Initiative Launched to Promote Greater Diversity in PR Industry

Firstly, if you are interested in a career in PR, dismiss all thoughts of Absolutely Fabulous from your mind! It’s not all launch parties and freebies. If however you are a hard worker who loves to write, then PR could be the career for you.

The Taylor Bennett  Foundation, launched in 2008 by corporate communications  search company Taylor Bennett  to address the need for more black, Asian and minority ethnic graduates (BME) in the communications and PR industry, has a great way to help you get on that first rung of the PR ladder.

Past participants

The Foundation offers a 10 week programme to BME graduates where they can receive practical training in media, communications and business, expert careers coaching and the opportunity to meet leading practitioners from across the media and PR industries.

The programme encourages talented graduates to pursue a career in PR and provides them with the skills and knowledge they require to do so. Although no job is guaranteed at the end of the programme, ongoing careers support is provided and past alumni have gone on to find work at CNN, The Observer and The Olympic Legacy Company.

This year, Talk PR - a boutique consumer PR agency specialising in Fashion, Luxury Lifestyle, Beauty, Grooming and Wellbeing – have become a lead partner in the programme which means they will provide funding and direct training to participating interns.

Talk PR Founder and CEO Jane Boardman said: “I was shocked to learn from a 2009 study by the CIPR that only 4% of PR practitioners came from an ethnic background. While the PR industry prides itself on pushing boundaries and thinking, this shows that it is woefully behind in reflecting the UK population at around 10%. Happily this is not the case at Talk PR which employs over four times this percentage of black, Asian and minority ethnic individuals.”

If you are a graduate with good writing skills, interested in the media and keen to work with successful businesses, click here to find out more about the award-winning PR training and (paid) internship programme.