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Introverts in public relations: how the industry can nurture them into the practice

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Introverts in public relations: how the industry can nurture them into the practice

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Introverts in Public Relations:
How the Industry Can Nurture Them Into the Practice

by

Elise Herrera-Green

A Thesis Presented to the
Faculty of the USC Graduate School
University of Southern California
In Partial Fulfillment of the
Requirements for the Degree
Master of Arts
Strategic Public Relations

August 2014
i

Dedication
To dedicate this paper to one person is unfair, as it was a team of people providing a
combination of things to help me find success. To my amazing support system consisting of
family and friends, this paper would not have happened without your continued love and support.
Thank you for listening to me, letting me cry to you, over analyze to you, complain to you, and
celebrate with you. I’m so incredibly blessed to have you in my life.

ii

Contents
Dedication i
Chapter I: Overview 1
Background
4

Chapter II: Personality Types 12
Introduction
to
the
Myers
Briggs
Type
Indicator
13

Reliability
and
Validity
16

The
Myers
Briggs
Extravert
17

The
Myers
Briggs
Introvert
18

Chapter III: Misconceptions of Introverts 20
Introversion
is
a
Disorder
21

All
Introverts
are
Shy
23

Introverts
Do
Not
Like
People
24

Introverts
Cannot
be
Leaders
25

Chapter IV: Personality in Public Relations 30
Agency
Public
Relations
32

Corporate
Public
Relations
34

Chapter V: Primary Research 37
Content
Analysis
37

Sample Set 38
Procedure 38
Scoring 38
Results of the Content Analysis 39
iii

Content Analysis Table 40
Hiring
Manager
Interviews
40

Sample Set 41
Procedure 41
Findings from the Hiring Manager Interviews 42
Limitations of the Hiring Manager Interviews 45
Student
Interviews
47

Sample Set 47
Procedure 47
Findings from the Student Interviews 48
Limitations of the Student Interviews 50
Chapter VI: Recommendations for the Public Relations Industry 53
Provide
Education
54

Changing
How
We
Communicate
56

Balancing
Job
Descriptions
57

Finding
the
Strengths
in
Each
Personality
58

Chapter VII: Call to Action 61
To
the
Public
Relations
Industry
61

To
the
Introverts
61

Conclusion 63
Bibliography 65
Appendix A – Hiring Manager Interviews 72
Appendix B – Student Interviews 84
1

Chapter I: Overview
The public relations industry calls for practitioners who are open, outgoing, and
thoroughly enjoy the social aspect of the field.
1
Given this personality type in public relations, it
spurs the question, what happens when someone who is quiet, looks inward rather than outward,
and prefers not to socialize as frequently, enters the field? This research paper examines
personality characteristics of extraverts and introverts, as described by the Myers Briggs Type
Indicator, within the field of public relations. Through information gathered from primary and
secondary research findings, it also provides recommendations to the industry on how to support
and acclimate an introvert into to a field that seeks an extravert.
Public relations is comprised of various activities that require those who work in it to
function on a more social level than other fields. Participation in brainstorming sessions, group
meetings to develop ideas, and client teams are required to build campaigns and strategies. In
addition, external relationships are developed with clients, and contacts must be established with
media to communicate those campaigns. Each of these elements requires a high level of
socialization, meaning whoever performs these activities must be comfortable dealing in this
area.
According to the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, a widely known assessment tool used to
determine people’s personality types, people draw their energy from two different places. On one
end of the spectrum is the group who thrives on the energy drawn from the world around them.

1. U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2014-15 Edition. “Public Relations and
Fundraising Managers.” Accessed August 16, 2013. http://www.bls.gov/ooh/management/public-relations-
managers.htm.

2

On the other end of the spectrum is the group who draws energy internally.
2
These descriptions
are more commonly referred to as extraverts and introverts.
The concept of practitioners and extraverted behavior is demonstrated at the start of a
public relations practitioner’s career; beginning with education. For example, degrees in the
study of public relations at the university level require a large amount of socialization and
collaborative effort from each student. Multiple classes within such a degree program consist of
group projects, often more than one per class, and ultimately account for a large percentage of a
student’s overall grade. Public relations students should be prepared to participate in all class
discussions or forego class participation points. Throughout one’s education, networking with
classmates, professors, and classroom guest speakers is an essential tool in order to make the
proper connections that can potentially enhance a practitioner’s career.
Moving forward to the career level of public relations, one must be prepared to once
again work collaboratively and closely with other practitioners within the field. Teams
comprised of colleagues focus on collaboration to design, pitch, and develop projects for clients.
The gregarious aspect of public relations such as building relationships, collective
brainstorming meetings, and teamwork align nicely with the characteristics associated with
extraversion. Because extraverts find that quiet or downtime drains their energy, they must
energize from the world around them.
3
They look to the outside world of people and social
stimulation to recharge. Years of exposure to this environment has provided extraverts with the
tools needed to make quick decisions, work well in teams, be more open, and genuinely enjoy

2. Susan K. Opt and Donald A. Loffredo, "Communicator Image and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Extraversion-Introversion." The Journal of Psychology 137, no. 6 (2013): 560-568. Accessed January 8, 2014.
DOI:10.1080/00223980309600635.

3. Isabel Briggs-Myers, Introduction to Type: A Guide to Understanding Your Results on the MBTI
Instrument (Mountain View, CA: CPP, Inc., 1998).

3

spending time socializing.
4
With these attributes, it appears that extraverts are more readily able
to deliver what the industry fosters.
From the opposite perspective, an introvert can find the idea of socializing, such as
networking and team discussions to be quite draining. They draw their energy from time spent on
their own. As a result, introverts have more experience looking inward; therefore, they choose
solo time versus time spent with others. It is in this solitude where an introvert can recharge and
be creative.
5
Their preference for independent work makes group projects difficult. Introverts
also internally work through thoughts and ideas, which can be problematic when participating in
reactive discussions.
6

In the context of the field of public relations, at first glance, it would appear that the
attributes of an introvert do not align quite as nicely as those of an extravert. Even though this is
the case, there are introverts who express a strong desire to work in the professional world of
public relations. Introverted characteristics may be different from the industry expectations, but
should still be considered valuable and a benefit to the profession. This is especially true given
that public relations is seeing a shift in responsibilities, and more focus is on interpreting Big
Data and managing social networks. These specialties are where an introvert can be a strong
asset.
Continuing to place such a high value on an open outgoing personality type puts the
industry at risk of isolating and losing out on valuable traits that come from having an inward,

4. Susan Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can't Stop Talking. (New York: Crown
Publishers, 2012), Kindle.

5. "Extraversion or Introversion," The Myers Briggs Foundation, accessed November 2, 2013,
http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/extraversion-or-introversion.asp.

6. "ICD-9-CM Codes 301.21 Introverted Personality," Medishare, accessed January 9, 2014.
http://medishare.com/tools/icd9/301.21.

4

reflective thinking individual.
7
In an industry that seems to strongly desire a specific personality
type, where is there room for a quiet, inward- thinking person? How can the industry do its part
to nurture introverts into the world of public relations?

Background
Today’s society has a strong preference for the outspoken, talkative, and socializing
person.
8
But, how did the culture arrive at this way of thinking? Looking back to the 1800’s,
Warren Susman, author of Culture as History, pointed out that society was once interested in
sustaining, more than anything else, a culture of character. As a culture of character, people were
fixated on keywords such as: work, golden deeds, life, honor, integrity, and manhood.
9
A strong
emphasis on these keywords highlighted that humanity measured man based on how honorable
he was and not how outgoing or personable.
As society grew, values began to shift, and by 1920, developing one’s personality became
an attribute of focus. Improvements included becoming a good public speaker, finding ways to
become outgoing, and making oneself a genuinely likeable person. During that time, publishers
printed more novels and manuals on how to improve your personality than ever before.
10
The
publishing and dissemination of these manuals sparked the idea that personality can change with

7. Kaitlin Louie, "Introverts in the Workplace." The Chicago Tribune, last modified September 26, 2013,
accessed January 7, 2014, http://www.chicagotribune.com/classified/jobs/chi-introvert-workplace-
20130926,0,7540262.story.

8. Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts.

9. Warren I. Susman, Culture as History: The Transformation of American Society in the Twentieth
Century. (New York: Pantheon Books, 1973), Kindle.

10. Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts.

5

practice. In addition, it gave the impression that one should mold their individual character to
conform to a societal ideal.
From this point forward, society began to experience a slow shift from a culture of
character to a culture of personality.
11
Making oneself as open and outgoing as possible was of
great significance, and it quickly became the new ideal to develop a likeable persona. With
significant weight placed on a likeable persona, people began to form an obsession with new
words that highlighted the characteristics they truly valued. Society soon developed, cherished,
and embraced new words such as: fascinating, glowing, dominant, and forceful.
12

Susan Cain, author of Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking,
found two factors contributing to the idea that people should spend time on self-improvement.
The first factor that influenced people to believe in the idea of an improved personality was the
type of advertising taking place during that time.
13
From 1920-1950, many companies used
personality driven advertisements. The idea behind this type of advertising was to target the
flaws of consumers. By doing this, companies could convince customers that purchasing their
products would help improve their looks or their individual traits. Figure 1.1 is an example of an
advertisement from 1920 from Camay soap. The ad features an image of a woman with other
people looking at her and it also shows a bar of soap. The tagline reads, “The Eyes of Men . . .
The Eyes of Women, Judge your loveliness every day.” In the ad, the company reminds women
that they are under constant scrutiny from those around them. It also infers that they need not
fear the stares because their skin will glow with Camay soap.

11. Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts.

12. Ibid.
13. Ibid.
6

Figure 1.1

Ads such as this were all too common, and only pushed people further toward feeling the need to
fix their personality.
In addition to personality driven ads, the second contributing factor to the growth of self-
improvement was the rise of the movie star.
14
Films transitioned from a mere novelty into a
primary source of entertainment.
15
This was demonstrated by the increase of movie theaters
throughout the United States. In 1907, there were 5,000 movie theaters across the U.S. and by
1914 the number had exponentially grown to 180,000.
16
Actors and actresses glorified on the big
screen soon became a point of obsession in the personal lives of fans. From 1911-1938, there
were more than 60 consumer magazines and nearly 90 trade magazines dedicated to the

14. Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts.
15. Charlie Keil, Early American Cinema in Transition: Story, Style, and Filmmaking, 1907-1913
(Madison: University of Wisconsin Press, 2002).

16. Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts.

7

discussion and on-goings of movies, actors/actresses and film productions.
17
The production and
consumption of these magazines only increased people’s desire to be more like the strong
confident people on screen.
The culture of personality molded and formed society into what we know it to be today,
what Susan Cain calls The Extrovert Ideal
18
. The Extrovert Ideal highlights the value society
places upon living life in an extraverted manner. It brings to light the multitude of ways
extraversion is nurtured in today’s climate. Modern society fosters extraversion throughout
various areas of everyday life. From childhood to adulthood, examples of extroversion
preferences are evident.
Today, children are strongly encouraged to make friends and organized team activities
like sports and scouting reinforce socialization expectations. These institutional activities teach
children about the importance of working together to help them build social skills. However,
parents and teachers label children as “shy” when they lack a desire to participate, are quiet, or
have fewer friends. The shy children are then pushed to participate in hopes that they will come
out of his or her shell. The extraversion preference is introduced in early childhood and is then
demonstrated in other areas.
Another way this inclination toward extraversion is shown is through the use of
technology. Individuals are praised for transitioning from one task to another, such that, each day
becomes more hectic than the last. The quick speed at which society moves is, in and of itself,
suited for an extraverted personality. Technological advances, in an attempt to keep pace with

17. Quint Randle, “A Historical Overview of the Effects of New Mass Media Introductions on Magazine
Publishing During the 20th Century.” First Monday 6, no.2 (September 2001), accessed January 8, 2014,
http://firstmonday.org/article/view/885/794

18. Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts.

8

quickness, may have inadvertently conditioned society to feel the need to attain what they want
at an instantaneous speed. Understanding that most of the population is always on the go, the
population has been armed with the ability to continuously be connected to information,
whenever it is needed. Multiple devices such as, computers, phones, and even watches provide
immediate access to information. But, the desire is no longer limited to information only and has
evolved into a way of life. This societal preference and desire for immediacy encourages the
behavior that people should function in a similar manner. One prized extrovert characteristic is
the ability to respond to situations immediately, whether that immediate response is to a problem,
an answer to a question, or something substantive such as a crisis.
19
This showcases once again
how society is shaped toward extraversion.
Another example of how society has structured itself around the strengths of the extravert
is through the use of teams and group work in both business and education. Teamwork is
important to business and an important element of the learning process in education. Working in
teams and groups provides participants with a multitude of benefits. The skills learned through
these groups show the importance of collaboration and allow people to enter the world of
interdependence.
20
Teams expose individuals to a variety of personality types and teach them
how to work effectively with those personality types. There is little doubt as to the advantages of
working in teams, and research has leaned toward exalting the plethora of benefits associated
with teams. What has been overlooked is the disadvantage of the overuse of teams in all
environments and the challenges sometimes associated with teams and group work. Some

19. Briggs-Myers, Introduction to Type.

20. Elizabeth Pfaff and Patricia Huddleston, “Does It Matter if I Hate Teamwork? What Impacts Student
Attitudes Toward Teamwork,” Journal of Marketing Education 25, no. 1 (2003): 37-45, accessed January 10, 2014,
doi 10.1177/0273475302250571.

9

observers caution to be wary, as there can be considerable drawbacks to placing too much value
on this particular method of work.
One downside to moving from independent work into a team-oriented structure is that the
team concept is getting increasingly difficult to organize and ultimately more expensive for
companies to operate.
21
The workplace has become more complex than in days past. Often,
employees are working with colleagues or clients in various locations, time zones, and even
countries. As business moves into this new model, companies will have a harder time facilitating
a team based work environment.
An additional problem with the overuse of teams is that companies are now placing
greater emphasis on creating a shared workspace, and office settings are moving toward an open
area layout.
22
These shared work spaces often lack interior walls, are larger than traditional
offices, and contain greater numbers of individual workers with workstations arranged in
groups.
23
Researchers Leach and Clegg from the University of Leeds examined the impact of the
open layout plan on an office environment and found that while these layouts are successful in
fostering greater communication and interaction, there are some risks associated with this type of
spacing. The open layout design can often lead to interruption of workflow. Workflow
interruption then impacts an individual’s thought process and task performance that eventually
leads to increased stress in the workplace.
24
Constant communication and discussion can cause

21. Kevan Hall, "Too Much Teamwork Makes Companies Slow and Expensive to Run," Strategic
Direction, no. 9 (2007): 3-4, accessed November 1, 2013, DOI: 10.1108/02580540710779672.

22. Cain, “Quiet: The Power of Introverts”

23. M. C. Davis, D. J. Leach, and C. W. Clegg, “The Physical Environment of the Office: Contemporary
and Emerging Issues,” International Review of Industrial and Organizational Psychology 26, (2011): 193-235,
accessed December 6, 2013,
http://www.academia.edu/434685/The_Physical_Environment_of_the_Office_Contemporary_and_Emerging_Issue.

24. Ibid.
10

individuals within these environments to be over stimulated. This overstimulation can be very
distracting for some employees, and as a result, has the potential to lead to less productivity over
time. In combination with other factors, this can again lead to additional stress on the
employees.
25

The last major difficulty than can arise from a team environment is free riding/social
loafing.
26
This is the idea that some people, simply put, do not pull their weight. One study that
surveyed undergraduate marketing students found that 65 percent of the students said that free
riding/social loafing was a prevalent problem within their group over the course of a semester.
The same study also noted that the division of labor within teams had the potential to lead to
specialization; resulting in someone not learning about the various parts of a topic, only the
specific parts to which they were assigned.
27

The overuse of teams has the potential to lead to what Cain refers to as, “The Rise of the
New Groupthink.”
28
Cain’s definition states, “The New Groupthink elevates teamwork above all
else. It insists that creativity and intellectual achievement come from a gregarious place. It has
the potential to stifle productivity at work and to deprive schoolchildren of the skills they’ll need
to achieve excellence.” Even though this commitment to using teams in areas of work and life
can potentially cause a disservice, the new company norm is to conduct business in this manner.

25. Davis, Leach & Clegg, “The Physical Environment of the Office.”

26. Denny E. McCorkle, James Reardon, Joe F. Alexander, Nathan King, Robert C. Harris, R
Vishwanathan Iyer, “Undergraduate Marketing Students, Group Projects, and Teamwork: The Good, the Bad, and
the Ugly?” Journal of Marketing Education (1999): accessed January 10, 2014, DOI 10.1177/0273475399212004.

27. Denny E. McCorkle et al., “Undergraduate Marketing Students, Group Projects, and Teamwork”

28. Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts.

