When discussing our jobs with non-PR folk it can feel like we are constantly justifying our ‘very busy, very important’ role as a ‘real’ job by attempting to explain in 100 words or less what it is we actually do all day. Even worse, is the assumption that we’re all vacuous champagne-swilling lushes. (- It’s amazing that Ab Fab continues to perpetuate the myth of the PR professional 6 years after the series ended!)

Times have certainly changed since Lynne Franks swapped fashion for Feng Shui, and consumer PR is now a much varied and forward thinking place, full of dynamic individuals.  However, it did come to my attention on my short-lived travels as a freelancer, that as an industry we do generally seem to fall into certain PR tribes:

Work hard, play hard – Works like a dog which earns them the right to party. Hard. Hard to the point where it all becomes a bit scary for those with them during said partying and those beside them at work the next day

Most likely to…have a heart attack

PR not ER – Constantly on the verge of tears and believes that without their manic micro managing and hysteria the whole company would go to the dogs

Most likely to…type through the tears because there’s no time to go to the loo for a proper cry (or a pee)

Posturing pervert – Can’t handle working in an industry surrounded by nubile young flesh and believes they have earned the right to ‘give it a go’ with the team assistant after a boozy lunch

Most likely to…be really inappropriate and summoned by HR

The bitter intellectual – Got a big fat academic chip on their shoulder because they are ‘too good’ for PR but have managed to work in the same agency for the last 10 years with minimum career progression

Most likely to…belittle the graduate trainee because they are secretly jealous of their youth and

Nice but dim – Exactly as the name suggests. It’s amazing they ever managed to get a job, let alone keep it but these twits seem to be recession proof. Probably because Daddy owns the company

Most likely to…look vacant while being given a simple task before asking for it to be put on an email so they can ‘get their head round it’

Lazy and deluded – The most infuriating group as you find yourself channelling a grumpy old person and saying things like ‘they wouldn’t know a day’s work if it slapped them round the face’

Most likely to…‘push back’ on work they are given because they are ‘totally maxed’ then leave the office at 5.30 on the dot

Nice as pie – So-o super nice and helpful. Never shouts, even if people deserve it, and can be a bit put upon

Most likely to…have a ‘falling down’ moment at the next inter-agency meeting and put a pic of their privates in the middle of a presentation to the company heads