Public Relations Manager Career Assessment

2What is a Public Relations Manager?

A public relations manager decides what the organization says and who says it. On an ordinary day that is news releases, story pitches to reporters, employee messages, the website, social media, community events, and preparing your leaders before they speak in public. Then there is the other kind of day. A crash, a layoff, a data breach, a lawsuit, an outbreak, a flood, an employee who did something terrible. On that day the reporters call within the hour, your own staff are frightened and reading rumors, and the organization needs one clear, honest, accurate statement fast. Building the plan for that day before it happens is the part of the job that earns the title.

The Reality: Read this part twice. Two things you should know before you go any further. First, this is a promotion job: you start as a communications coordinator, specialist, or a reporter, and you move up to manager over five to eight years. Almost nobody is hired into it cold. Second, and this one is specific to North Dakota: O*NET counts about 130 public relations managers in the entire state, and projects about 130 in 2034, with roughly 10 openings a year. Ten. You should walk in knowing that. The third honest thing is about the work itself: your worst days are your employer’s worst days, and you do not get to go home when they start. You will be asked to say things carefully, which is fine, and occasionally you will be asked to say something you do not believe, which is not. Where you draw that line is a question you should settle in your own mind before somebody else asks it for you.

Your Responsibilities:

• Write news releases, statements, talking points, and employee messages
• Answer reporters and arrange interviews with the right people
• Prepare leaders before they speak in public or on camera
• Build and rehearse the crisis communication plan before a crisis happens
• Run the organization’s social media and watch what is being said about it
• Manage community events, sponsorships, and public meetings
• Track coverage and public reaction and report on it honestly
• Coordinate with legal, leadership, and marketing on what can and cannot be said

You are the voice, and on the worst day you are the only one people hear.

3A Day in the Life

7:30 AM — Read the overnight news and social media mentions before anyone asks you about them.

8:15 AM — A reporter emails asking about a complaint filed against your organization. Respond within the hour.

9:00 AM — Meet with legal and leadership. Agree on exactly what can be said and what cannot.

10:30 AM — Write the statement. Get it approved. Send it, and post the same words publicly.

11:30 AM — Prep your director for a TV interview this afternoon. Practice the three hardest questions.

1:00 PM — Back to the ordinary work: a news release about a new program, and next week’s employee newsletter.

3:00 PM — Review the crisis plan and update the call list, because half the numbers are out of date.

5:00 PM — The story runs. Read it, note what was wrong, and keep your phone on tonight.

Quiet weeks and then the day everything happens at once.

4Training in North Dakota

Write first, get in as a coordinator or specialist, then move up. There is no license. A bachelor’s in communication, journalism, marketing, or English is the common road and most ND employers expect one. But the thing that gets you hired is writing — clear, fast, accurate writing that does not need to be rewritten by someone else. Many strong PR people in this state came out of newsrooms, because reporters already know how to write under a deadline and already know how the press works from the other side.

Training Pathways:

• Communication or journalism degree (4 years): NDSU’s Strategic Communication major requires a public relations or advertising capstone and a field experience, which means you graduate with real work to show. This is the most direct road.
• Coordinator to specialist to manager (5 to 8 years): Get in as a communications coordinator, public information officer, or marketing communications specialist. Write constantly, volunteer for the hard assignments, and learn how the crisis plan works before you need it.
• From the newsroom (3 to 6 years): Work as a reporter or news producer, then move to the organization’s side. ND television, radio, and newspaper newsrooms have sent a great many people into public relations, and employers value it because you already understand what a reporter needs and when.