11

The ability to work effectively in a team setting is a valuable skill; and no one can deny
the need for companies to utilize the team method. Each company’s need for teamwork is
different, and the extent of the team method is often times dependent upon the type of work
conducted by a company. However, the overuse of these collaborative efforts comes at the cost
of losing independent work and potentially the people who thrive in that work environment. The
team mentality is being pushed to the degree that independent work seems outdated. Working
alone can foster creativity especially in an introverted personality. More importantly, working
independently, regardless of personality, is one of the only ways to truly master and improve
one’s skill. When companies limit the opportunity for independent work time through integrated
workstations and office layout, an individual may never get the chance to achieve mastery.
Tasks in the field of public relations lend themselves to the collaborative environment.
Utilized to create campaigns and strategic communication plans, teamwork has become an
essential function of working in the industry. Because of this, teamwork and collaboration have
found a home in public relations. Taking what is known about the history of the extravert
preference and understanding how deeply embedded it is in the American lifestyle, it becomes
easier to understand how an extraverted personality has come to be favored as the ideal
personality needed to enter the field of public relations.
To better understand the difference between introverts and extroverts, the next section of
this paper will explore the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, personality types according to the
Myers Briggs Type Indicator, and the reason this personality assessment tool was selected.

12

Chapter II: Personality Types
Personality trait theories are a widely discussed topic within the psychology realm, and
there is no shortage of theories and tools available to assess and determine what elements
comprise ones personality. Popular trait theories include Jung’s Theory of Personality, the Five
Factor Model (also known as the Big Five), Eysenck’s Three Personality Trait Theory, and the
Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory.
In the simplest terms, each of these trait theories seek to determine the appropriate
number of basic human traits found at the core of a person’s personality.
29
The degree to which a
person demonstrates those traits, and how those traits interact with each other, is essentially what
determines how one thinks or acts. Debates continue to exist within the field as to how many
basic traits make up a human personality.
30
However, because each of these popular theories
includes some element of extroversion and introversion, it would appear that they all agree that
extraversion and introversion exist at the fundamental level of the human personality.
For this paper, the author elected to utilize the Myers Briggs Type Indicator to assess
personality types, which is based on Jung’s theory of personality. The Myers Briggs Type
Indicator was selected for a few reasons. First, it is widely used to assess personality in both the
workplace and academia. Some reports state that more than 10,000 companies, 2,500 colleges
and universities, and 200 government agencies have utilized the Myers Briggs Type Indicator to
assess the personalities of their employees and students.
31
Because this paper explores

29. Kendra Cherry, “Trait Theory of Personality: The Trait Approach to Personality,” About Psychology,
accessed January 8, 2014, http://psychology.about.com/od/theoriesofpersonality/a/trait-theory.htm.

30. Ibid.

31. Lillian Cunningham, "Myers-Briggs personality test embraced by employers, not all psychologists,"
The Seattle Times, last modified April 13, 2013, accessed January 2, 2014,
http://seattletimes.com/html/businesstechnology/2020769531_myersbriggspersonalitytestxml.html.

13

personality in the workplace, the Myers Briggs Type Indicator felt like an appropriate fit. The
second reason the Myers Briggs Type Indicator was selected is that it is more widely used by the
public and, therefore, more readily available and easier to access.

Introduction to the Myers Briggs Type Indicator
Developed in the 1950’s by Isabel Briggs Myers and her mother Katherine Cook Briggs,
the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment tool is based upon Carl Jung’s theory of
personality type.
32
Jung was one of the first people to conclude that the different behaviors
unique to each person are actually the result of the natural tendencies of how their minds make
decisions.
33
In his theory, he identified eight different core traits found within the human
personality. He believed that fundamentally people orient to the world in one of two ways. The
first is how they take in information or what he referred to as Perceiving (P) information. The
second is how they organize that information in order to come to conclusions, or what he
referred to as Judging (J).
34

He also theorized that when people Perceived (P) they did it using Sensing (S) or
Intuition (N) and when they Judged (J) they did it using Thinking (T) or Feeling (F).
35
In
addition, he determined through observation that people also differed in the area from which they
pull their energy. He theorized that individuals either energize more from the external world of
people, experiences, and activities; what he referred to as extraversion (E) or that they energize

32. The Myers Briggs Foundation, “MBTI Basics.”

33. Briggs-Myers, Introduction to Type.

34. Ibid.

35. The Myers Briggs Foundation, "MBTI Basics," accessed November 2, 2013,
http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/extraversion-or-introversion.asp.

14

more from the internal world of ideas, memories, and emotions; what he referred to as
introversion (I).
The mother-daughter team, seeing the benefits of knowing psychological type, set forth
to create a personality assessment that could be accessed and utilized by the masses in a way that
was meaningful to their everyday lives.
36
Because of its ease of use and popularity, the MBTI is
one of the most widely used forms for assessing personality traits, especially in the area of career
counseling.
37

The actual assessment tool is taken online or via hard copy, and for a fee that is
dependent upon who gives the exam.
38
There are currently six versions of the exam, each used
only in specific scenarios. The various exams are self-report multiple-choice questionnaires
ranging from 93-222 items, depending on the version.
39
The results are then scored and, from the
answers supplied, a personality assessment is provided that is comprised from four different
scales. The assessment features 16 different personality outcomes. It is also important to note
that only a certified Myers Briggs Administrator can administer and interpret the official Myers
Briggs Type Indicator.
One of each of the following components comprises each person’s personality:
40

Introversion/Extraversion: This refers to a person’s natural orientation. The
Introversion/Extraversion scale describes how the individual prefers to draws energy. Introverts

36. The Myers Briggs Foundation, “MBTI Basics.”

37. R. Bryan Kennedy, and D. Ashley Kennedy, "Using the Myers Briggs Type Indicator in Counseling,"
Journal of Employment Counseling no. 1 (2004): 38-44, accessed December 10, 2013, DOI: 10.1002/j.2161-
1920.2004.tb00876.x.

38. The Myers Briggs Foundation, “MBTI Basics.”

39. Ibid.

40. Ibid.

15

attain energy from situations where they are alone and allowed time for reflective thinking.
Extraverts on the other hand draw energy and recharge from participating in social situations.
Sensing/Intuition: This scale refers to how individuals prefer to take in the information around
them. Sensing individuals tend to pay more attention to the physical parts of reality; meaning,
what they can physically see in front of them and what is real. Intuitive individuals tend to focus
more attention on the impression they get from a situation, or the meaning behind an act.
Thinking/Feeling: The Thinking/Feeling scale refers to how an individual organizes the
information they take in, and how they use that information for decision-making. A personality
preference for Thinking means that a person relies on a logical and rational process for decision-
making. A Feeling individual instead relies on a subjective process for their decision-making;
always factoring in their feelings/emotions and the feelings/emotions of others before reaching a
solution.
Judgment/Perception: This scale relates to how an individual orients himself or herself to the
external world. A Judgmental person fixates on making decisions while using any combination
of Thinking/Feeling. A Perceiving person tends to focus on taking in information, using any
combination of Sensing/Intuition, but tend not to make decisions immediately.
Jung believed that although each person has the ability to access these various mental
processes, people innately preferred one to the other. Their dominant function is therefore their
preferred mental process. Since each person’s personality is built from one of four different
scales, it is important to note that the degree to which a person identifies with each of the four
scales can vary. For example, one person may mildly identify with the side of an introvert and
mildly identify with the side of an extravert. That person then falls somewhere between the two
ends of the spectrum, and finds that they will exhibit qualities of both an extravert and an
16

introvert. Jung agreed that a person’s personality would never fully align with either side of any
of the scales.

Reliability and Validity
The masses do not always agree on the personality theories available. Although the
Myers Briggs Type Indicator has seen great success and acceptance from the public, it has also
received skepticism from the scientific community.
41
Scientists generally call into the question
the reliability and validity of the personality assessment tool.
Reliability refers to how consistently a test is repeatable and still yields consistent results.
According to the Myer Briggs Foundation, when scores of the MBTI are treated continuously the
exam “is as good as or better than other personality instruments.”
42
The Myers Briggs
Foundation also states that upon retest, those who have been assessed received three to four of
the same type preferences 75-90 percent of the time. In cases where a person’s type changes it is,
“usually in one of the dichotomous pairs where the dichotomy preference was low.”
43

The validity of a test refers to the degree to which this personality assessment measures
what it intends to measure. Older studies have lent support to the MBTI stating that it has proven
validity in the following three categories: 1) the four separate preference scales 2) the four
preference pairs 3) whole types or combinations of preferences.
44

41. Cunningham, "Myers-Briggs personality test embraced by employers, not all psychologists."

42. The Myers Briggs Foundation, “Reliability and Validity," accessed November 2, 2013,
http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/extraversion-or-introversion.asp.

43. Ibid.

44. The Myers Briggs Foundation, "Extraversion or Introversion," accessed November 2, 2013,
http://www.myersbriggs.org/my-mbti-personality-type/mbti-basics/extraversion-or-introversion.asp.
17

Given what information is known about the skepticism that surrounds this particular form
of assessment, the MBTI is still very commonly used when assessing a personality type for the
workplace. A study that examined information gained from clients who have used MBTI in
career assessment found that “knowledge obtained from MBTI research provides empowerment
in that individuals can achieve insight into their sources of energy, information, gathering,
decision making, and personal lifestyle or orientation.”
45

Each personality assessment tool has its own definition of the basic traits found in human
personality. The following section will take a closer look at the Myers Briggs definition of
Extraversion and Introversion.

The Myers Briggs Extravert
Extraverts, from the Myers Briggs Perspective, tend to gravitate outward toward
whatever is happening around them. They are very strongly oriented to the outer world of
people, objects, and events, and they tend to react immediately to the conditions that surround
them.
46
Extraverts derive energy from active involvement, and are excited and energized when
surrounded by other people.
47
Energy levels for extraverts tend to drop when not actively
engaged with others and therefore are nurtured through highly social experiences. Characteristics
associated with extraversion include: attuned to external environment, prefers to communicate by
talking, works out ideas by talking through them, learns best by doing or discussing, has broad

45. Kennedy and Kennedy, "Using the Myers Briggs Type Indicator in Counseling."

46. Briggs-Myers, Introduction to Type.

47. The Myers Briggs Foundation, "Extraversion or Introversion."

18

interests, is sociable and expressive, and readily takes initiative in work and relationships.
48

Extraverts are talkative, active, outgoing, social, and enjoy meeting new people.
49

The Myers Briggs Introvert
On the opposite end of the extravert spectrum are the introverts. While the extravert leans
toward the outer world, the introvert gravitates toward the inner self. They get their energy from
solitude, and they recharge by enjoying time alone. Social situations can be draining for
introverts, so they prefer socialization in the form of one or two close friends. Energy levels for
the introvert go up when alone. Characteristics associated with introversion include: being drawn
to the inner world, preferring to communicate in writing, working out ideas by reflecting on
them, learning best by reflection, focusing in-depth on interests, being private and contained, and
taking initiative when the situation or issue is important to them.”
50
The Myers Briggs Introverts
are quiet, favor depth over breadth, think heavily before acting, and prefer working alone.
51

Defining introverts and extraverts according to The Myers Briggs Type Indicator helps to
offer clarification of characteristics associated with both personality types. Often, society makes
assumptions about both introverts and extraverts and then believes those assumptions to be true.
Misconceptions about personality types are fairly common and can lead to the public receiving
information that is untrue. Exploring the misconceptions that have followed the introvert may
offer understanding as to why introverts seem to be less prevalent within the industry of public

48. Briggs-Myers, Introduction to Type.

49. Ibid.

50. Ibid.

51. Ibid
19

relations. The next section of this paper will examine some of the larger misconceptions that are
associated with introversion.

20

Chapter III: Misconceptions of Introverts
From early childhood on, introversion and introverted tendencies are treated as
personality flaws that need correction. If someone is too quiet or keeps to him or herself too
much, suspicions begin to arise about the emotional and mental stability of that individual. News
reports about individuals who have committed acts, such as mass shootings or bombings, are
frequently described as a loner or always keeping to themselves.
52
The association of keeping to
oneself and these terrible acts may account for some of the public push and desire for people to
be more outgoing. From the public perception, if someone is more outgoing then perhaps he or
she is less inclined to commit acts of violence.
Unfortunately, for the introverts, the connection between these two items has given
introverted tendencies a very negative connotation. From one perspective, it is hard to blame the
public for thinking in this manner. Most of the population has no formal training in the area of
personality or personality disorders. All that they see is people, who suffer from conditions such
as social anxiety disorder or even shyness, sometimes share characteristics similar to those of an
introverted person. These misconceptions and confusions about introversion and introverted
tendencies have existed for so long that there is a constant battle to try to set the record straight.
More and more people these days are beginning to understand the importance of valuing
the qualities and perspective that an introvert can bring. The literature available on the topic is

52. Sean Alfano, "Police: Montreal Gunman Killed Himself," CBS News, last modified September 14,
2006, accessed January 9, 2014, http://www.cbsnews.com/news/police-montreal-gunman-killed-himself/; Mariano
Castillo and Chelsea J. Carter, "Background of Colorado shooting suspect full of contrasts," CNN, last modified
July 22, 2012, accessed January 9, 2014, http://edition.cnn.com/2012/07/20/us/colorado-theater-suspect-profile/;
Rachel Quigley and Thomas Durante, "High school loner to cold-blooded executioner: How 'genius' honor student
Adam Lanza became masked killer," Mail Online, last modified December 14, 2014, accessed January 28, 2014,
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2248197/Adam-Lanza-How-honor-student-goth-killer-massacring-20-
children-Sandy-Hook-Elementary.html; David Wright, "LAX Suspect Paul Ciancia Was a Loner, Former
Classmates Say," ABC News, last modified November 04, 2013, accessed January 9, 2014,
http://abcnews.go.com/US/lax-suspect-paul-ciancia-loner-classmates/story?id=20773451.

21

overwhelming and often very encouraging. Still, even with all of the positive information that is
available, many misunderstandings about introverts continue to persist. This section will touch
on some of the larger misconceptions that are keeping introverts from truly breaking through the
barrier.

Introversion is a Disorder
Because introverts process thoughts internally instead of aloud, one common
misconception of the introvert is that they have a fear of speaking for fear of judgment.
53
In
actuality, introversion is a preference for individual time and not a fear of communication. In
this instance, introversion is being confused with social anxiety disorder. Social anxiety disorder
is not a preference for time alone, but by definition is, “an extreme fear of being scrutinized and
judged by others in social or performance situations.”
54
Why then would the two be confused
with one another?
Some studies have suggested that in certain instances there may be a connection between
those who suffer from social anxiety disorder and low levels of extraversion.
55
In these studies,
sufferers of social anxiety disorders demonstrate lower levels of extraversion, indicating that
they perhaps have higher levels of introversion. The confusion of introversion as a disorder may
stem from the fact that overlap is prevalent between characteristics of introverts and
characteristics of those with personality or social disorders. That small connection, in

53. Denise Graveline, "Five big myths about introverts and public speaking," Don't Get Caught Blog,
March 14, 2013, accessed January 9, 2014, http://www.dontgetcaught.biz/2013/03/five-big-myths-about-introverts-
and.html.

54. Anxiety and Depression Association of America, "Social Anxiety Disorder," accessed January 6, 2014,
http://www.adaa.org/understanding-anxiety/social-anxiety-disorder.

55. Murray B. Stein, and Dan J. Stein, "Social anxiety disorder," The Lancet. (2008): 1115-1125, accessed
January 9, 2014, www.thelancet.com.

22

combination with a general lack of knowledge from the public’s perspective may play a part in
this misconception.
Researchers, psychologists, and even introverts attempt to help people understand the
difference between the two through countless articles, studies, and online blogs. However, even
with the efforts to change the perception of introversion as a disorder, introverts and introversion
are still prone to setbacks. Until as recently as 2010, the World Health Organization (WHO)
included introverted personality in the International Statistical Classification of Diseases and
Related Health Problems (ICD-9) to classify it as a billable medical condition.
56

In addition to the WHO’s classification, in 2011 the American Psychiatric Association
considered adding introversion to the most updated edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical
Manual (DSM-5). The addition of introversion to the DSM-5 would have made introversion a
contributing factor when diagnosing personality disorders.
57
Seeking to classify introverted
personality as a billable medical condition, and considering it a contributing factor when
diagnosing personality disorders, makes it increasingly more difficult to break the connection
between personality disorder and introversion.
While introversion as a disorder continues to be a difficult misconception to leave behind,
an even more challenging misconception to the introvert has been that introverts are shy.

56. "ICD-9-CM Codes 301.21 Introverted Personality," Medishare, accessed January 9, 2014,
http://medishare.com/tools/icd9/301.21.

