A year ago I ventured in to web design classes. I recommend Dreamweaver 8. I volunteered to design the web site for a school which forced my hand. As a PR veteran for 25 years, I knew to re-invent. The challenge is to find the time. Twitter (@Soulati) has been the quickest, best education in a few short months.

Everything you mentioned in the article speaks directly to everything I had to learn in the last year and a half to fulfill my role in Corporate Communications. However, none of those skills were ever stressed during my studies in PR and Communications. Just goes to show how much our role as PR Professionals is evolving on practically an annual basis.

Great points, Arik.

I'll be the first to admit, I'm only okay at HTML coding. One of the key things that a PR professional must have is research skills. So, to make myself better, I researched. I went to tutorials. I practiced. I now know enough knowledge that I am comfortable with it.

I also liked your point about understanding reach - which is why my college encourages a marketing minor for their PR students.

PR pros are always on the go. They have to have a smartphone and understand them. You are expected to respond in a timely manner - and that expectation has become more real time than ever.

Great post!

Great points all round, Arik. One that I'd add is to recognize bloggers and build PROPER blogger outreach programs. There are still too mnay PR pro's and agencies that pooh-pooh the idea of giving a blogger due respect when it comes to sharing information as they would with a journo.

With SEO skills, Technorati, Digg and more at their fingertips (not to mention a thriving Twitter and blogging community), bloggers offer a fantastic resource for you and your clients. Act like this is the case and offer bloggers your respect.

Thanks for all the meaningful comments, everyone. This is an important topic as we're laying the foundation for the next generation of PR pros right now:

* Liz: Couldn't agree more with your metrics point. You could make a solid argument that belongs right near the top of the list these days.

* Brad: Love your point about being involved personally before trying to help a brand enter the social/digital space. How can you counsel clients if you don't understand the nuances yourself?

* Allan: Love your "everyone love to win, I hate to lose" comment. I'm going to use that in a presentation I'm giving next week. Thank you!

* Jason: The traditional skills aren't going away. Like I said, many of them will just be enhanced going forward. PR pros will always need to have outstanding writing, relationship building and persuasion skills.

* Narciso: Great point about not being afraid to fail. I think many forget, some of the most successful people have failed many times (Michael Jordan, anyone). Also, you think attitude is important? I'm shocked ;)

* Sonny/Mike: I really believe the code/CSS/HTML piece is critical going forward. I think that will be a basic skill within 5 years. With these disciplines merging as quickly as they are, you just won't be able to say "I can't write code" any longer.

Thanks again to everyone for weighing in and contributing to this important conversation.

@arikhanson

Excellent points, Arik, as are those made in everyone's replies. I think it's also important to keep in mind that not every tool is useful for every client -- to quote David Meerman Scott, "Know your goals, and let content drive the action." We certainly need to know how to use whatever is available, but I cringe when I see PR people rushing to get a FB page or Twitter account for a client without first knowing exactly what they want to accomplish. Despite ever-evolving technology that offers tremendous advantages, people's needs don't change -- and good PR has always recognized that it's about applying our knowledge and skills to help others succeed.

Great topic here. But one thing that has been totally missed here is monitoring and analytics.

In my experience, traditional PR folks are becoming increasingly concerned with web data and what it means. I know my colleagues are being approached by clients with questions about numbers and how to make decisions based on them. PR pros need to understand the basics of analytics- visits, pageviews, bounce rate, etc.
We should also have the ability to communicate to clients why measurement is so important.

Monitoring falls under becoming a search expert. We should be able to advise clients on the different ways they can monitor what the social web is saying about them.

My two cents. :)

Yes. Finally the gauntlet has been laid down. You need search, you need html/coding ability, and you need a variety of other skill sets previously dismissed by the PR industry.

That's why it's fun to be a hybrid these days :)

Great stuff as usual, Arik. Love the points about the role and evolution of search and mobile.

I'll add a few more points and build on some above:
- Understand and how and why to use video and photos to tell stories in social channels
- Be involved in social media channels as an individual before you try to bring a brand online
- Have an understanding that social media isn't marketing, PR, advertising, sales but involves all of these
- Know how customer service works within companies and that eventually your role will evolve more into that area as the voice of the customer gains volume online

This is a great post and some of the comments are excellent. I think this serves as a good reminder for all of us, not just those freshly minted out of undergrad. As an adjunct professor I can certainly use these for my end of semester email. Some of the things I tell my students include:

1. Know what you stand for (e.g., high quality work, getting things done, being ethical, following up, etc.). Find out what it is that makes you "you" and exploit it.

2. Be open and honest. If you don't know, say so. If you made a mistake, admit it. You will be respected more as a person and professional for it.

3. Be ready for change. The world is changing and evolving rapidly and you have to keep up.

4. Everyone likes to win, but I hate to lose. There's a difference so keep that in mind.

5. Invest in the absolute best mobile device you can. Everything is going to be on the handheld so make a wise decision.

6. Network, network, network -- especially in today's tough economy. Get involved by going to events and meeting people and look at organizations that make sense to join.

7. Last but not least, slow down and enjoy life. School and graduation are busy times, but all work and no play makes for a pretty boring life.

@allanschoenberg

I agree with all, but the most with Jason Sprenger. In fact, I believe writing skills and proper style are being ignored too much in some p.r. schools. When hiring, I will frequently discard any applications with news release submissions that don't follow AP/CP style book.