Where to Train in North Dakota:

• North Dakota State University (Fargo) — Strategic Communication major, a B.A. or B.S. of at least 120 credits, with Principles of Strategic Communication and Research for Strategic Communication required, a capstone that is Public Relations Campaigns, Case Study in Public Relations, or Advertising Campaign Practicum, and a required 3-credit field experience (catalog.ndsu.edu/curriculum/undergraduate/strategic-communication-major)
• University of North Dakota (Grand Forks) — communication and media programs, plus Marketing, Management, and Public Affairs majors in the Nistler College of Business & Public Administration and a NASPAA-accredited Master of Public Administration, which is the useful graduate degree if you want the government or non-profit side of this work (business.und.edu/academics)
• North Dakota State University (Fargo) — Marketing B.S. and Business Administration B.S., both 100% online, if you want the business side underneath the communication work (ndsu.edu/business/academic-programs/undergraduate)
• Minot State University (Minot) — Management B.S., a Master of Science in Management, and graduate certificates in Leadership Studies and Knowledge Management (minotstateu.edu/business)
• University of Mary (Bismarck) — B.S. in Business Administration, an online B.S. in Business Management, and an online MBA and Master of Organizational Leadership (umary.edu/academics/schools/gary-tharaldson-school-business)
• Bismarck State College (Bismarck) — Management AAS and the Leadership certificate, online or on campus, as an affordable first step that stacks toward a bachelor’s (catalog.bismarckstate.edu/catalog/degrees/career-technical-education/management)
• Valley City State University (Valley City) and Dickinson State University (Dickinson) — business administration degrees, both online (catalog.vcsu.edu/undergraduate-catalog/departments/business and dickinsonstate.edu/academics/fields-of-study/sobe)
• PRSA (prsa.org) — the APR credential, earned from anywhere, which is the recognized professional credential in this field

Before You Start: Genuinely strong, fast, accurate writing. Calm under pressure. Good judgment about what should and should not be said. Willingness to be reachable at night, because news does not wait for business hours.

Tip: Start with financial aid, scholarships, and any help an employer offers — that is where the money starts. After that, ask a career counselor or Job Service North Dakota whether WIOA or other programs can help with what is left over, like training, tools, work boots, or exam fees. What can be paid for depends on the program and on your own situation, so ask before you sign up rather than after. Registered apprenticeships let you earn a paycheck while you learn — see jobsnd.com/job-seeker/apprenticeships for ND programs.

5Certification & Licensing

No license. The APR from PRSA is the recognized credential, and it is voluntary. Nothing licenses a public relations manager. The professional credential in this field is the Accreditation in Public Relations, or APR, from the Public Relations Society of America. It is not required for any job in North Dakota, and many excellent PR people never get it, but it signals a level of seriousness and it is one of the few things you can put on a resume that is specific to this work.

What Counts in Public Relations:

• APR from PRSA — a two-part process: a Panel Presentation, where you submit a questionnaire and present live to a panel that judges the things an exam cannot, and then a monitored computer-based Examination. PRSA maintains the credential through a renewal process built around ongoing learning (prsa.org)
• A portfolio of writing — news releases, statements, employee messages, and crisis materials you actually wrote. This is what gets read in an interview
• A bachelor’s in communication, journalism, marketing, or English — what most ND job ads ask for
• Crisis communication training — offered by professional associations and by state and federal emergency management programs. In a state with floods, blizzards, derailments, and pipeline incidents, this is not a theoretical skill
• Media relationships — not a credential, but in North Dakota it functions like one. There are not many newsrooms in this state, and the reporters know who answers the phone and tells them the truth

The Exams: The APR includes a monitored, computer-based examination, taken after you pass the Panel Presentation step.

Cost: PRSA does not publish the APR application and examination fees on its public Accreditation pages, so ask PRSA directly rather than budgeting a guess. PRSA does say members get a $100 rebate for passing the APR examination on the first try, and mentions a $35 saving when membership and the APR application are bundled. Many employers pay for the APR and for PRSA membership — ask yours first.

Keeping It Current: PRSA renews the APR on the basis of continued professional learning. Nothing else here renews, but your writing portfolio goes stale quickly and should be kept current.

6Salary & Job Outlook

North Dakota Public Relations Manager Pay (May 2025):

• Starting out (bottom 10–25%): $37.19–$47.69/hour ($77,350–$99,190/year)
• Middle (median — half earn more, half earn less): $54.86/hour ($114,110/year)
• Experienced (top 25–10%): $72.19–$80.69/hour ($150,150–$167,840/year)

What that means: The middle public relations manager in North Dakota earns about $114,110, against a national middle of about $146,910 — a gap of about $32,800. The bottom tenth here is about $77,350, which is close to the national bottom tenth of about $82,410, so the difference is not at the entry level. It is at the top: the ND top tenth is about $167,840 while the national top tenth reaches about $284,990. Look also at the shape of the ND numbers. The jump from the 75th percentile ($150,150) to the 90th ($167,840) is small compared to other jobs in this series. That is what it looks like when a state has no corporate headquarters and no large PR agencies — the ceiling comes down early. The top-paying PR jobs in North Dakota are in health systems, energy companies, universities, and state government.