57. Nancy Ancowitz, "A Giant Step Backwards for Introverts," Psychology Today, last modified August 6,
2010, accessed January 9, 2014, http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/self-promotion-introverts/201008/giant-
step-backward-introverts.

23

All Introverts are Shy
Another significant misconception of introversion is that all introverts are shy.
58
In
American culture, introversion is a synonym for shyness when describing someone’s personality.
“Shy people desperately want to connect, but find socializing difficult,” according to Bernardo
Carducci, Professor of Psychology and Director of the Shyness Research Institute.
59
This is very
different from introverts who have the ability to connect, if they want to, but intentionally choose
solitude. It has come to be a popular belief that if someone is quiet and not as talkative as others
are, the reasoning must be that they are too shy to communicate.
The misconception that these two things are the same, while frustrating for introverts, is
again somewhat understandable. This falsity has gained popularity for a number of reasons.
Susan Cain argues that a cultural bias exists against both shyness and introversion, and thus has
made them interchangeable to those who do not experience either one of them.
60
Cain also
offers the notion that this bias stems from the fact that neither groups are perceived as alphas in
the eye of Western society.
61

The second reason this myth has gained so much popularity is that psychologists have
found overlap between the two, although to what degree is up for discussion. This means that
there are instances in which introverts can exhibit shyness, and there are times when shy people
will express a tendency for introversion. Even though this is the case, it is still important that a

58. Carolyn Gregoire, "6 Things You Thought Wrong About Introverts," Huffington Post, last modified
July 29, 2013, accessed January 9, 2014, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/29/introvert-
myths_n_3569058.html.

59. Laurie Helgoe, "Revenge of the Introvert." Psychology Today, October 2010, accessed September 5,
2013, http://www.psychologytoday.com/articles/201008/revenge-the-introvert.

60. Susan Cain, "Are You Shy, Introverted, Both, or Neither (and Why Does it Matter)?" The Power of
Introverts Blog, July 5, 2011, accessed January 9, 2014, http://www.thepowerofintroverts.com/2011/07/05/are-you-
shy-introverted-both-or-neither-and-why-does-it-matter/.

61. Ibid.
24

distinction between the two be made.
62
Shyness and introversion are two separate things, are
measured on two different scales, and thus have two separate definitions.
63

Whatever the reasoning may be for the confusion between shyness and introversion, what
really matters is placing the emphasis on the importance of understanding that the two are
different before labeling someone as one or the other.

Introverts Do Not Like People
Because of their preference for time alone, another common misconception of the
introvert is that they do not like people.
64
This misconception can be difficult for introverts to
overcome because they do indeed prefer time spent alone as opposed to time spent with others.
The interpretation of this preference is that an introvert dislikes people. That being said,
introverts can enjoy spending time socializing, albeit with groups of smaller people.
65
Although
their pool of friends is smaller in comparison to that of an extravert, the depth of those
relationships is usually quite meaningful. In other circumstances, it is not uncommon or unheard
of for introverts to socialize in larger groups. But, it should be understood that the more
stimulating the group and environment, the more quickly an introvert will need to step away
from the situation in order to gather and recharge.
Much like in the case of the shyness misconception, the term introvert is also
interchangeably confused with an antisocial or asocial person. Anyone familiar with the

62. Stephen R. Briggs, "Shyness: Introversion or Neutroticism?" Journal of Research and Personality 22.
(1988): 290-307, accessed February 5, 2014, DOI: 10.1016/0092-6566(88)90031-1.

63. Ibid.

64. Gregoire, "6 Things You Thought Wrong About Introverts."

65. Briggs-Myers, Introduction to Type.

25

definition of antisocial or asocial is well aware that introversion is not either of these things. An
antisocial person suffers from a mental condition in which their thinking and relating to the
people around them is dysfunctional and harmful to others.
66

In addition, while asocial can mean, at its simplest definition, someone who is not social,
it is also defined as “averse to the society of others” or, “inconsiderate of others; self-centered.”
67

Since some of those definitions are negative and very different from introversion, it is more
accurate that an introvert is defined as an introvert and not as anything else.

Introverts Cannot Be Leaders
This last misconception of the introvert may be the most detrimental in terms of
advancing in the workplace; that they cannot be leaders. Extraverts are often associated with
leadership because of the natural confidence they project. Their ability to socialize, quickly meet
new people, and eloquently communicate suits them well for leadership roles. After all, leaders
should be confident, quick decision makers, and good speakers.
68
The research available shows
that leadership and extraversion are usually related. A meta-analysis conducted by psychologists
from the University of Minnesota and the University of Florida, found extraversion to be, “the

66. Mayo Clinic Staff, "Diseases and Conditions: Antisocial Personality Disorder," The Mayo Clinic, last
modified April 12, 2013, accessed January 6, 2014, http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/antisocial-
personality-disorder/basics/definition/con-20027920.

67. Merriam-Webster Dictionary, s.v. “asocial,” accessed January 8, 2014, http://www.merriam-
webster.com/dictionary/asocial.

68. Marshall Goldsmith, “Self-Confidence for Leaders,” Businessweek, last modified April 21, 2009,
accessed February 20, 2014, http://www.businessweek.com/managing/content/apr2009/ca20090421_970227.htm;
Larina Kase, “Great Leaders are Great Decision Makers,” last modified 2010, accessed February 21, 2014,
http://gbr.pepperdine.edu/2010/10/great-leaders-are-great-decision-makers/. Mariana Simoes, “Instant MBA:
Leaders Must be Great Speakers,” Business Insider , last modified March 1, 2013, accessed February 20, 2014,
http://www.businessinsider.com/be-concise-about-your-vision-2013-3.

26

strongest and most consistent correlate of transformational leadership.”
69
Transformational
leadership is an approach to leadership in which the leader has the ability to inspire or motivate
employees to become leaders.
70
A separate meta-analysis conducted by psychologists from
Alliant International University, Claremont College, McKenna College, and the University of
Birmingham also found the most notable of individual differences predictive of leader
emergence in leaderless group discussions was extraversion.
71
With research consistently
showing the correlation between leaders and their tendencies toward extraversion, it is no
wonder introverts are not considered closely associated with leadership positions. One might
even be surprised to learn of an introvert’s ability to lead. At first look, the characteristics of a
leader and an introvert do not seem to coincide. But, history is proving, and research is beginning
to show, though quiet, introverts have the power to be great leaders.
Popular culture and history are abundant with examples of outstanding introverted
leaders. Some of the most notable self-identified introverted, or classified introverted leaders,
include Mohandas Gandhi. Gandhi was a great force in India’s quest for independence, and was
once quoted as saying, “In a gentle way, you can shake the world.”
72
A great example of an
introvert who is not shy is Bill Gates, cofounder of Microsoft.
73
Abraham Lincoln, a leader

69. Joyce E. Bono, and Timothy A. Judge, "Personality and Transformational and Transactional
Leadership: A Meta-Analysis," Journal of Applied Psychology 89, no. 5 (2004): 901-910, accessed November 6,
2013, DOI: 10.1037/0021-9010.89.5.901.

70. Wayne Ramsey, “Transformational Leadership as an Effective Leadership Style,” Yahoo Voices, last
modified October 23, 2010, accessed May 10, 2014, http://voices.yahoo.com/transformational-leadership-as-
effective-leadership-7034272.html?cat=3

71. Nurcan Ensari, Ronald E. Riggio, Julie Christian, and Gregory Carslaw, "Who emerges as a leader?
Meta-analyses of individual differences as predictors of leadership emergence," Elsevier: Personality and Individual
Differences, (2011): 532-536, accessed November 6, 2013, doi:10.1016/j.paid.2011.05.017.

72. Laura Shocker, "16 Outrageously Successful Introverts," Huffington Post, last modified August 13,
2013, accessed January 7, 2014, www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/13/famous-introverts_n_3733400.html.

73. Cain, Quiet: The Power of Introverts.
27

during the time of a culture of character, demonstrated that extraversion is not a necessity in
leading.
74
Rosa Parks, a catalyst of the fight for civil rights among African-Americans, was often
described as timid and quiet. She even titled her autobiography “Quiet Strength.”
75
Even movie
star Audrey Hepburn was quoted as saying, “I have to be alone very often. I would be perfectly
happy if I spent Saturday night until Monday morning alone in my apartment. That’s how I
refuel,” shattering the much-publicized illusion of the confident outgoing movie star persona.
76

Not only are introverted leaders being seen in popular culture, the research is finally
beginning to dismantle the idea that introverts cannot make good leaders. While extraversion
may be a characteristic strongly correlated with emerging and transformational leadership,
studies are finding that proactive employees tend to perform better under leaders who are lower
in extraversion. In a study conducted in 2011, researchers Grant, Gino, and Hofman determined
how well groups performed under extraverted leadership. To do this, they administered a field
study and spoke with 130 franchised pizza locations in the United States. Each store manager
self-rated in terms of what level of extraversion they considered themselves to possess. Next, the
team contacted the store employees. Employees then estimated how often they or their co-
workers tried to, “bring about improved procedures.”
The results showed that extraverted leadership was associated with 16 percent higher
profits than average with employees who were not very proactive; however, in cases where

74. Shocker, “16 Outrageously Successful Introverts.”

75. Ibid.

76. Ibid.

28

proactivity was higher in employees, the extraverted leadership was instead associate with 14
percent lower profits than average.
77

To test this theory even further, the team reached out to a group of college students.
Dividing the college students into groups consisting of one leader and four followers, students
received instruction to fold t-shirts. The results the research team received from this study were
consistent with the results found from the franchised pizza business. The groups with proactive
followers performed better under an introverted leader, and folded 28 percent more shirts on
average. Their research concluded that leaders low in extraversion achieved higher profits and
higher performance with employees who were more proactive.
78

While it may come as a surprise that the qualities introverts possess can help them to be
strong leaders, it should not. There are several attributes associated with introversion, which lend
themselves to great leadership; one such attribute is that introverts prepare.
79
Because they take
extra time to think before giving opinions and providing ideas, in most cases, introverts spend
extra time preparing for meetings, talks, or projects. This is not to say that extraverts do not
prepare, but introverts utilize that extra time to collect their thoughts. Another helpful trait is that
they generally have a high need for achievement, which means they are constantly assessing
themselves along with their work and performance.
80
They seek better results from themselves
and their team, which is useful when leading a group of individuals. Introverts are also skilled

77. Adam M. Grant, Francesa Gino, and David A. Hofmann, "Reversing The Extraverted Leadership
Advantage: The Role Of Employee Proactivity," Academy of Management Journal, no. 3 (2011): 528-547, accessed
November 6, 2013, DOI: 10.5465/AMJ.2011.61968043.

78. Grant, Gino, and Hofmann, "Reversing The Extraverted Leadership Advantage.”

79. Margarita Tartakovsky, "4 Things Introverts Do that Makes Them Effective Leaders," Psych Central
Blog, January 7, 2014, accessed January 7, 2014, psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/09/28/4-things-introverts-do-
that-makes-them-effective-leaders.

80. Ibid.
29

listeners, an important quality for leaders to possess. Listening and understanding helps leaders
to be more effective for their team.
Negative misconceptions are not strictly limited to the introvert, as extraverts suffer from
various misconceptions of their own. Even though this is the case, it would seem that the
negative misconceptions of extraverts have not diminished people’s view of extraversion, as it is
still very positive to be thought of as outgoing and talkative in Western cultures. The
misconceptions of the introvert, to an extent, have been detrimental to how people view
introversion.
This paper thus far has examined how Western society views and values an extraverted
personality, and offered a brief history about personality types. It has also offered clarification on
some of the larger misconceptions of introverts have and demonstrated how those have had an
impact on introverts. The next section will look specifically at personality within the field of
public relations.

30

Chapter IV: Personality in Public Relations
Some professions just naturally seem well matched with particular personalities. This
might be due to job responsibilities in that field being better suited for characteristics found in
specific personality types. Another reason for this may be that particular personality types
naturally gravitate toward certain fields.
It is widely accepted that public relations practitioners are outgoing extraverted
individuals. Because this personality is often associated with the industry, it has almost become
an expectation of the type of personality a practitioner should have. One possible reason this
stereotype has persisted could be that the field of public relations falls under the umbrella of
communications, wherein the name implies the need to be able to effectively do so.
Unfortunately, it is widely assumed that only outgoing people are adept at effective
communication. But, there is something to be said about introversion, what can be learned from
the introvert, and what talents they bring to the field.
Thinking about communication in general, a preference for introversion or extroversion
does not necessarily dictate one’s ability to communicate. While extraverted individuals are
natural speakers, introverts are exceptional listeners. Listening is an important, and often
forgotten, element of effective communication. There are two parts to communication, speaking
and listening, and successful communication requires both components.
Looking more specifically at public relations, how do personality traits fit into the field?
Public relations is divided into several different practice areas: sports, entertainment, health,
investor relations, product, and so forth, and could also be categorized into areas of specialty;
meaning the specific capacity in which a practitioner can focus. Areas of specialty include media
relations, social media, research, and crisis management. For the purposes of this paper, public
31

relations will be categorized on a more general level: corporate/in-house public relations and
agency public relations.
Upon first glance, corporate public relations and agency public relations are not too
different. At their core, how they complete and contribute to the industry is comparable. In both
arenas, an interested client establishes communications goals, and practitioners work toward
accomplishing them. In the agency world, a client seeks the help of a specific agency; in the
corporate world, the company is the client.
The functions and responsibilities of practitioners in their roles at each place are also
fundamentally the same. Practitioners need to have a deep understanding of the public relations
industry and how it functions. They will also need to be able to perform routine duties that are a
staple of the public relations industry such as establishing media contacts, drafting news articles
for use in publications - such as press releases, pitch letters, or newsletters. Working in both the
agency and corporate realms requires PR professionals to know how to summarize the achieved
deliverables. Ask any practitioner in the industry and they will tell you that even though each
place has a client to report to and each place has many of the same responsibilities; the two
places are vastly different.
Even though the skills needed to complete public relations work in corporate and agency
are almost the same; how the work is completed and the environment in which it is completed is
what separates the corporate and agency world of public relations. To gain a better understanding
of the difference between the two, this paper will next explore, in detail, the arena of agency
public relations and corporate public relations.

32

Agency Public Relations
Agencies have been indispensably beneficial to the clients they serve by fulfilling a need
that is, often times, missing from corporations. In some instances, a client may not have an in-
house public relations staff or their in-house staff is very small. Because of these limitations,
they are unable to devote the resources to complete specific goals, thereby creating a need to hire
an external team. Regardless of the reason clients have for seeking the help of a public relations
agency, the advantages of agency work are undeniable.
Public relations agencies can range in size from smaller boutique agencies to large global
agencies. Not being direct employees of the clients they serve, agency practitioners have the
ability to offer an outside perspective. In a recent article published by Forbes, the author noted
that agency practitioners are able to give honest opinions to companies on ideas that may or may
not work and on goals that may or may not be attainable.
81

Business in agency public relations is usually initiated when a client seeks the help of an
agency. Together, the client and agency determine specific communication goals and determine
how the agency will help the client attain them. The agency then assigns a team of practitioners
to work with this client until the goals are completed. The length of time to complete these goals
is dependent upon on the size of the project and the established budget. Practitioners in the
agency are often assigned to several clients and can work on multiple accounts simultaneously.
This means that practitioners constantly have to make sure they are well versed in their clients
company and knowledgeable about the industry in which their client operates. There are times
when a practitioner needs to obtain this knowledge very quickly.

81. Robert Wynne, "What Does a Public Relations Agency Do?" Forbes, last modified April 10, 2013,
accessed January 8, 2014, http://www.forbes.com/sites/robertwynne/2013/04/10/what-does-a-public-relations-
agency-do/.

