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Tips on finding Healthcare Public Relations Jobs

Posted On : Feb-12-2010 | seen (755) times | Article Word Count : 701 |

In whichever area of public relations you practice, you will need some basic and fundamental skills.
Healthcare Public Relations is an essential part of the overall marketing strategy. Its role is to inform and influence individuals and groups to bring about a desired change in attitude or behaviour. This article relates to healthcare and pharmaceutical public relations, its protagonists and general information regarding how companies, and in particular, Public Relations agencies work with the pharmaceutical industry. Hopefully with will provide some insight into the healthcare public relations arena for those considering it as a career.

Generally pharmaceutical companies have their own public relations staff in-house but they are often assisted and supported by Public Relations Agencies / Medical Communications Agencies, providing services in a number of areas. Public Relations can be practised on many levels, from enhancing reputations at the company level, or corporate PR, to preparing the market for the introduction of a new drug or treatment, product PR.

Working within a PR or Medical Communications Agency you will develop some key and long lasting relationships. You will need to develop contacts with Key Opinion Leaders (KOLs) within particular therapy areas or indications as 3rd party endorsement by a trusted source can reassure a sceptical audience. You might also become involved with lobbying or advocacy requiring you to nurture contacts in the government and public sector.

Another area where you will develop long term relationships is with the media. It is invaluable to have the trust of, and have a good rapport with media contacts across the media landscape (broadcast, print and on-line). Over time you will learn how to harness different media channels for your needs and those of the client. You can expect to be working with people in TV, newspapers, trade magazines and journals, societies and associations and patient groups.

In whichever area of public relations you practice, you will need some basic and fundamental skills. Much of your work in trying to reach target groups will rely on creating interesting and insightful copy, so you will need strong editorial skills and a clear and concise style of writing. You will write a variety of pieces, typically including, news releases, newsletters and press reports, articles, product information materials and brochures. You will be in attendance at conferences and meetings ensuring events reach their full potential and that your clients feel the maximum benefits.

There is a good and structured career path within medical PR agencies. Teams tend to be structured around products and have a hierarchical structure from account executive all the way up to client services director, by way of account manager and account director. As you career progresses you can expect more management responsibility as well as becoming more strategically responsible for accounts and their success. This is the traditional route but there are rafts of other possible career paths to follow as you develop new skills.

Over your career you can expect to cover products in a myriad of therapy or disease areas. This is why a good understanding of biological and scientific processes is a great advantage. Companies generally look for candidates to hold a life sciences or public relations qualification or degree. As aforementioned, they will look for good writing abilities and may well want candidates to complete a writing test as part of the recruitment process. Any such test will be idiosyncratic to the company and will reflect the importance that they place on certain skills and abilities. Excellent communications skills are a must for a good PR professional – much of your success will be based upon the relationships that you build and cultivate. A lively personality and persuasive character will be useful attributes to potential candidates.

ID Search & Selection has been specialising in providing recruitment services to the medical communications industry and helping professionals in finding health care public relations jobs for many years. During this time we have developed strong relationships with some of the industry’s most prominent companies and individuals and this provides us with an ideal platform to showcase your talents and abilities to our clients. If you are looking for a new opportunity or you would like more information on the role that we are currently recruiting for, please contact us.

Article Source : http://www.articleseen.com/Article_Tips on finding Healthcare Public Relations Jobs_10840.aspx

Author Resource :
Editor, writer. Interests include writing on recruitment, health care public relations jobs, medical writer jobs and requirements

Keywords : health care public relations jobs, medical writer jobs,

Category : Business : Careers

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