Another skill required, as simple as it is: common sense. No technology required, just a head on your shoulders and some street smarts.

Sure, PR is evolving, just like anything else. And absolutely, these skills are incredibly important to tomorrow's pros. But I believe that the most important skills/traits of tomorrow's successful PR pros are the same ones you'll find in the most successful practitioners of yesterday and today.

These include:
--a healthy curiosity about the world and how it works, and the ability to ask good questions to ascertain additional information when needed and desired
--tried and true relationship skills - the ability to interact with all kinds of people to achieve a myriad of objectives and goals, and the ability to develop and nurture a network of supporters, mentors, friends, etc.
--at least one primary subject expertise/passion outside of PR and communications, which they can use/apply to bring new approaches and ways of thinking to bear for companies/clients inside or outside of that subject area
--the abilities to write and use language to inform, persuade and entertain
--other personal intangibles (fill in your favorite here)

Knowledge and skill development is important. But I think the above abilities won't become any less important to success in the months, years and decades to come. It's worth honing these as much as anything else.

I also think that ultimately it's a person's desire, drive and inner fortitude that determines what they'll become in their careers. If they have these qualities, they'll invest themselves in obtaining and refining skills and staying up on the latest evolutions in the industry. If not...well, they won't, and they'll be passed over by those who do.

Thanks, Arik...

@JasonSprenger

This is a blog post that hits very close to home for me! Arik, you are right on. Some additional thoughts I have are as follows:

Not only should you be expected to know these things, if you don't know them, you should be expected to learn them on your own. For example, at my job I am going to be taking over the Web site and will have to pick back up in Dreamweaver, something I haven't touched in about three or four years. So to refresh my memory I was instructed to go on lynda.com and get the tutorials to help me. I think if you don't know something, picking things up fast is critical.

Also, being a multitasker is nothing new in PR - especially agency life, but with all these social media tools, it brings multitasking to a whole new level. Finding that balance and juggling all your tasks is more important now than ever. Also, knowing which sites help in that juggling is very beneficial. Something like FriendFeed can help you update all your sites quickly, or knowing Tweetdeck has been a lifesaver in that I can post to Facebook and multiple Twitter accounts without ever leaving the platform.

On a final note, staying ahead of the curve is also crucial because our industry is constantly evolving and changing so forward thinking will help today's PR pros be prepared for tomorrow.

Deanna (@dferrari)

Great Post, Arik - it's something that I believe too many University/College programs are missing out. I've seen various students come in to our offices for an internship without any real working knowledge of some things they can actually use once they graduate. It's not really their fault.

This is why I believe that the MORE we can at least impart the incredible importance of such skills, the better off our industry will be.

That noted (and since there are a variety of things that are changing the PR / Marketing / Communications industry), one other things that I believe is as important as a 'new skill' is ATTITUDE. If you've got the right attitude, your miles ahead already - especially since this affects your
* willingness to try new things
* openness to failure
* ability to help other learn new things

IMO, a great attitude will take you far!

This is great. I might even take it a step farther and say that these are skills the top caliber PR pros have today. People have always thought the PR world moved fast, but it is only getting faster. PR pros need the ability to soak up knowledge without being told to learn it.

I wouldn't say that being able to execute basic web coding skills is as important as translating needs between parties. The same goes for every department. Understanding people and human to human communication seems like an old tool in PR, but the emphasis on such is growing and there is no excuse not to strengthen relationships.

Like Sonny, I've been lucky to have the time to learn a lot of these skills through my own practice. It comes down to desire to learn. If you are going to be stubborn, you are going to fall behind.

On the HTML thing -- which I agree is incredibly useful -- being able to build that bridge between the client and the Web developer is indeed an important skill. Even more important, though, when the situation calls for it, is the ability to make quick fixes and edits without needing to get the developer involved.

Not that the developers don't add value, but a lot of times, it would take longer to explain what needs to be fixed than it would to just employ some rudimentary HTML skills and fix it yourself!

Excellent post Arik. I am glad that you did not leave out critical "traditional" skills. While tools and platforms continue to evolve, the goal of effective communication remains. I think that the key to effective communications in the future, really goes back to a tip I learned from Brian Solis... Stop trying to be an expert and be the best student that you can be. Your list of skills for tomorrow will continue to grow each day. With the speed at which technology is evolving, I'll look forward to a follow up post soon!

These are great. Another one occurs to me -- understanding when and how to *appropriately* bring your own online networks to bear to spread word for your clients. That activates a transparency requirement, for sure. But PR people active on Facebook and Twitter can make a difference for clients -- as long as they do it in a graceful way that doesn't annoy those connected to/following them.

Great point you make here and the expanding skill set that the PR and SM industries are requiring employees to have.

Some may be taken aback by this and wondering 'how the heck am I going to learn these new skills?' But with anything we do online, much of it is self-taught. I've grown tremendously in my HTML/CSS and Wordpress knowledge in the past couple years. The more I played with my blogs, setup company blogs, and of course - trial and error, the more I learned and the more comfortable I became in being able to list that skill set within my resume.

It's an evolving online world, not just with the mediums and tools but with what we need to learn. I think an idea for myself, as well as for your readers, is to challenge ourselves in learning a new skill. Something you may have wanted to learn and just haven't had the time to do so, or something that you find super interesting. Let's broaden our scope.