33

The pace at an agency moves very rapidly. In several interviews conducted with public
relations agency hiring managers, managers described the agency experience as very fast paced
and requiring a certain level of flexibility.
82
This need for speed is due in part to the fact that
there is much to do, and several accounts on which work needs to be completed. An agency
practitioner will potentially work with several different clients and possibly in several different
industries within their career at an agency.
Because clients are assigned to teams, teamwork is an essential function of the agency
world. This is why, in terms of an agency layout, mangers are looking for the best way to foster
an open communication environment. In nearly all of the interviews performed with hiring
managers, the office layout was described as being open, in order to encourage communication
and collaboration. Managers in several agencies indicated the desire for a shared workspace with
an open layout and low partitioned desks.
83
This layout is preferable for managers because
facilitating a space where practitioners are able to shout out to one another and bounce ideas
back and forth is of great importance.
84

Something unique to the agency public relations experience is the use of billable hours.
Practitioners who work in agencies often work with billable and non-billable hours. Billable
hours are time spent on a specific account billed directly to that client. Non-billable hours are the
hours one spends on time that is not directly associated with a client. The concept of billable
hours has existed for a long time and is predominantly used in law offices and agency settings.
The billable hours approach to billing clients for services provided has suffered criticism

82. Bill Kolberg, interview with the author, Los Angeles, January 3, 2014.

83. Ibid.

84. Shelby Fox, interview with the author, Los Angeles, January 6, 2014.

34

regarding the type of environment it fosters. Critiques of billable hours include accusations that it
drives employees to chase hourly quotas instead of results for clients.
85
Some practitioners also
argue that they are measured by their billable hours. Because those hours can change from
month-to-month, the pressure to attain hours and prove oneself can lead to additional stress.
86

Practitioners working in the world of agency tend to move up quickly through the ranks
of the various positions offered. An entry-level practitioner may start as an Assistant Account
Executive and then within a year or so find themselves accepting an Account Executive position.
Within another year or two, a promotion into the role of an Account Supervisor is likely. It also
is common for a junior PR practitioner to head to another agency in order to move up through
these various roles, given that this is a common characteristic of the millennial generation
entering the field of public relations at this time.
87

In short, the world of agency public relations is best described a fast paced, team-oriented
environment. It requires flexibility, and works hard to serve and help many clients achieve their
communication goals.

Corporate Public Relations
To begin, corporations, much like public relations agencies, vary in size. Public relations
practitioners may work at start-ups or Fortune 500 companies. Because of the degree to which
most corporations vary, in-house communications may go by different names, and differ in terms

85. Paul Roetzer, “Adios Billable Hours,” Marketing Agency Insider, May 21, 2012, accessed December 4,
2013, http://www.marketingagencyinsider.com/blog/adios-billable-hours.

86. Crenshaw, Dorothy, "6 Reasons Why PR is Stressful." Crenshaw Communications Blog, April 5, 2012,
accessed December 28, 2013, http://crenshawcomm.com/6-reasons-why-pr-is-stressful/.

87. Jeanne Meister, "Job Hopping Is the 'New Normal' for Millennials: Three Ways to Prevent a Human
Resource Nightmare," Forbes, last modified August 14, 2012, accessed January 8, 2014,
http://www.forbes.com/sites/jeannemeister/2012/08/14/job-hopping-is-the-new-normal-for-millennials-three-ways-
to-prevent-a-human-resource-nightmare/.
35

of what responsibilities the teams will complete. For example, companies will refer to them as
the Communications Department, Public Affairs and Communication, or Marketing and Public
Relations; it all simply depends on how the company has chosen to label the department.
Public relations, especially in the corporate world, has seen tremendous growth in terms
how they are perceived by company executives. In recent years, the industry has worked
diligently to establish public relations as a necessary function to help companies grow. As a
result, the public relations department is reporting, more than ever before, directly to senior
executives.
88
In some instances, Communications Officer positions are on par with Chief
Financial Officers and Chief Operating Officers.
89
Practitioners have worked hard to show that
the relationship a company establishes with a client can aid in sales and brand identity, and is
important toward the overall sustainability of an organization.
An in-house public relations team has one primary client, the company for which they
work. Communication organizational goals and strategies for a corporation start at the head of
the company and are given to a Director of Communications or a similarly titled position. The
communications staff then takes those plans and puts them into motion. The public relations staff
size for a corporation tends to be smaller than one would find in an agency, but depends upon the
size of the corporation. Communications plans at the corporate level tend to span a longer period
and usually involve a larger strategic communications goal, but again can vary depending on
what is going on within the organization at the time. The longer time frame and larger
communications goal stem from the fact that in-house communications teams are not hired for
one project, like agencies.

88. The Chief Communications Officers and the C-Suite: Discussing the Role of the Executive
Communicator Brochure (Brussels: European Association of Communication Directors, 2013), accessed January 22,
2014, http://www.eacd-online.eu/sites/default/files/c-suite_brochure.pdf.

89. Ibid.
36

The perception of public relations in the corporate world is that it moves slightly slower
in comparison to the agency side. This perception is in part because in-house practitioners have
one client on which to focus. The process of getting to know the client is longer and to some
degree more in depth. The in-house practitioner has more time to be able to learn everything they
can about their client and about the industry in which their client is operating.
Teamwork and collaboration is still an important part of the corporate side of public
relations. The in-house staff functions as a team, and they work toward a common goal for the
client. Yet, teamwork and collaborative efforts seem to be less emphasized than they are on the
agency side. In addition, constant communication between team members at all moments is not
an expectation, as evidenced by the layout at most corporate communications jobs.
The office layout at the corporate level is more traditional than that of the agency setting.
A traditional office generally houses individuals in private rooms or cubicles enclosed by walls.
An individual will find the necessary items required to complete their work being stored within
those private rooms.
90
This means that individuals working in corporate public relations have
more of an opportunity to incorporate independent work time into their day.
In summation, in-house public relations is usually more detailed in how well it knows
their client. It is perceived to move at a slightly slower pace than at an agency. It utilizes the
function of teamwork and groups, and is laid out in a more traditional office style. Much like
agency public relations, corporate public relations also works hard to help their client achieve
communications goals.

90. Davis, Leach, and Clegg, “The Physical Environment of the Office”

37

Chapter V: Primary Research
The goal of the primary research conducted was to understand how to better nurture
introverts in the field of public relations. The term nurture is widely used in the field of
psychology and can be defined several different ways. For the purposes of this paper, nurture
will be defined as, providing support and guidance. Exploring how an introvert can be nurtured
into the field of public relations will mean understanding how to comfortably acclimate an
introvert into an environment in which he/she may not feel completely natural.
In order to do this, the following elements were required: which characteristics hiring
managers were looking for; which area of public relations required more nurturing of introverts,
and which experiences or environments introverts perceived would help them better acclimate.
Based on the information attained by looking at the background of the rise of the extravert, the
Myers Briggs Type Indicator, misconceptions of introverts, and personality in public relations
the following primary research was conducted.

Content Analysis
To better understand and further examine the differences between corporate and agency
public relations, environment, and personality types best suited for a position within these fields,
a content analysis was conducted. A combination of corporate entry-level public relations job
descriptions and agency entry-level public relations job descriptions were examined using
content analysis as a research technique. Entry-level jobs for the purposes of this analysis are
defined as positions requiring 1-3 years of experience.

38

Sample Set
The author selected, from a sample of convenience, 100 entry-level public relations job
descriptions to examine. An Internet search of “agency public relations jobs” and “corporate
public relations jobs” rendered the data necessary to perform content analysis. Fifty of the job
descriptions were for entry-level positions at various public relations agencies across the United
States and the other 50 were for entry-level positions at various corporate companies across the
Unites States.

Procedure
Within the job descriptions, key themes indicating a preference for a specific personality
type, either introverted or extraverted were identified. The Myers Briggs personality type
descriptions aligned with extraverted and introverted personality types were used as a basis for
the job-posting search.
Searchable extraverted themes included: outgoing/high energy, ability to adapt
quickly/flexible and quick reactor. Themes more closely aligned to characteristics of introverts
included: ability to work independently and active listener. In addition to these key phrases, the
theme of teamwork or collaboration included in each job descriptions was also identified and
categorized alongside extraverted themes, as these are associated in the literature as better suited
for an extraverted personality.

Scoring
Once the job descriptions were collected and the key themes to look for were established,
a count of the amount of job descriptions that referenced either introvert or extravert themes was
39

taken. Also counted was the frequency with which each key theme was mentioned within each
individual job description.

Results of the Content Analysis
Results of the content analysis yielded the following findings: in terms of comparison of
the introvert key themes and extravert key themes across both the agency and corporate job
descriptions, 25 of the 100 job descriptions were neutral and did not refer to either introverted
characteristics or extraverted characteristics.
The author first looked at the data and compared extravert themes to introvert themes
from both agency and corporate job descriptions. From the remaining 75 descriptions that
included either introverted or extraverted items, characteristics of extraversion (including
teamwork and a fast-paced environment) were referenced 123 times. On the other hand, items
associated with introversion were only mentioned 27 times. This means that 82 percent of the
characteristics referenced within the job descriptions fell into the extraverted category with the
remaining 18 percent falling into the introverted category.
The content analysis data was also broken down to allow for comparison of the agency
job descriptions to corporate job descriptions. Agency job descriptions referenced extraverted
characteristics 81 times, whereas corporate job descriptions mentioned extraverted characteristics
42 times. Broken down into percentages, the agency job descriptions referenced items linked to
extraversion (including teamwork and fast-paced environments) 66 percent of the time, nearly
double the amount of times that an extraversion preference was seen from the corporate job
descriptions at 34 percent.

40

Content Analysis Table
Within the 75 job descriptions that referenced personality, some of the job descriptions
referred to only introverted characteristics and some made references to only extraverted
characteristics. Three job descriptions referenced introverted characteristics, 48 job descriptions
referenced only extraverted characteristics, and a total of 24 job descriptions made at least one
reference to both introverted and extraverted characteristics. The breakdown of these 75
descriptions was necessary in order to provide an accurate depiction of how many job
descriptions made a reference to personality versus only looking at how many times
characteristics were referenced across all job descriptions.
Table 1.1 breaks down the amount of job descriptions that referenced specific
characteristics. Note that these are not the amount of times a personality characteristic is
mentioned.
Table 1.1 Agency and Corporate Job Descriptions Reference to Specific Characteristics

Referenced
Neither
Referenced
Extravert Only*
Referenced
Introvert
Only**
Referenced
Both Total
Agency 10 29 0 11 50
Corporate 15 19 3 13 50
Total 25 48 3 24 100

* Includes reference to teamwork/collaboration, fast paced environment, outgoing/high
energy, flexible/able to adjust quickly, and quick reaction
**Includes references to ability to work independently, good listener, and seeks to improve
performance

Hiring Manager Interviews
Interviews with public relations hiring managers were conducted to understand if
personality preference is evident in the working environment of public relations. These
41

interviews sought to explore and attain a deeper understanding of the environment and culture at
a public relations agency, and to understand if the agency world pursues specific characteristics
from interviewing candidates.

Sample Set
Using a sample of convenience, the author contacted ten hiring managers from public
relations agencies. From the ten agencies contacted, the author heard back from five hiring
managers. All five of the hiring managers agreed to an interview.

Procedure
The author completed a total of five interviews using a combination of methods. Three
interviews were completed via telephone; conversations were recorded, with permission from the
interviewee, and the duration of each call was approximately twenty minutes. The remaining two
interviewees agreed to interviews via email. E-mail interviewees were given five days to
complete the interview questions.
Each interviewee, regardless of the interview form, was asked a series of ten questions
that pertained to their experience in hiring, the environment at their specific agency, and what
characteristics they deemed necessary to find success at their specific agency. A full list of the
specific questions and transcripts of the interviews is available in the appendix section of this
paper.

42

Findings from the Hiring Manager Interviews
The author noticed key recurring themes from the hiring manager interviews. When
asked what characteristics managers were seeking from an interviewing candidate, across the
board agency managers stated that they were looking for confidence. This theme was consistant
with the results found in a paper written by Donald Loffredo from the University of Houston,
Victoria who found that those who preferred extraversion tended to have a more positive
communicator image. This means that extraverts view themselves more positively than introverts
and tend to be more confident in their abilities.
91
Whereas introverts, while equally qualified,
may not view themselves as such, and therefore may not come across with strong confidence.
Hiring managers also noted that ideal characteristics for candidates at their agencies were those
who seemed proactive and driven.
In multiple interviews, managers indicated the desire for someone who had good verbal
communication skills. One manager said, “I want people to be very articulate because even
though we spend most of our time writing communication materials, we’re also articulating them
to our clients or to the media.”
92
In terms of written communication skills, only two of the hiring
managers made mention of it being an area of importance, and only one expressed a desire for
someone who had good written communication skills, even though writing is an essential skill
for public relations practitioners, only one person expressed that as an area of importance.
Managers also indicated that someone who works in the agency world would need to
demonstrate a level of flexibility, stating, “Things are always changing, and an agency public

91. Susan K. Opt, and Donald A. Loffredo, "Communicator Image and Myers-Briggs Type Indicator
Extraversion-Introversion," The Journal of Psychology 137, no. 6 (2013): 560-568, accessed January 8, 2014,
DOI:10.1080/00223980309600635.

92. Kolberg, interview.

43

relations practitioner needs to be able to roll with the punches.”
93
Having this type of flexibility
is consistent with those characters found in extraversion.
Other key themes noted, included a strong reference toward teamwork and collaboration.
All five managers stated that their agency fostered a strong collaborative environment. They
indicated that teamwork taking place in a collective environment was an essential part of the
everyday function of his or her specific agency. This was reinforced through the managers’
descriptions of the office layout at his or her specific agency. Three of five managers described
their agencies as having an open layout, one manager stated, “it’s pretty collaborative, and
people are asking each other for ideas a lot of the time. It’s an open space; I have a very anti-
cubicle culture.”
94

Hiring managers were also presented with a scenario-based question. In the scenario
given, managers were interviewing two candidates, each with equal experience and
qualifications. One candidate was described as having extraverted characteristics, and the other
candidate was described as having introverted characteristics. Managers were asked if they
preferred either candidate based on the information that was given to them. All of the managers,
with the exception of one, indicated that the information given was not enough to lead them to
select either one of the candidates. The one hiring manager who expressed a preference for a
particular candidate selected the candidate who was described with extraverted characteristics.
She selected that personality because in her experience, the client expects to receive an
immediate response, and her team needs someone who can provide a quick response to them.
95

93. Jessica Schmidt, e-mail message to the author, January 10, 2014.

94. Lindsey Carnett, interview with the author, Los Angeles, January 10, 2014.

95. Carnett, interview.

44

As a follow up to the scenario-based question, managers were also asked if they had ever
had someone on their team who expressed tendencies like candidate two, the introverted
candidate, and what type of coaching they provided. Three managers indicated that coaching was
not provided or needed for someone with introverted tendencies. Two of the managers offered
coaching to quiet team members by telling them to find ways to make themselves stand out and
to build their personal brand. They offered suggestions such as, “grab a colleague for coffee,
share key learning’s at a staff meeting, send an interesting article to the client, or help your boss
deliver on a deadline.”
96

None of the hiring managers indicated a preference for either an extraverted or an
introverted personality, with the exception of one, and they all spoke to the notion that everyone
was welcome in the field of public relations. One agency manager even referred to the quiet
personalities within her agency as, “silent but deadly.” Her definition of that phrase was that
while the quiet practitioners may spend more time processing internally, when they do outwardly
contribute it is of great substance.
That said, it is an overall description of the environment and how the managers described
the ideal candidate that led the author to believe that the agency world fosters an extraverted
personality. One manager stated, “all I would say is the friendly outgoing person – friendly is the
wrong word, the outgoing person – the one that is more at ease, maybe gregarious, loquacious,
might be a little more comfortable in this environment because we are all about words and their
actions and communications in a variety of ways.” The interviews seem to indicate that once
introverts get into the agency world, and prove they can contribute, they are valued. Though, it

96. Schmidt, e-mail message to the author.

45

seems hard for an introvert to get into an agency position based on the characteristics the agency
is initially looking for in the hiring process.
Introverts are as capable as anyone of being driven and passionate about the field of
public relations. One has to wonder if their reflective thinking during the interview process and
their overall quiet demeanor will convey that passion and drive in the same way that hiring
managers are used to seeing it demonstrated from an extravert.

Limitations of the Hiring Manager Interviews
While the information obtained from these interviews is important and beneficial to the
recommendations of this paper, further research might include adjustments to the research
design.
Reaching out to agency hiring managers was an important and necessary way to gain
insight into the agency experience. If the agency hiring manager had previous experience in the
corporate world, they were able to contribute information about their time in corporate public
relations. This led to a comparison between their corporate experiences and their agency
experience. But, if the agency hiring manager had no experience in the corporate realm, the
research is left with no insight into the corporate arena. It is recommended that corporate hiring
managers be contacted and interviewed to attain a more balanced look at the characteristics
needed to be successful in the corporate world of public relations. Contacting corporate hiring
managers would also provide the opportunity to compare corporate and agency preferences, and
to see if findings are consistent with that of the content analysis.
In addition to including corporate hiring managers in the interviews, it is recommended
that any interviews conducted take place in-person or over the phone. Three of the interviews
46

completed for this paper took place over the phone, and the remaining interviews were done via
email. The author would instead elect to organize interviews only by phone or in-person. This is
because the two interviews arranged via email did not yield the same detailed information as the
over the phone interviews. The responses to the questions asked were extremely brief. In some
cases, managers did not fully respond to the entire question, and in one instance a manager did
not even answer the question at all.
When hiring managers were contacted with an inquiry for an interview, they were told
that the questions would revolve around personality in public relations. Nowhere specifically
was introversion or extraversion mentioned to them. The choice to not divulge to them that
introversion and extraversion were being discussed was intentional, in order to avoid a manager
potentially confusing what they may already know about personality with the specific
characteristics being explored. Based on the hiring manager responses, it is suspected that once
managers were aware that the interview was to revolve around personality types; they naturally
assumed that introversion and extraversion were going to be the areas of discussion. Because
they may have been aware that this was the topic of discussion, it is possible they were including
their own definitions of these personalities into their responses.
One reason to desire that managers remove their own definitions of introversion and
extraversion from the interview process is because sometimes definitions of these personality
types can vary. They are often very similar across different personality theories; however,
different personality theories describe them slightly differently and measure them in different
ways.