Jobs in North Dakota: About 130 people do this work in ND today. By 2034, that should be about 130 (about 5% growth). Expect about 10 job openings every year in ND from growth and people retiring or changing jobs. Across the U.S., the change is about 5% growth.

Outlook: Say this one plainly. O*NET shows North Dakota with about 130 public relations managers in 2024 and about 130 in 2034, and lists the change as about 5% growth — the employment figures are rounded to the nearest ten, which is why the count does not visibly move. The number that matters is the openings: about 10 a year, statewide. That is the smallest of any job in this series, tied with natural sciences managers. Nationally the job also grows about 5%, so this is not a shrinking profession, it is a tiny one here. The seats are in Bismarck (state agencies and associations), Fargo and Grand Forks (health systems and universities), and the energy companies in the west. Realistically, most people who want this work in North Dakota start in a communications specialist job, where there are considerably more openings, and wait for the manager seat above them. If you want a faster road, Minneapolis has many times more of these jobs and much higher pay.

Who Hires in ND: State agencies and the Governor’s office, health systems, universities and colleges, energy and pipeline companies, banks and insurance companies, tribal governments, city and county governments, non-profits and foundations, trade associations and commodity groups, and a small number of agencies in Fargo and Bismarck.

Work Setting: An office, a screen, and a phone that does not turn off. Ordinary weeks are 40 to 50 hours. Crisis weeks are whatever the crisis requires, including nights and weekends. You will do interviews on camera or beside your leader, attend public meetings and community events on evenings, and travel around the state for them.

Physical Demands: Low. Sitting, writing, and meetings. Event days and public meetings mean standing and long hours. What actually costs you in this job is the stress load — being the person who has to speak clearly when everyone around you is upset, and being reachable when something breaks at 11 PM. People burn out in this work, and it is fair to know that going in.

Sources: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, North Dakota, May 2025 (SOC 11-2032); North Dakota and U.S. long-term employment projections 2024–2034, via O*NET OnLine. Numbers are rounded.

7Where This Leads

Path 1: Communications Coordinator — You write, post, proofread, and handle logistics. This is the doorway.

Path 2: Communications Specialist or Public Information Officer — You write releases and answer reporters yourself.

Path 3: Senior Specialist — You own a program or an audience, and you help write the crisis plan.

Path 4: Public Relations or Communications Manager — The message is yours, and so is the phone call at 11 PM.

Path 5: Director of Communications — Several people, the whole organization’s voice, and a seat with leadership.

Path 6: Chief Communications Officer or Agency Owner — You set communication strategy, or you run a firm that does.

8The Real Talk

What's Great:

• Real influence — you shape what an entire organization says
• Strong pay for a writing-centered career, about $114,110 in the middle
• Every kind of employer needs it, from state government to energy to health care
• You are in the room when decisions are made, not just told about them afterward
• The work genuinely matters on the days it matters
• Writing skill is portable, so this career can move with you

What's Hard:

• About 10 openings a year — the smallest number in this series
• The ceiling is low here: the ND top tenth is about $117,000 below the national top tenth
• Your worst days are your employer’s worst days, and you do not get to leave
• Constant availability, including nights and weekends
• You will sometimes be asked to say things you would word differently
• Burnout is common and nobody in this field pretends otherwise

Be Honest: Can you write clearly and fast when something has just gone wrong? Can you stay calm while everyone around you is upset? Do you know where your own line is about what you will and will not say, before somebody tests it? And can you look at ten openings a year in this state and decide honestly whether to start in a specialist job and wait, or go somewhere with more of them?

9Part 1: What Attracts You?

10Part 2: Are You Ready?

11Part 3: Your Next Move

Your Public Relations Manager Assessment Results