This week, our hosts Kristine D’Arbelles and Julia Kent record their 100th episode. Young PR Pros wants to thank our guests, listeners and anyone who has helped spread the word about our podcast. We hope we can continue to share our knowledge with young PR and communications professionals for another 100 episodes.
For our special anniversary show we invited an engaging new guest host, Ross Simmonds, to join our conversation.
Who is Ross Simmonds?
Ross Simmonds is a marketer, strategist and entrepreneur. He founded several small businesses – including Foundation, that specializes in content consulting & creation, Hustle & Grind (a subscription service for entrepreneurs) and Crate (a content marketing software – beta). Ross also shares his thoughts on marketing, business and life on his blog. And he is the author of Stand Out: The Content Guide for Entrepreneurs. You can follow Ross on Twitter, or subscribe to his newsletter.
Ross will be tagging along for the next few episodes offering his ideas and opinions on various topics that are important for young PR and communications professionals. We hope he spark new conversations and offer different perspectives on future topics.
This week’s topic:
This week’s topic has divided the world of PR and communications for decades now: does accreditation really help our industry?
Without missing a beat, Ross jumps in and shares his belief that accreditation is just a money grab scheme from large associations. Kristine is a little bit more on the fence and believes that accreditation might weed out those who bring a bad name to the industry. Julia makes an obvious comparison between accreditation and post-secondary school diplomas – in the end it is experience that matters, not a piece of paper.
Listen to the full episode to get in on the heated debate, and then share your opinion.
Do you think accreditation is necessary for our industry?
Share your opinions by writing a comment below, or on our Facebook Page, or on our Google+ page, or send us an email at youngprpros@gmail.com, or send us a message on Twitter @youngprpros, @kristinedarbell, or @kentjulia.
So I actually did a similar topic for my research project for my post graduate certificate in Corporate Communications at Seneca College.
The study sought to identify the effect of accreditation on the vocational behaviour of public relations practitioners, and the value that accreditation has on the practice of public relations.
We randomly surveyed Canadian Public Relations Society accredited public relations practitioners. Our questionnaire had 3 main areas of focus: the public relations practitioner’s perception of their own behaviour, the behaviour of the organization they worked for, and the behaviour of their peers.
Overall, many respondents agree that more public relations practitioners should become accredited, but a majority would disagree that accredited public relations practitioners necessarily behave more ethically than non-accredited ones.