47

Student Interviews
The goal of these interviews was to find out first-hand what challenges introverted
students faced in public relations, if any. A secondary goal was also to discover what they felt
the industry could do to embrace the introverted personality type at both the professional level
and academic level.

Sample Set
When looking at how to nurture someone into the field of public relations, it first has to
be determined at what point practitioners are entering the field. Working under the assumption
that most people are entering the field after some form of training or education, it was
determined that it was necessary to speak with introverted students studying public relations. The
author reached out to second year USC Master of Strategic Public Relations Students.

Procedure
Sixty second-year USC Master of Strategic Public Relations graduate students were
emailed a link to a free online version of the Myers Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) assessment
tool. The 60 graduate students were informed that the research was being completed as part of a
thesis project, and were asked to complete the free online version of the MBTI. Students were
instructed to email their results to the author upon completion of the test. A $30 Visa gift card
was offered as an incentive to those who took the free online version of the MBTI and emailed
their results.
Of the 60 students who received the email, two of the emails came back as undeliverable,
and 13 graduate students responded to the offer. Of the 13 who emailed back their results, eight
48

of them scored as introverted and the remaining five students scored as extraverted. Those eight
students were then contacted and asked if they would be willing to complete an interview. Out of
the eight students contacted for an interview, six agreed to participate in the interview process.
Each student was sent a list of 10 questions via email and were given five days to complete the
questions. A follow up email was sent to each of the students on the fourth day reminding them
to please submit their responses. Of the six students who were sent the interview questionnaire,
the author received responses from all six. Students were asked questions that related to
experiences from their educational and professional time in public relations. A full list of
questions and transcripts of the interviews are available in the appendix.

Findings from the Student Interviews
Students were asked to describe any hesitancy they experienced upon selection of the
field of public relations for their professional careers. Four of the interviewees expressed that
before their selection of this professional path, to some degree they believed their personality
was not suitable to work in public relations. One student noted, “I’m not the kind of person that
talks a lot. I usually listen and observe a lot during conversation.”
97
Another student stated that
he considered himself talkative and intuitive, but described himself as, “less aggressive as the
stereotypical public relations professional.”
98
The responses to this question show that public
relations is indeed perceived to be an industry that requires a talkative outgoing individual.
Responses may also indicate that other introverted personalities may be self-selecting other
career paths based on their own belief that they do not have the personality to work in this
particular industry.

97. Tiantian Xiang, email message to the author, January 09, 2014

98. Gino Garcia, e-mail message to author, January 10, 2014.
49

Students were asked to talk about areas within their academic public relations program
that were of the most interest to them. Four of the students indicated that crisis communications
was an area of study that they greatly enjoyed. This was an open-ended question, and students
were free to answer with any response. Even with the question being completely open, four of
the students made mention of crisis communication as being an area of study that interested
them. Public relations practitioners know that in crisis communications quick action can mean
the difference between a minor communications crisis and a potential communications disaster.
The interviewees’ responses to enjoying the area of crisis communications may indicate that
introverts can handle, and potentially feel comfortable in a reactive, fast-paced environment,
with little room for deep reflective thought. While this unexpected theme may be surprising, it
might be right in line with an introvert’s strengths. Communicators know that in crisis
communication, preparation is the key to success. Thinking though all possible crisis scenario
situations, and planning for each of them plays heavily to an introvert’s strengths of preparation,
reflective thinking, and problem solving.
Introverted interviewees were also asked if they felt a preference for either agency public
relations or corporate public relations. Remarkably, five out of six students saw themselves
attaining, or had a preference for, a position within a corporation. The sixth student indicated no
preference, and instead expressed interest in being a contracted public relations practitioner. The
students who leaned toward corporate public relations stated, “I find comfort in knowing what to
expect each day (to a certain degree) and knowing how to handle any issue that may
arise. Ideally I would prefer to be an expert in one area.”
99
They also mentioned that they
selected this option because they, “enjoy being fully immersed in an issue/organization and

99.
Amber Miller, e-mail message to author, January 11, 2014.

50

getting a chance to be woven into an organization’s administration.”
100
Five of the interviewees
also stated that they selected corporate public relations because in their experiences within the
agency world, everyone’s quick pace made it feel as though there was not enough time to focus
solely on the client. The students’ selection of corporate over agency may show that the
corporate environment is better suited for an introvert’s personality. Another interesting point is
that this question was number 10 out of 10, but five of the interviewees had indicated somewhere
in previous questions that they were planning on pursuing corporate communications, or that
their ideal public relations job was for an in-house public relations team.

Limitations of Student Interviews
The research methodology used to conduct the student interview section also suffered
some limitations. The method to identify introverts and extraverts among the pool of public
relations students was not ideal. If timing and funding permitted, it is recommended that if using
the Myers Briggs Type Indicator tool, one become a certified Myers Briggs Type Indicator
Administrator. This allows the certified researcher to both administer the assessment tool and
interpret the results. It would also allow one to eliminate the use of the free online Myers Briggs
Type Indicator. Free versions of the exam are usually indicative of one’s personality, but often
lack the accuracy necessary to categorize one’s personality.
The second limitation to the student interviews is the amount of students interviewed.
While an appropriate number of students were contacted overall, the response from those
students was not as large as one would have hoped. The smaller response therefore led to a
smaller amount of interviews. These interviews, while yielding good information, are only a
small sample of a potentially larger population. If attempted again, a larger initial sample of

100. Garcia, e-mail message to author.
51

students should be reached. If the research stays limited to USC public relations students,
perhaps students from both the first and second year of graduate school would be beneficial. It
would also be a reasonable option to extend the research to senior undergraduate public relations
students. It is not recommended to extend to public relations students younger than that because
they may lack overall experience in both the academic world of public relations as well as the
professional world.
In terms of the questions asked, questions that are more specific would have fostered
additional discussion and in-depth responses. One desired outcome of the questions asked was to
understand what experience students encountered in the academic world of public relations as it
relates to their personality and characteristics. The questions asked of them were so broad that
students answered in a wide variety of ways. If continuing with these questions, more instruction
about keeping characteristics and personality in mind should be provided to students. This would
be done to diminish some of the responses that focused on other items not intending to be
researched/not pertaining to the subject. Therefore, a possible reassessment of the questions
administered would need to take place.
Lastly, if this research were to be conducted again, the author recommends in-person or
phone interviews as compared to conducting interviews via email. While most of the students
interviewed gave detailed responses, a few of them responded with short answers and without
going into too much detail. Speaking with the interviewees one-on-one may have potentially
yielded deeper and more detailed responses to the questions. An in-depth response would then
ideally lead to more findings.
One area of the interviews that the author felt worked well was reaching out to
introverted public relations students. Since public relations students are the ones who will be
52

entering the career world of public relations, introverted students will remain the best resource
for gaining an understanding of what they will need in terms of how to be nurtured into the field.

The research findings from the hiring mangers, student interviews, and content analysis
have rendered a sample of recommendations for the industry of public relations.

53

Chapter VI: Recommendations for the Public Relations Industry
The public relations industry has changed dramatically over the last few years. At one
point in its history, the industry was seen as deceptive, and practitioners were often referred to as
spin-doctors.
101
The perception of public relations was so negative that people considered the use
of it to mean that a company was hiding something negative. The public relations industry has
worked diligently to rid itself of that perception and has been quite successful in their efforts. It
is now regarded as an essential element for a company to possess. Knowing that an entire
industry has the power and the capability to change how it is perceived shows that there is hope
for the industry to transform itself yet again.
Nurturing introverted practitioners into the world of public relations provides many
benefits to the industry and provides an advantage to the introverted practitioners. Based on first
and secondary research, it is determined that the agency side of public relations is where an
introvert will need the most nurturing. This conclusion was reached based on a few different
reasons.
As it now stands, as indicated from the student interviews, introverted students express
no desire to pursue agency public relations for their career path. Even though they understand the
value of the experience that agency work provides them, almost all stated that they saw
themselves fitting into or being happier in the long run pursuing a career in corporate public
relations. This is problematic for the agency world of public relations as they are potentially

101. Kelsey Hutchinson, "Spin or Professionalism: How the Public Views Public Relations Due to
Dissemination Method and Motive of the Organization," Epistimi: Capital University’s Undergraduate Research
Journal. (2013), accessed January 8, 2014,
http://www.capital.edu/uploadedFiles/Capital/Academics/Services_and_Programs/Undergraduate_Research/Epistim
i/Content/2013 Spin or Professionalism How the Public Views Public Relations.pdf.

54

missing out on the value brought from an introvert. It is also problematic for the introvert
because they are missing out on the opportunity to sharpen essential skills.
Sifting through the content analysis netted data about how frequently agency job
descriptions referred to extraversion or referenced an environment that was best suited for an
extraverted personality. The agency job descriptions referenced extraverted tendencies double
the amount of times the corporate job descriptions did. The mention of extraverted traits multiple
times within a job description indicates that agencies are seeking certain personalities for
employment.
In addition to all of this, the agency hiring managers frequently described a working
environment designed to maximize productivity for an extraverted personality. One manager
even stated that they believed someone who was more outgoing or gregarious would probably
feel more comfortable in that environment.
102

Taking the information learned from the primary and secondary research findings; the
author offers the following recommendations to the industry:

Provide Education
Most of what people assume to be true about introverts is false, as shown from the
misconceptions of introverts’ section of this paper. A problem not discussed in this paper, but
that still exists, is that extraverts, too, suffer from various misconceptions. No matter whom the
misconception is about, the common theme in all of the misconceptions is a lack of knowledge
and understanding. How is this lack of general knowledge remedied? The answer to that question
is by providing education.

102. Kolberg, interview.

55

When looking at a company, in this case, an agency, the most effective way to facilitate
education is to begin at the top and disseminate information to the bottom. As stated previously,
agencies can be large or small, but very few of them have hundreds of employees and even fewer
have thousands, and smaller agencies may have little manager training. One hiring manager from
the agency world mentioned that she had been hiring practitioners since she was an intern at an
agency.
103
Being at that junior level and conducting hiring interviews may not be typical, but
also may be occurring in smaller agencies.
Situations like this indicate a need to educate managers in terms of hiring and running
effective teams. Agencies that already have training programs in place should review procedures
and amend them to include the topic of personalities in the workplace. If an agency provides no
managerial training program, it is then recommended that a manager procedure be created to
include this topic. The training in both circumstances will ideally highlight how personalities
cause candidates to interview differently and employees to approach their work in a diverse
manner.
It is not realistic to expect managers to be able to identify and diagnose personalities
based on what they encounter, nor is that recommended. But, providing training that
acknowledges a difference between how personalities approach work, allows managers to
understand that not everyone can achieve maximum productivity in a singular type of
environment. The optimum approach is to find a balance that works for all.
An emphasis should be placed on education, understanding, and demonstrating the
usefulness of finding a balance between what works for more than one personality type.
Educators in academics do not try to teach everyone the same way because everyone learns
differently. Teaching a visual learner by using sound is ineffective. Educators instead try to

103. Carnett, interview.
56

create an environment that encompasses multiple learning styles, and so should the industry of
public relations.

Changing How We Communicate
People have a natural tendency to communicate with others in the style in which they
would like to be communicated.
104
If an extraverted person were interested in coming up with
ideas for a client, he or she would likely seek the assistance of another extravert. Informing the
managers about various personalities will ideally lead to educating the employees, which should
help facilitate an environment where the employees have some insight into how their colleague
works.
Arming employees with insight into personality in the workplace will help, not only
introverts and extraverts, but also other personalities learn how to communicate more effectively
with one another. An extravert may be wondering to himself or herself why that quiet person
does not contribute in meetings, never speaks up, or never goes out of their way to socialize.
Providing education will help that extravert to see and understand that the quiet person may be
an introvert and may need to communicate ideas through an email or in a one-on-one meeting
instead of in a large group setting. It will also help the introvert to understand that some of those
misconceptions of extraverts, such as being all talk and no substance, are in fact not true and are
instead just how an extravert processes thoughts.

104. Manie Bosman, “Leadership Communication: Improve or Fade Away (Part 2/3),” Strategic
Leadership Institute, last modified July 1, 2011, accessed on February 21, 2014,
http://www.strategicleadershipinstitute.net/news/leadership-communication-improve-or-fade-away-part-2-4-/

57

One hiring manager offered the suggestion of sharing a key learning within a meeting.
105

In large meeting discussions, the extravert speaks their responses and the introvert thinks them.
This can result in meetings where extraverts are the only ones sharing. One way is to ensure that
the perceived introvert has the opportunity to speak is by using a meeting facilitator. Meeting
facilitators can identify and help that introvert find a way to speak up and be heard.

Balancing Job Descriptions
The content analysis conducted with the job descriptions revealed a lot about extraversion
and introversion in the world of public relations. Many in the field, including the hiring
managers interviewed, have said that the idea of a talkative, outgoing, people person is a
stereotype, and is not a necessity in order to work in public relations.
106
To an extent that
statement is true, as it is possible to be successful in the field without possessing that outgoing
personality.
But, when the agency job descriptions are referencing extraverted preferences nearly
double the amount of times as corporate job descriptions, it sends the message that there is a
bias, and even a preference, for an extraverted personality. It is time that the job descriptions
begin to reflect the sentiment that all personality types are welcome.
If the industry is truly looking to welcome all personality types into the field, then those
job descriptions need to do a better job of reflecting that. Twenty-five of the job descriptions
from the content analysis research demonstrated an effective way of not showing a preference for
a personality. Ideally, it would be best for all job descriptions in both agency and corporate to

105. Schmidt, interview.

106. Parmida Schahhosseini, "Can Introverts Succeed in Public Relations?" Progressions PRSSA, last
modified September 10, 2013, accessed January 15, 2014, http://progressions.prssa.org/index.php/2013/09/10/can-
introverts-succeed-in-public-relations/.
58

follow this example. The job descriptions should remain strictly about the jobs and the job
responsibilities. If for some agencies this is not possible, and they need to emphasize teamwork
and collaboration, then a more balanced approach needs to be taken, i.e., including descriptions
that reflect, rather than reject, introverted behavior. In addition to calling for someone who can
collaborate, also express a desire for someone who can work independently or who is a good
listener. It is almost a guarantee that a successful agency will need their employees to possess
these characteristics.

Finding the Strengths in Each Personality

Educating both the managers and employees and changing the way we communicate are
among the first few steps to nurturing introverts into agency public relations. The next step to a
successful transition is to play to an introvert’s strengths. Companies do not take the person who
is the best presenter/salesman and put them in a back room where they cannot be seen or heard.
They put them where they are going to be the strongest. Agencies have specified in their job
descriptions the type of personality they are looking for is an extraverted type, but doing this
winds up giving agencies the same set of strengths multiple times over. There are growing areas
of public relations that are not necessarily calling for one type of personality. Social media for
example is the tactical element for companies to adopt. A company’s presence on social media is
no longer an additional element for them to possess, but more of a requirement. Who better to
man the social media accounts that an introvert?
Social media involves posting information, communicating strategic plans, and social
media monitoring. Social media monitoring is all about listening to communication amongst
consumers. When monitoring social media one has to take comments or trends read in one
59

location and combine them with comments written in another location to figure out what story
consumers are telling. An introvert’s strength lies in their ability to listen.
107
Introverts are
always listening, observing, and taking in information to make pieces into a whole story.
Listening, observing, and taking in information in the social media realm equates with social
media monitoring.
Not only does social media play to an introverts keen ability to listen, it plays to their
strength of independent working. There may involve some element of brainstorming and group
discussions to determine the message that will be communicated through social media; however,
it ultimately culminates in one person sitting at a computer and updating or monitoring social
media accounts. Hiring managers take note: this is an ideal position for an introvert.
In addition, writing is a necessary and important skill to the job of public relations.
108

Yet, from the agency hiring manager interviews, and through the aforementioned job
descriptions, very little emphasis seems to be placed on writing. An important thing to
remember is that as much as public relations is about verbal communication, it is even more
about the ability to effectively communicate through writing. And, another strength of the
introvert is that they naturally communicate better through the written word.
109
Since it is one of
the preferences of an introvert to select writing over talking, they are well suited for the writing
element of public relations.

