In general, professional experience of at least two years is required for admission to the Federal Diploma of Higher Education in PR, but not necessarily and exclusively in public relations. In addition to PR, professional experience can also be gained in an area of marketing, direct marketing, sales, marketing communications or journalism.

A PR specialist with a federal certificate is employed in a communications department of companies, institutions, organizations or NGOs as well as in PR agencies. There they work on the development of concepts or certain parts of them, plan their implementation and carry them out. They contribute their specialist knowledge to the conceptual work and implement PR measures and media editorially and technically.

A PR specialist is also responsible for planning, processing and monitoring suppliers. He/she also carries out deadline, quality and cost controls as part of the production and design of PR media and measures.

The professional examination "PR Specialist with Federal Certificate" consists of a total of four parts. These are taken either in writing or orally as a federal examination. The federal examination for PR specialists consists of the written examination part "Fundamentals of ethics, law, economics, business administration and society" and "Conceptual and strategic foundations", which has a weighting of 20%.

The second written part of the exam deals with the topics "Measures and channels" and is weighted at 30%. The third written part of the examination deals with "Content: Writing and editing" and is weighted at 20%. Finally, the skills are tested orally in the fourth part of the examination. This fourth part of the examination is weighted at 30%.

No. For admission to the Federal Professional Examination (FPE) for PR specialists with a Federal Diploma of Higher Education, a successfully completed MarKom certificate examination is no longer mandatory from the 2019 examination year.

The tasks of a public relations specialist are as follows:

• contribute to the development of overall communication concepts
• independently develop sub-concepts
• plan and implement communication tools and measures
• Order processing with suppliers and specialists as well as internal contacts
• Preparing cost, deadline and quality controls in connection with the design and production of communication materials and communication measures

A public relations specialist contributes to the promotion of awareness, reputation and thus to the healthy growth of a company, organization or institution. They support the adherence to and further development of internal guidelines (corporate social responsibility, CSR, compliance, etc.) and adhere to the rules of ethical communication behavior in accordance with industry codes.

The following prior education is required for the PR specialist examination:

• Completed basic training as a commercial clerk EFZ

or

• Federal baccalaureate certificate

or

• Diploma from a state-recognized commercial school or at least 3 years of technical secondary school, higher technical school, university of applied sciences or university

or

• Federal certificate as a communications specialist, marketing specialist, sales specialist or direct marketing specialist

and

• at least 2 years of professional experience in the fields of public relations, corporate communications, marketing communications, marketing, active sales, direct marketing or journalism

The following further training courses can be completed after the PR specialist training:

• Higher professional examination for the federal diploma as a PR consultant or marketing manager
• With a vocational baccalaureate: Communication studies at a university of applied sciences in the field of journalism/organizational communication
• With qualified professional and management experience (admission "sur dossier"): Postgraduate studies
• University of Applied Sciences MAS Business Communications or MAS Digital Marketing and Communications Management or EMBA Business Administration - Communication Management

The part-time courses to prepare for the Federal Diploma of Higher Education (FA) in PR can vary depending on the provider. One such
In most cases, however, a PR course lasts around one year. However, ask the training provider of your choice about the specific duration of the course.

Public relations professionals should have the following personal requirements:

• Communication skills
• Organizational skills
• Service awareness

If you have these qualities, it makes sense to attend a PR training course.