are authors of the book “Measuring the Networked Nonprofit,” published last year by Wiley.

The Measurement Standard is a publication of KDPaine & Partners, a company that delivers custom research to measure brand image, public relationships, and engagement. Katie Paine, Chairman of KDPaine & Partners, will be glad to talk with you about measurement for your organization.

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