107. Briggs-Myers, Introduction to Type.

108. U.S. Department of Labor, Occupational Outlook Handbook, “Public Relations and Fundraising
Managers.”

109. Briggs-Myers, Introduction to Type.
60

The strengths needed to succeed within the agency world of public relations are in more
alignment with introverts that people really know. It is now up to the industry to reexamine the
culture and environment and begin to create a place that nurtures them.

61

Chapter VII: Call to Action
To the Public Relations Industry

To the industry of public relations, the time has come to question what you hold true to
be the ideal public relations practitioner. Public relations seems to have the desire to welcome
different personalities, but it also seems as though it is not quite ready to make the real changes
that would truly make a space for the introvert in agency public relations. The author extends a
challenge to the industry to change the environment and culture within the world of public
relations. Allow for the true embrace of different personality types by educating managers about
personalities in the workplace. Begin looking at using different methods to measure an
individual’s strengths and by weighing a person’s competencies more heavily than their
characteristics.

To the Introverts

Some of the introverted students who participated in interviews expressed hesitancy upon
selecting public relations as their professional career path. In their reasoning for this, they stated
that it was their own belief that their personality was not the right fit for the industry. The
hesitancy they experienced may be the case for many introverted students exploring their career
options. To those introverts who have selected public relations as your career choice, keep
showing the industry that you do not have to be outspoken to have great ideas, and that you do
not have to keep talking to be heard. To those introverts who are considering public relations and
fear that your personality does not fit, a challenge is extended to embrace your personality and
know that your success is not dependent on the type of personality you possess.
Although it may sometimes be difficult, place confidence in yourself and in knowing the
skills you have and the characteristics you exhibit are necessary in the world of public relations.
62

Also, understand that while the agency world of public relations can use some improvement on
how it makes room for an introvert in public relations, the introvert will sometimes need to take
on characteristics of an extravert to be noticed. This is true not just in public relations, but also in
life.

63

Conclusion

Using a combination of primary and secondary research approaches, this paper examined
the value of extraversion to the American culture, and what effects that value has on the field of
public relations. Highlighting the extraversion value allows the reader to see that the extraversion
preference is not just isolated to the industry of public relations, but is embraced in all areas of
society. The cultural embrace of the extravert ideal in combination with what the ideal public
relations practitioner has come to be known as, has really presented a challenge to the industry.
Public relations has risked losing out on introverted personality types based on the introvert’s
own beliefs that they do not possess what is needed to find a successful home in the industry.
This paper also explored two very similar yet vastly different worlds within the industry
of public relations. While both corporate public relations and agency public relations exhibit
similarities, both are described as having two different environments. Primary research has
suggested that introverts may feel more comfortable within the corporate sector of the public
relations industry. This information, in combination with content analysis, led to the conclusion
that the agency side of public relations is where an introvert will need more nurturing into the
field.
This study revealed that further research could be explored in the area of content analysis.
This was brought to the author’s attention when a hiring manager mentioned that even though
more time is spent writing, the agency still seeks someone who can strongly communicate
verbally. Upon further examination of the manager interviews, it was noticed that only one of the
managers cited writing as an important quality, but most noted eloquent speaking to be a
determining factor in hiring.
64

The Myers Briggs Type Indicator assessment tool was used to define the primary
differences between introverts and extraverts, and to determine which public relations students
were considered to be introverted. Student interviews yielded valuable information, and the
author recommends further examination into the academic arena of public relations. The purpose
of this additional research is to see if there is an extravert preference demonstrated in the
classroom. The questions conducted in that instance could revolve around whether or not
introverts have experienced any indication of an extravert preference from professors,
administration, or perhaps even from fellow students. This could possibly be assessed through
the conduction of introverted student interviews, and possibly by examination of several class
syllabi. Examination of the syllabi would be done to determine the amount of group projects
assigned per class. Also looked at should be how many points are given for participation, how
the professor defines participation, and the graded weight of individual projects versus group or
team assignments.
Identifying and addressing some of the larger misconceptions that hinder the introvert
personality type was an important key to understanding what barriers need to be broken down
and remedied. In turn, acknowledging those barriers has provided recommendations to the
industry about how to better acclimate an introvert into the world of public relations.
The magnitude of change and growth to an industry cannot be undervalued. Industries
hoping to stand the test of time should always be looking for new ways to grow for the better.
Embracing a personality type different from what public relations knows proves to be
challenging. The intent from the industry to welcome introverts is there, but what is lacking is
the action to make it happen. Asking an industry to transform from what they have known is a
challenge, but a valuable one worth exploring.
65

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72

Appendix A: Hiring Manager Interviews

Shelby Fox
Title: PR Manager
PR Agency: Konnect PR
Time in position: 3 years

Can you describe the working environment at your agency? What I mean by that is the
pace, the layout, and how does your work get completed?
So, the pace at Konnect PR is definitely a fast pace, everyone is in at 8am and starts working as
soon as they sit down at their desks and their computers on. We constantly want everybody to be
busy because there is a) a lot of work to be done and b) results come when you work more,
obviously. The layout of our office, we have some shared offices and shared spaces so that
people who work on similar client, or shared clients can interact and ask questions, bounce ideas
off one another, and we do have some individual offices for supervisors and managers, our CEO
and COO. That being said, in the next couple months we’re moving to new offices that are a
much more open layout so that everyone will be more hopefully in a collaborative environment.
So, a new client comes in and we are full service PR Agency. For our agency, our main goal for
most clients is booking press, and we want to book press that gets them the type of results that
their looking for. If they’re looking to sell more products, we try to identify publications that will
hit their demographic and result in sales for them. Or sometimes clients are looking to sell
franchises, we target publications where more high worth individuals may be reading or may be
looking for business opportunities. So our main goal is media placement, and with that comes
planning research, meetings with clients, and on a day to day basis we do phone calls, pitching
media, brainstorms within the office and within teams. Does that answer your question?

Yes, so it’s not ever just one person working with one client?
No we do, our accounts have at least 3 people on them. Three people is the minimum and it can
go up to … I think some of our largest accounts have up to 6 or 7 people on them.

I was curious to know if you yourself have any experience working on the corporate side of
public relations.
No I don’t. My experience comes all from agency. I came from a large agency before I came to
Konnect.

Approximately, how many years have you been a hiring manager?
One. For us, the size we are, we’ve always done the hiring internally because we know the type
of person that is successful here and having kinda being the longest standing employee I had
approached our CEO about improving the culture and doing more team building activities and
through that she had asked if I would be interested in starting to take on a more hiring role and I
love it, and I”ve been pretty successful at it so far, hopefully I’ll get to keep doing it.

As a hiring manager, what characteristics are you looking for when a candidate comes in to
interview?
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Well just right off the bat, I definitely look for somebody who is well spoken and can
communicate a little bit about themselves and their experience, coherently. Obviously we’re in
the field of communications, so if you can’t necessarily talk about yourself it’s going to be hard
for you to talk about a client or to talk to media, those are the things I look for as soon as they
walk in to the interview. Once I get to talking to them a little bit more, I like to see somebody
who is more proactive, goal oriented, and wants to build a career in PR rather than is just looking
for a job. PR is long hours, hard work, not necessarily the best pay and somebody really needs to
be dedicated and I think those are the things that have shown people are willing to be dedicated
to their career. I definitely also look for somebody who expresses that they like to show their
creativity and use their creativity and it kind of splits. Some people are extremely extroverted
and are very outspoken and have a ton of energy and some people are a little more soft spoken
and so I think that PR gets the reputation that you need to be super energetic and want to talk to
everyone and always be the center of attention, I just don’t think that's necessary as long as you
are intelligent and creative, and well spoken and really passionate. I think that those make a great
publicist. It’s not necessarily just being an extrovert.

When interviewing, what are the characteristics that stand out to you most from
interviewing candidates? Both positive and negative.
I don’t know if this is exactly what you’re looking for, but for us, being in los angeles and we’re
kind of a rare breed of pr agency that is not involved in fashion, not involved in beauty, not
involved in entertainment, and I think thats what a lot of people are looking for. And when they
come in and say entertainment the field they want to work in, it’s a red flag immediately cause
they probably didn’t look at our website, they didn’t do their research. So thats defintely a red
flag. Somebody that comes in and doesn’t seem prepared and doesn’t have a copy of their
resume definitely is red flags for me cause PR is all about being prepared. But things that are
good, people that say they are looking for a place to grow. When I ask somebody where they see
themselves in five or ten years and they say they’re still working in PR or know what type of
level, or know they want to own their own agency. Somebody that has goals like that, I think are
really important for me.

Provide 3 characteristics to describe the ideal candidate for your agency.
Three Characteristics? Driven, I think definitely imaginative/creative, somebody that thinks
outside the box, as cliche as that is, and somebody who just is really passionate about PR and
wanting to help their clients and really making an impact. Whatever impact that may be.

Situational Question: Say for instance, you are interviewing 2 candidates for a position.
Both candidates have the equivalent amount of experience and are equally qualified for the
position. Candidate 1 is always immediate with their responses, quick witted, and comes
across as very social/outgoing. Candidate 2 is a little more reserved in their responses, they
take more time to reflect on the question that is being asked, and they come across as very
quiet. Based on the given scenario, are you inclined to select one candidate over the other?
Just with that information, no because from my own personal experience, I know that when I
interviewed at Konnect, my boss Sevina always said how quiet she thought I was and that she
was a little worried about that, but obviously I turned out to be okay. And so I never want to
judge anyone based on how loud they speak or how talkative they are, obviously to work in PR
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you can’t just sit there and say one word answers, but I think from my personal decision, it
would have to go a little deeper than just those qualities.

In your experience, have you ever had a personality type like Candidate 2 on your team?
I think my initial type of personality was a little more quiet and reserved and I think a lot of that
came from being at a large agency, starting out at a large agency, working with huge companies
that everybody knows about, as an assistant account executive, people don’t really give you
much opportunity or responsibility, and so I think that I was kind of comfortable falling into the
background. Just doing my job, but doing it well and coming through, but once I came to
Konnect, as a smaller agency, I was given way more responsibility, just through that I think I sort
of personally blossomed and became more confident in my ability and my work and the results I
was able to secure, so think that it just happened naturally for me. I was always sort of a leader, I
wouldn't say I was necessarily a type A personality, but in school and group projects, I would
take the lead, but I definitely think theres a place for people who are more quiet, reserved or shy
in PR. I think it’s just all about finding what they're comfortable doing and then becoming
confident in the product they produce.

In your experience, did you provide coaching to help them be more successful? If yes, what
type of coaching was provided?
I don’t think so.

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Angela Calzone
Title: Senior Vice President of Talent Resources and Organization Development
PR Agency: MWW Public Relations
Time in position: 1 year

Can you describe the working environment at your agency? Ex. Pace, the layout, how does
work get completed?
High energy environment, fast paced, collaborative, open-door, client and employee centered.

Do you have any experience in corporate PR? If yes, describe your experience in corporate
versus agency.
Yes, formerly a 20 year Director of Marketing and Corporate Communications (Financial and
Real Estate Industry)

Approximately, how many years have you been a hiring manager?
20 years

As a hiring manager, what characteristics are you looking for when a candidate comes in to
interview?
Resourceful, proactive thinker, confident, passionate, committed, client/customer service
oriented, collaborative, anticipatory, problem solver.

When interviewing, what are the characteristics that stand out to you most from
interviewing candidates? Both positive and negative.
Honesty, transparency, and those listed in #5.
Provide 3 characteristics to describe the ideal candidate for your agency.
Resourceful, proactive, and creative.

Situational Question: Say for instance, you are interviewing 2 candidates for a position.
Both candidates have the equivalent amount of experience and are equally qualified for the
position. Candidate 1 is always immediate with their responses, quick witted, and comes
across as very social/outgoing. Candidate 2 is a little more reserved in their responses, they
take more time to reflect on the question that is being asked, and they come across as very
quiet. Based on the given scenario, are you inclined to select one candidate over the other?
Why?
Not based solely on this except if the specific job required one personality over the other.

In your experience, have you ever had a personality type like Candidate 2 on your team? If
yes, what coaching was provided, if any, to that person to better acclimate them to the
agency world?
Not sure they would necessarily need coaching because these characteristics are not negative.

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Jessica Schmidt
Title: Associate Partner – Vice President
PR Agency: Rogers – Finn Partners
Time in position: 8.5 years

FinnRogers, Associate Partner - Vice President, worked for FinnRogers 8.5 years

Can you describe the working environment at your agency? Ex. Pace, the layout, how does
work get completed?
Check out https://www.finnpartners.com/we-inspire/join-us.html and our views on how each
person in the agency is a “partner” and we are all about collaboration no matter what your title or
place in the agency. http://www.finnpartners.com/blog/2012/04/27/finn-partners-best-new-
agency-homes-report/ I’d say compared to other agencies we support change and since we aren’t
owned by a big conglomerate, we can make changes for the better, quicker. We are in an
environment where you should always be learning and be ahead of trends and speak up to share
them.

Do you have any experience in corporate PR? If yes, describe your experience in corporate
versus agency.
NO

Approximately, how many years have you been a hiring manager?
4

As a hiring manager, what characteristics are you looking for when a candidate comes in to
interview?
Confidence without being a brown nose, basic manners, willingness to learn, feed off a fast
paced environment, roll with the punches or quick witted, experience working with several
different managers/personalities, can communicate clearly and quickly, creative not only for big
brainstorms but for better ways to do the day to day, a pragmatic viewpoint, always motivated to
learn as much as possible - no matter the task, strong writing and social media experience

When interviewing, what are the characteristics that stand out to you most from
interviewing candidates? Both positive and negative.
Confidence (Ie dressed appropriately, speaking clearly on what you can bring to the agency,
giving concrete examples and straightforward answers, not use fillers “like, ummm,” etc.)
Basic manners (Ie arriving on time, be grateful for the experience/your time, looking someone in
the eye, sending a thank you note)

Provide 3 characteristics to describe the ideal candidate for your agency.
Smart but resourceful
Driven for self-improvement
A strong writer

Situational Question: Say for instance, you are interviewing 2 candidates for a position.
Both candidates have the equivalent amount of experience and are equally qualified for the
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position. Candidate 1 is always immediate with their responses, quick witted, and comes
across as very social/outgoing. Candidate 2 is a little more reserved in their responses, they
take more time to reflect on the question that is being asked, and they come across as very
quiet. Based on the given scenario, are you inclined to select one candidate over the other?
Why?
It would depend on the type of client it was for and I would wait to see the results of their writing
test to make the final decision

In your experience, have you ever had a personality type like Candidate 2 on your team? If
yes, what coaching was provided, if any, to that person to better acclimate them to the
agency world?
YES – find different ways to stand out and build your personal brand, even if you aren’t shouting
from the roof tops - grab a colleague for coffee, share key learning’s at a staff meeting, send an
interesting article to the client, help your boss deliver on a deadline – we call these types in our
office silent but deadly!

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Lindsey Carnett
Title: CEO and President
PR Agency: Marketing Maven
Time in position: 5 years

Can you describe the working environment at your agency? Ex. Pace, the layout, how does
work get completed?
Our work environment is very upbeat; it’s very fast paced. It’s pretty enthusiastic. They layout is,
our sales team is on one side of the office and our account executives are on the other side of the
office, kind of in a horseshoe shape, so it’s pretty collaborative, and people are asking each other
for ideas a lot of the time. It’s an open space, I have a very anti cubicle culture and each person
has a very large L shaped desk, and they sit in their executive chair and they have their computer,
double screened and they have their phone, and their whiteboards that have the priorities. When
a client starts we have a kick off call and the appropriate resources are allocated to that account
so if they need a press kit then we’ll bring on our copywriter to the first phone call, we’ll bring
on our graphic designer to learn a little bit about their brand and what their vision is for their
brand, and we’ll have the account executive leading the call, and depending on whether or not
they’re doing social media, we’ll have social media on the call, so a lot of resources are put to
the launch of campaign and whatever their objectives are.

Do you have any experience in corporate PR? If yes, describe your experience in corporate
versus agency.
The most I’ve done in the world of corporate public relations is working as a marketing manager
in a publically traded nutrasutical company, they were publically traded in Sweden and Norway,
so I was the marketing director and in charge of all public relations efforts, that’s where I’ve
personally worked on the corporate side. For clients of ours, we are doing corporate
communications for some of our financial clients, we had one client that was publically traded on
the stock exchange so we were in charge of doing their press releases and putting them out on the
wire to meet FCC regulations for all of their shareholders. The two experiences are really night
and day, when you are inundated with all of the ins and outs of the company, as the marketing
director you have a different perspective on everything, rather than being the agency that is really
looking for efficiencies and results, you have a little bit more time if you are internal and can
look at everything more in depth and really have your hands in more places. At the same time,
being an agency really allows us to focus on what we set out to do. So if you are internal at a
company it’s really easy to get distracted with other things that might be a priority for that
company, but if you’re contracted as an agency you really get to go in and do what you set out to
do.

Approximately, how many years have you been a hiring manager?
I hired people when I was an intern at another PR firm. I have had my own firm for four years,
and made employment decisions there, I’ve also made employment decisions at a previous firm
that I worked at, which was in 2004, I made hiring decisions. So I would say off an on for the
last 10 years.

As a hiring manager, what characteristics are you looking for when a candidate comes in to
interview?
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They have to want it, so I have to see some sort of hunger in them; some sense of urgency
because the worst sort of personality a person could have is one that seems like they don’t care
about the urgency about anything. Because we are so deadline driven, if I know that they can
work on tough deadlines and meet deadlines, I know that they will probably strive to preform.

When interviewing, what are the characteristics that stand out to you most from
interviewing candidates? Both positive and negative.
Definitely professional communication, if somebody comes in and say, they’re talking with slang
and they don’t present themselves well and they don’t communicate well it’s an automatic no in
my mind, because they don’t have what it’s going to take to communicate professionally and
represent my agency professionally and represent my clients professionally on the phone and to
media.

Provide 3 characteristics to describe the ideal candidate for your agency.
Professionalism, Drive, and attention to detail and by drive I also mean a sense of urgency.

Situational Question: Say for instance, you are interviewing 2 candidates for a position.
Both candidates have the equivalent amount of experience and are equally qualified for the
position. Candidate 1 is always immediate with their responses, quick witted, and comes
across as very social/outgoing. Candidate 2 is a little more reserved in their responses, they
take more time to reflect on the question that is being asked, and they come across as very
quiet. Based on the given scenario, are you inclined to select one candidate over the other?
Yeah I would be inclined to select candidate 1 because even if they, I actually just dealt with this
in reviews of my own account executives because the client expects an immediate response, so
even if the person responds immediately and says, let me take a little bit of time to digest this, I
received your email and I will get back to you with a more detailed answer, that’s far more
beneficial to the client than the person that is not responding because they don’t know how to
answer the question and their more thoughtful in their response. It’s going to solicit a worse
reaction from the client.

In your experience, have you ever had a personality type like Candidate 2 on your team? If
yes, in your experience, did you provide coaching to help them be more successful? If yes,
what type of coaching was provided?
We have just said, in that sort of situation, if you don’t know, they’re really good at getting back
to clients with really easy questions that they have, but when they encounter a difficult question,
they failed to respond or take more time answering that question, so we suggested just respond
saying we will look into this for you and I will get back to you with an answer shortly.
Communicating more. Just to acknowledging that they received the question.

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Bill Kolberg
Title: Partner and Managing Director – Executive Vice President
PR Agency: Porter Novelli
Time in position: 19 years

Can you describe the working environment at your agency? And what I mean by that is
describe the pace, the layout, and how does work get completed?
Let’s start with the environment, we just moved to a new office, so now we’re in a different
environment than we were just a few months ago. That was more - The old environment was
more of an open kind of a newsroom format where everybody had desks, low partitions, and a lot
of interactivity, although frankly it was more like a library, cause I think people were a little
intimidated to speak out loud without a wall or a doorway. We have now moved to a more
traditional office structure where we actually have offices with doors and cubes outside, so it’s
probably less collaborative just because of the physical barriers, but I don’t think it changes – or
at least it’s too early to tell if it’s going to change the outcome of our work product. I hope it
does not. Ok, so pace is really dictated by clients. The nature of our business is vitality, which is
growth so we’re always looking to expand our clients to get involved in more challenging and
rewarding client opportunities, or assignments. So I think that the pace is typically fairly quick,
especially if you compare it with the corporate side, where our clients would be sitting – from
their side of the fence. We are probably much more responsive, probably a little more intuitive
because we’re trying to stay one step ahead of them – both in terms of making recommendations
and advising them on things that could or are impacting their business. So I think we’re probably
more adept and nimble than corporate folks are. Okay, so every client is assigned to a team.
We’re a top 10 global agency so the majority, if not all of our clients are fairly large by scope
therefore we’re going to have multiple working on pieces of business, not just individuals. As a
result, things are done by team, based on a hierarchical architecture meaning that people that are
more experienced and more adept in knowing the industry have higher titles, larger levels of
responsibility and typically direct and guide the work of others. In a team, there has to be a
collaborative environment. It can’t just be, ‘I’m telling you what the next assignment should be.
You get the work back to me and then I’ll review it.” There’s got to be people who are
contributing from a variety of different levels, so if you look at any traditional public relations
campaign, there’s going to be multiple facets, so there might be a media relations facet, a social
media facet, could be a corporate counseling facet, could be a research facet, I mean there’s a
variety of different areas of expertise we bring. So I think everybody is going to have at least part
of an assignment. In many cases the assignment might be large enough that people will share an
assignment. For example, a media relation’s assignment might be so large we’re going to divide
it among 2 or 3 people to execute. So at the end of the day, the work gets done because
everybody is basically tracking off the leaderships guidance, and also because they’re
communicating effectively in order to ensure that the communication is current, relevant and
accurate.

Do you have any experience in corporate PR? If yes, describe your experience in corporate
versus agency.
Before I worked at my first PR agency, I worked in sports marketing. So I worked on the
corporate side, we did have an agency, and I worked for Los Angeles Turf Club, which is
essentially Santa Anita Race Track, so I was in sports marketing, doing publicity for
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thoroughbred racing. I think it’s a little more frenetic; typically what we’re doing is carrying out
an assignment that has been approved by the client. So even though we might make
recommendations, even though we’ll write plans to meet objective that they lay out for us, at the
end of the day they’re the ones who are going to trigger whatever we’re doing because we need
to get their approval since they’re paying us to do it. We’re not going to do things without their
approval and then bill them for something that they wouldn’t normally pay for because they
didn’t agree that that was the way to go. So it’s clearly a faster pace environment, someone who
wants to get into this field, in terms of agency business, has got to be very nimble, very flexible,
have the ability to adapt to different circumstances and situations. We’re frequently jumping in
cars and driving up to see a client on very short notice or getting on a plane and flying across
country as well as having longer scheduled meetings, there’s a lot of need to be very flexible.

Approximately, how many years have you been a hiring manager?
Let’s see, well I’ve been hiring since, almost since I first started in Public Relations, Agency
business. When I was on the corporate side, I hired people who worked under me, so I basically
was doing that in my early twenties, I’ve been hiring ever since. My greatest responsibility for
employment has been since I got into the agency business, and probably over the last 25 years,
where I’ve been responsible for hiring most everybody on my staff.

As a hiring manager, what characteristics are you looking for when a candidate comes in to
interview?
Characteristics? Well, I want someone that’s going to be number one – very comfortable and
confident in their ability to understand the industry. I mean that’s a pretty logical place to start, if
you’re nervous about not knowing what to do, I mean we develop employees through
professional development courses, both internally and externally. We’re constantly in a learning
curve, because when you’re green you’re growing. And we want people to constantly be green
and asking questions and wanting to know more and be inquisitive about that. But I think to
begin with, you have to be pretty confident in understanding the foundational aspects of the
business. I want people to be very articulate because we are constantly – even though we spend
most of our time writing communication materials, we’re also articulating them to our clients or
to the media or to third parties to convey points of view and to be very compelling and
convincing, and I think if you’re not articulate or comfortable with presentation skills, that would
not help you much in an agency environment. Now that doesn’t mean that you can’t be relatively
quiet, but when you speak you have to be able to know how to deliver your presentation in the
right manner, so I think presentation skills are a plus. I think collegiality is something because
we are in a collaborative environment, so I think being able to work with other folks is very
important. Different clients have different needs and different temperaments but in an agency
you’re in a purely oxygenated environment. It’s like you’re in an oxygen tent at a hospital and
we’re all breathing the same air and we’re doing the same thing therefore I think we have to be
very in tuned with one another and able to work collaboratively across multiple challenges, cause
not everybody has an answer all the time. I think those probably would be – I mean the obvious
thing, I think those are the obvious things

When interviewing, what are the characteristics that stand out to you most from
interviewing candidates? Both positive and negative.
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I’ll tell you what, first of all I start with experience and there is a Harvard Business School
recommendation that you hire for character and you train for skill and I don’t disagree with that,
but I think there’s a foundation of skill that gets you through the door, from that point on, it’s, “Is
the person poised? Is the person articulate? Is the person comfortable in their own skin? Is the
person eager?” You can’t fake passion, and I’ll tell you that in the Public Relations business,
especially in the agency side, we spend a lot of time in the office and with clients and working on
assignments and you can’t fake passion, this is not a 9-5 job. I’m not going to tell you that we
stay here till 11 o’clock every night, that’s a little extreme, and you can say the same thing from
an advertising standpoint. Everybody does have the occasional late hours or your preparing for
an important presentation and burning the midnight oil, but you have to be passionate about this
and it absolutely comes through when you’re in an environment with colleagues or clients. So I
think passion is something that I look for too.

Provide 3 characteristics to describe the ideal candidate for your agency.
In no order, I would say they have to be inquisitive, they have to be colloquial, I’ve got one left,
so I better choose it carefully. Confident.

Situational Question: Say for instance, you are interviewing 2 candidates for a position.
Both candidates have the equivalent amount of experience and are equally qualified for the
position. Candidate 1 is always immediate with their responses, quick witted, and comes
across as very social/outgoing. Candidate 2 is a little more reserved in their responses, they
take more time to reflect on the question that is being asked, and they come across as very
quiet. Based on the given scenario, are you inclined to select one candidate over the other?
You said all things being equal, so they have the same skill, I think I would absolutely frame it
around the responses they gave. So if this is a hypothetical situation, I asked them hypothetical
questions, just because one might be quicker or more outgoing, I mean that’s always a plus. But I
would want to hear the responses. Many times, the thing that helps differentiate good public
relations practitioners from poor ones is the inability to listen, and I think listening is very
important characteristic when it comes to our discipline, just because someone is quick doesn’t
mean they have necessarily thought it through quickly maybe because they’ve already either
preformed an answer or they’re giving me a partial answer, someone that takes longer, might be
quieter or might have pondered it longer, might give me a more thorough and articulate answer. I
think response would dictate it more than just the personality, I wouldn’t hire someone based on
personality alone. There’s got to be other factors involved.

In your experience, have you ever had a personality type like Candidate 2 on your team? If
yes, in your experience, did you provide coaching to help them be more successful? If yes,
what type of coaching was provided?
I think that people achieve success on their own. Everybody’s going to receive coaching and that
should be part of our job, all of us as senior counselors, but I think you don’t want to change
somebody’s style or their personality just because you think it might better suit an environment.
What I would tell you is some clients will resonate more quickly to either outgoing or more
serious people, depending on the nature of their business or their personality as well. I won’t say
one type of personality fits better in an environment. All I would say is the friendly outgoing
person – friendly is the wrong word, the outgoing person – the one that’s more at ease, maybe
gregarious, loquacious, might be a little more comfortable in this environment because we’re all
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about words and their actions and communications in a variety of ways. When you’re making a
presentation in front of a client or even to our own colleagues. It’s not just the words you say, it’s
the way you gesticulate, facial mannerisms, body language, so there’s a lot of elements that go
into it.

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Appendix B: Student Interviews

Ian Rapport
USC Master of Strategic PR Student

What led you to the public relations career path?
I had a few different career aspirations heading into college and decided to try them all out. I
wanted to be an athletic trainer, but I really didn't like Biology so I gave up on that early on.
Then I began to write for my school's Sports Information Department and enjoyed the
opportunity of writing feature stories despite knowing I wouldn't want a career in journalism.
When I took a class in PR I learned that I could work in any field as a public relations
professional. Since I hadn't decided on any field specifically, I decided PR would be a great
choice with my writing and communication skills. It would give me an opportunity to explore
other fields while still focusing on what I am good at.

What affirmations did you experience upon selecting the public relations career path? And
Why?
I didn't really experience many affirmations. My professors were excited for me, but this was the
extent of it. I feel like I received a lot of confusion when telling people I would be getting my
masters in PR. People don't see PR as a field in which you need a masters. I would have to agree
slightly, but I feel that it was most helpful for me to do this because it gave me an opportunity to
gain more experience without getting stuck in a field or career path I wasn't fond of.

What hesitancies did you experience upon selecting the public relations career path? And
Why?
I was hesitant upon selecting PR because I wasn't sure if it would earn me the millions of dollars
I was imagining when I was a young boy.

Describe how you envision your ideal public relations position. What role do you see
yourself in? What responsibilities do have in your ideal PR position?
I see myself in a position of leading a company’s PR and communications team. I would be
extremely experienced in the company's sector and be well known for my achievements. I will
lead the company in all PR and communication efforts across its different brands.

What field of public relations do you plan to/or already are pursuing? And Why?
I am not 100% sure yet. I have two internships this semester in sports PR and entertainment PR. I
have dabbled in automobile PR and tech PR also. I wanted to get the full spectrum of experience
and allow myself the opportunity to get a job in any of these fields by gaining the experience
necessary for them. My plan is to work in corporate PR because I like the opportunity to do a lot
of different things.

What are specific areas of pursuing a degree in PR that you have really enjoyed, and why?
(ex. Particular classes, or programs available from school - these areas are not limited to
USC education if you studied PR at the undergraduate level)
I have really enjoyed the wide range of professors who have taught my class. While not all of
them have been great (some terrible), I have had many amazing teachers who have impacted my
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understanding of PR and given me the tools I will need to be successful. My favorite class was
Crisis Communication. Our teacher was a leader in his field and gave us great insight into crisis
PR.

What are specific areas of pursuing a degree in PR that you haven't enjoyed, and why?
I don't enjoy the repetitiveness that comes with getting masters in PR. I sometimes get the feeling
we have learned everything and my classes continue to go over the same thing I have already
learned in a previous class. While I can take classes outside of PR, I chose a PR masters program
to take PR classes, but I had not expected them to all be so similar. There is also a lack of
guidance. You kind of just go out there and choose what class you want and it doesn’t really
matter what it is as long as you meet the credit requirement.

If you are already working in public relations, what are the areas of your job that you
really enjoy? ("Working" can include full-time positions or internships)
I really enjoy getting to do things out of the ordinary. My least favorite days are sitting at my
desk all day and doing work that doesn't excite me. I love getting out there and getting my hands
dirty by participating in executive interviews or meeting with the media.

If you are already working in public relations, what are the areas of your job that you
don't enjoy?
Like I said above, I really hate doing the research and boring tasks such as creating media lists. I
have days where I just sit in my seat all day. Those days kill me.

Corporate Public Relations is slower paced, generally has one client to focus on, and
usually consists of a smaller team of people. Agency Public Relations is faster paced, can
potentially focus on several clients, and often require practitioners to be a part of larger
teams that vary per account. Do you have a preference for either one of these sections of
PR? If so, why?
I prefer corporate PR. My reason is simple. From my experience in working for PR firms, they
work too hard and too quickly to really focus on their clients and give them proper care. I saw a
lot of important information and requests from clients slip through the cracks. I didn't see the
clients getting their moneys worth and I felt like it was almost unethical, but it turns out that this
is just how PR firms are sometimes. I might come across a different experience at a PR firm in
the future, but this has just been my experience so far. In terms of corporate PR, you focus
closely on your one client and are able to do things more efficiently. You care more about the
company you work for and are invested in their success. While PR firms are invested in the
success of their clients, it's normally not as much as a person at a corporate PR position.

What would need to change in order for you to select the other option?
I would need to see a PR firm that focuses on making their employees slow down and focus on
the clients needs. I don't think this is possible because PR firms are too fast-paced and employees
have too many accounts to work on.

86

Tiantian Xiang
USC Master of Strategic PR Student

What led you to the public relations career path?
I was majored in Journalism. I met a lot of public relations practitioners. They are creative and
passionate about what they do. They believe what they sell. And I think that’s the kind of job I
want.

What affirmations did you experience upon selecting the public relations career path? And
Why?
None.

What hesitancies did you experience upon selecting the public relations career path? And
Why?
It seems like public relations practitioners are all out spoke. I used to think it is a must have still
for PR Practitioners, but I am not the kind of person that talks a lot. I usually listen and observe a
lot during conversation. And later I found that listening and observing helps in PR as well.

Describe how you envision your ideal public relations position. What role do you see
yourself in? What responsibilities do have in your ideal PR position?
Creative, copy writing. To come up with ideas for PR campaigns, generating content for
traditional media as well as social media.

What field of public relations do you plan to/or already are pursuing? And Why?
Till now, I have two working experiences related to PR. Both of them were in the PR department
of insurance companies. Both of the chances were got by accident, but I liked them. I think I
would prefer in house positions, since in house practitioners have more power in deciding what
to do during a campaign.

What are specific areas of pursuing a degree in PR that you have really enjoyed, and why?
(ex. Particular classes, or programs available from school – these areas are not limited to
USC education if you studied PR at the undergraduate level)
The classes are all practical rather than theoretical. I like all the classes that allow us to work on
real clients. It’s exciting and practical. I learned most from doing research on these clients, and
come up with campaign plans for them.

What are specific areas of pursuing a degree in PR that you haven’t enjoyed, and why?
I think we are doing too much about how to be a leader and pioneer in PR, actually in real life,
we have to start in an entry level. The thing I did not enjoy is that the thing we learned in class is
a little bit disjointed with what we should do when we enter the real world of PR.

If you are already working in public relations, what are the areas of your job that you
really enjoy? (“Working” can include full-time positions or internships)
To come up with campaign ideas, and implementing CSR programs.

If you are already working in public relations, what are the areas of your job that you
don’t enjoy?
87

Tracking works with our vendors, they can never finish things on time and perfectly. It is
frustrating when you have to ask someone to redo things, or to push them meet the deadline.

Corporate Public Relations is slower paced, generally has one client to focus on, and
usually consists of a smaller team of people. Agency Public Relations is faster paced, can
potentially focus on several clients, and often require practitioners to be a part of larger
teams that vary per account. Do you have a preference for either one of these sections of
PR? If so, why?
I prefer corporate PR. Since I would really know about a brand and dive into it to do PR for one
company. And corporate PR practitioners have more power in decision making.

What would need to change in order for you to select the other option?
I don’t think there is one thing that can change my mind for now.

88

Andrew Aronsohn
USC Master of Strategic PR Student

What led you to the public relations career path?
Desire to learn how to write in a way that could affect public opinion. Also, Mad Men.

What affirmations did you experience upon selecting the public relations career path? And
Why?
Not sure what this means

What hesitancies did you experience upon selecting the public relations career path? And
Why?
Networking and maintain connections are not strong suits of mine.

Describe how you envision your ideal public relations position. What role do you see
yourself in? What responsibilities do have in your ideal PR position?
Any position with more creative work or back-stage work. Writing, creating, or producing
original content.

What field of public relations do you plan to/or already are pursuing? And Why?
Something in politics, law, or public information. Any field that matters outside of its own
bubble, really.

What are specific areas of pursuing a degree in PR that you have really enjoyed, and why?
(ex. Particular classes, or programs available from school – these areas are not limited to
USC education if you studied PR at the undergraduate level)
Crisis communication, political PR, writing, video production.

What are specific areas of pursuing a degree in PR that you haven’t enjoyed, and why?
Nothing specific to the field. Things I haven’t enjoyed would probably be universal in academia.

If you are already working in public relations, what are the areas of your job that you
really enjoy? (“Working” can include full-time positions or internships)
N/A

If you are already working in public relations, what are the areas of your job that you
don’t enjoy?
N/A

Corporate Public Relations is slower paced, generally has one client to focus on, and
usually consists of a smaller team of people. Agency Public Relations is faster paced, can
potentially focus on several clients, and often require practitioners to be a part of larger
teams that vary per account. Do you have a preference for either one of these sections of
PR? If so, why?
Ideally I’d be able to work as an independent contractor some day. Until then I’ll realistically
settle for whoever will pay me to do something that isn’t awful.

What would need to change in order for you to select the other option?
89

Amber Miller
USC Master of Strategic PR Student

What led you to the public relations career path?
I pursued a broadcast-journalism degree at my undergraduate college but realized a career in
broadcast-journalism was not the right fit for me after an internship in the spring semester of my
senior year. I realized that many broadcast reporters switch to public relations later on in their
career. I also realized that my broadcast background and knowledge, in addition to my strengths,
would be beneficial for a career in public relations.

What affirmations did you experience upon selecting the public relations career path? And
Why?
A degree in public relations is very versatile. It also offers a more stable and consistent lifestyle
as opposed to broadcast-journalism.

What hesitancies did you experience upon selecting the public relations career path? And
Why?
No hesitancies.

Describe how you envision your ideal public relations position. What role do you see
yourself in? What responsibilities do have in your ideal PR position?
I see myself working in non-profit PR, supporting a cause I truly believe in. Conversely, I could
also see myself working in-house in a corporate position. Social Media, campaign design and
planning, marketing integrated responsibilities, etc.

What field of public relations do you plan to/or already are pursuing? And Why?
I am currently pursuing agency work because I believe that is the best experience I can gain to
eventually work in-house for a non-profit.

What are specific areas of pursuing a degree in PR that you have really enjoyed, and why?
(ex. Particular classes, or programs available from school – these areas are not limited to
USC education if you studied PR at the undergraduate level)
I specifically enjoyed the PR research and evaluation class as well as Crisis PR. I enjoyed these
classes because of the thought and strategy that went behind the real and fictional campaigns we
created and evaluated.

What are specific areas of pursuing a degree in PR that you haven’t enjoyed, and why?
I do not enjoy media pitching as much as I enjoy other aspects of public relations. Because I
have experience on the other end through media internships, I feel I am often asked to take over
media pitching responsibilities. However, I enjoy working and designing creative campaigns
and mitigating crisis much more than media pitching.

If you are already working in public relations, what are the areas of your job that you
really enjoy? (“Working” can include full-time positions or internships)
The creative behind campaigns and social media strategy.

90

If you are already working in public relations, what are the areas of your job that you
don’t enjoy?
Media pitching.

Corporate Public Relations is slower paced, generally has one client to focus on, and
usually consists of a smaller team of people. Agency Public Relations is faster paced, can
potentially focus on several clients, and often require practitioners to be a part of larger
teams that vary per account. Do you have a preference for either one of these sections of
PR? If so, why?
Yes, I prefer corporate public relations. I find comfort in knowing what to expect each day (to a
certain degree) and knowing how to handle any issue that may arise. Ideally I would prefer to be
an expert in one area.

What would need to change in order for you to select the other option?
I would need to work with the same clients for longer periods of time. I would hopefully be able
to specialize in one area.

91

Gino Garcia
USC Master of Strategic PR Student

What led you to the public relations career path?
I chose PR as a profession because it combined many of my favorite skills – writing, building
relationships, and impacting public opinion and news. Also, as a former creative (musician,
dancer, designer), I saw how I could apply lessons learned as a performer to being a successful
PR practitioner.

What affirmations did you experience upon selecting the public relations career path? And
Why?
I looked to mentors for advice and affirmation. Through this network of mentors I was able to
communicate honestly about this profession and whether or not I could be good at it. After
moving forward with this career path, affirmation came in the form of colleagues and supervisors
who clearly communicated the worth of my contributions to the organizations I worked with.

What hesitancies did you experience upon selecting the public relations career path? And
Why?
I am an admitted introvert. I tend to think intensely before verbally communicating
anything, and when first breaking into this industry I was overwhelmed by what some of
my mentors would call “blow-hards.” The stereotypical PR professional tends to be
extremely talkative, outgoing, brassy, and aggressive; I consider myself to be talkative and
intuitive, however am less aggressive than the stereotypical PR professional.

Describe how you envision your ideal public relations position.
What role do you see
yourself in? What responsibilities do have in your ideal PR position?
I hope to rise to a top leadership position in a communications department. For instance, a Vice
President or Director of Communications for an international nonprofit, foundation, or
government agency. My responsibilities would draw from the most comprehensive definition of
public relations: content creation and publishing, media relations, stakeholder relations, digital
and social PR, events

What field of public relations do you plan to/or already are pursuing? And Why?
I’m pursuing political/nonprofit PR and have been working in this field for four years as of 2014.
For me to be happy and successful in my work, I need to feel that I am working on behalf of
public interest and providing some public good. This field of work also allows for me to engage
in forms of PR not allowed in other fields, such as lobbying, government relations, and public
policy analysis.

What are specific areas of pursuing a degree in PR that you have really enjoyed, and why?
(ex. Particular classes, or programs available from school – these areas are not limited to
USC education if you studied PR at the undergraduate level)
The courses from which I’ve gained the most have been outside of the USC SPR department. To
complement by specialization in public affairs, I am pursuing a graduate certificate in political
management which has allowed me to explore concepts in leadership, policy communication,
and basic economics. Within Annenberg, I enjoyed our crisis communication course due to the
instructor and my general interest in crisis management and issue analysis.
92

What are specific areas of pursuing a degree in PR that you haven’t enjoyed, and why?
Sometimes I feel that we look at PR with a narrow perspective. At times this particular program
feels too focused on practical lessons and doesn’t train us to think critically and to base our
applied/practical claims in empirical theory. To be competitive in this industry, which is
increasingly growing (and frankly, many do not acquire post-secondary degrees in PR), we need
to be able to distinguish ourselves as critical thinkers and professionals.

If you are already working in public relations, what are the areas of your job that you
really enjoy? (“Working” can include full-time positions or internships)
I enjoy campaign strategy development. I am a big-picture thinker that is able to think in the
abstract and long-term. Developing strategy allows me to envision goals, obstacles, and
responses. My other favorite area of my job is when I’m able to nurture relationships with
people, as opposed to being highly focused on tasks.

If you are already working in public relations, what are the areas of your job that you
don’t enjoy?
I
find
that
the
hardest
part
of
working
in
PR
–
especially
at
an
agency
–
is
managing
clients
and

their
expectations.

Corporate Public Relations is slower paced, generally has one client to focus on, and
usually consists of a smaller team of people. Agency Public Relations is faster paced, can
potentially focus on several clients, and often require practitioners to be a part of larger
teams that vary per account. Do you have a preference for either one of these sections of
PR? If so, why?
I have experienced both in-house and agency PR, and don’t have a preference as I see the value
in both. However, I see myself being more satisfied in the long run as an in house professional
rather than a consultant. I believe this is because I enjoy being fully immersed in an
issue/organization and getting a chance to be woven into an organization’s administration. The
pitfalls of being in-house for, as stated above is that the range of projects can be more limited,
which may cause me to move around to other organizations more frequently.

What would need to change in order for you to select the other option?

93

Teresa Maxwell
USC Master of Strategic PR Student

What led you to the public relations career path?
My undergrad degree is in business management, and the courses I found most enjoyable were
communications and HR. When I looked into the MBA programs I saw most of the courses were
the theory of management so I started looking for a career where I could pursue what I enjoy
rather than just a general “management” career. The more I learned about public relations the
more I became excited about the opportunities there are in this field. With a masters degree in PR
I feel that I will be able to use the skills in the PR career path, but that they also transfer well to
other career areas.

What affirmations did you experience upon selecting the public relations career path? And
Why?
Once I met some of my fellow students and realized that we have a lot in common I felt that this
was definitely the right choice for me. Why do I think this? I guess I had a preconceived notion
that PR professionals must all be one type and a “people person,” but after meeting the diversity
of students in my program I realized that is not true.

What hesitancies did you experience upon selecting the public relations career path? And
Why?
Because I have a management degree it was assumed that I would pursue an MBA if I went back
to college. My greatest hesitancy in deciding was because this decision was thought of as out of
the norm for a management graduate. When I sought counsel from my management professors,
most of them didn’t even understand what the PR field was. They assumed I was talking about
entertainment or sports PR and they didn’t think that was the right course for me, and I agree.
Since I could not get affirmation from those I held in high esteem, it was a difficult decision to
make.

Describe how you envision your ideal public relations position. What role do you see
yourself in? What responsibilities do have in your ideal PR position?
Working in house for a company that has a lot of internal communication and PR campaigns for
internal and external audiences. Contributing to a company’s PR strategies and helping them to
create content. This can be in an in-house investor relations position, or an HR internal
communications role. Ability to work independently on day-to-day responsibilities but
collaborate with a team on larger projects.

What field of public relations do you plan to/or already are pursuing? And Why?
Corporate PR because I want to work for a company in-house where I can grow and learn about
the company. I hope to work at a company where I want to be an advocate of the company, not
just because I am being paid to, but because I want to. These ties into finding a company culture
that fits with my intrinsic needs.

What are specific areas of pursuing a degree in PR that you have really enjoyed, and why?
(ex. Particular classes, or programs available from school – these areas are not limited to
USC education if you studied PR at the undergraduate level)
94

One of my favorite courses was the introduction to PR course. I enjoyed it the most because it
introduced me to specialty areas of PR that I did not previously know about or that I didn’t know
very much about. Because of what I learned in this intro to PR course I decided to take my next
favorite course, Investor Relations. I really enjoyed the coordination between different
departments and upper management that IR requires. It also requires an understanding of
business and management, which I had learned in my undergrad, so I felt very comfortable in
this class.

What are specific areas of pursuing a degree in PR that you haven’t enjoyed, and why?
I cannot think of a single area that I wouldn’t have wanted to learn. Even though I am not
pursuing a career in entertainment PR, I still felt that taking that class helped me to have a better
understanding of PR and real world applications were interesting to learn from. The least
enjoyable for me would have to be public speaking. I feel that I am getting better at this, and the
only way to improve and feel more comfortable in front of an audience is to force myself out into
the spotlight.

If you are already working in public relations, what are the areas of your job that you
really enjoy? (“Working” can include full-time positions or internships)
I currently work more in a B2B communications role rather than PR. In this position my most
enjoyable areas are corporate event planning and being in charge of our internal company
newsletter.

If you are already working in public relations, what are the areas of your job that you
don’t enjoy?
I won’t answer this since my job is more of a comm’s position (as stated above).

Corporate Public Relations is slower paced, generally has one client to focus on, and
usually consists of a smaller team of people. Agency Public Relations is faster paced, can
potentially focus on several clients, and often require practitioners to be a part of larger
teams that vary per account. Do you have a preference for either one of these sections of
PR? If so, why?
I feel that I would most enjoy working in-house for one company rather than for an agency. The
opportunity to really understand and believe in the company is important to me. Being able to
share in the success of a company’s successful PR campaign to me means working for the
company that achieves that success. Even if the success is just sending a new newsletter where
the format was changed to make it easier to read, I would want to personally know the people
that are reading this communication. If an event is being planned, I would want to attend the
event myself and know the people that I am planning for. I feel that would not happen as much in
an agency.

What would need to change in order for you to select the other option?
I interned at a PR agency and really I just didn’t like working for multiple clients. I was only able
to gain a top level understanding of the company, just enough to do my job. I would enjoy the
fast pace of an agency and other attributes they have, but this limited time and focus on the client
and their needs would not satisfy my intrinsic needs.

Abstract (if available)

Abstract The public relations industry calls for practitioners who are open, outgoing, and thoroughly enjoy the social aspect of the field. Given this personality type in public relations, it spurs the question, what happens when someone who is quiet, looks inward rather than outward, and prefers not to socialize as frequently, enters the field? This research paper examines personality characteristics of extraverts and introverts, as described by the Myers Briggs Type Indicator, within the field of public relations. Through information gathered from primary and secondary research findings, it also provides recommendations to the industry on how to support and acclimate an introvert into to a field that seeks an extravert.

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Asset Metadata

Creator Herrera-Green, Elise (author)

Core Title Introverts in public relations: how the industry can nurture them into the practice

School Annenberg School for Communication

Degree Master of Arts

Degree Program Strategic Public Relations

Publication Date 07/08/2014

Defense Date 07/01/2014

Publisher University of Southern California (original), University of Southern California. Libraries (digital)

Tag communications,extravert,introvert,OAI-PMH Harvest,Public Relations

Format application/pdf (imt)

Language English

Contributor Electronically uploaded by the author (provenance)

Advisor Floto, Jennifer D. (committee chair), Brabham, Daren C. (committee member), Chopp, Regina (committee member)

Creator Email eherreragreen@yahoo.com,EliseHerrera@gmail.com

Permanent Link (DOI) https://doi.org/10.25549/usctheses-c3-433081

Unique identifier UC11286902

Identifier etd-HerreraGre-2633.pdf (filename),usctheses-c3-433081 (legacy record id)

Legacy Identifier etd-HerreraGre-2633.pdf

Dmrecord 433081

Document Type Thesis

Format application/pdf (imt)

Rights Herrera-Green, Elise

Type texts

Source University of Southern California (contributing entity), University of Southern California Dissertations and Theses (collection)

Access Conditions The author retains rights to his/her dissertation, thesis or other graduate work according to U.S. copyright law. Electronic access is being provided by the USC Libraries in agreement with the a...

Repository Name University of Southern California Digital Library

Repository Location USC Digital Library, University of Southern California, University Park Campus MC 2810, 3434 South Grand Avenue, 2nd Floor, Los Angeles, California 90089-2810, USA