Unfortunately, a dream is always different from the reality.

True, being the PR — or “public relations” — assistant of an idol or a famous artist can have interesting rewards, but the job itself is not as fantastic as most of the young people would think. There are many unseen pressures and difficulties behind the scenes.

As suggested by the name itself, a public relations assistant deals with all the public relations of an artist by making connections and keeping contacts with the media, including the press, television stations and radio stations. People have the wrong impression that a PR assistant needs to look after an artist’s daily life or even personal accounts, but this is not the case.

Usually a PR assistant is not recruited by conventional methods. They are usually recruited through recommendations by friends in recording companies. Mr. Wilson Fung, the promotion assistant of Faye Wong, and Miss Letitia Leung, the promotion assistant of E-kin Cheng, are typical examples.

According to Leung, outsiders cannot enter the field, because artists rely much more on the people introduced by their close friends, but there are some exceptional cases. At present, no specific qualification is required for being a PR assistant, but some large international recording companies require a bachelor’s degree for this job. Some knowledge of different languages like Cantonese, English, Mandarin and Japanese are an advantage for promotion. No specific or professional skills are required, but having a broad knowledge is useful. Also, immediate availability results in a greater chance of recruitment.

Asked about the prerequisites of being a PR assistant, both Fung and Leung had a similar list: great sense of responsibility, observant, active, talkative, adaptive, quick in reactions and thoughts, cheerful, sociable and humble. However, Fung added, “These are just generalisations. Not every PR assistant is the same. Each PR assistant has his or her working style. Some PR assistants are very cool and do not talk much, but they are very good at work. Everyone is different.”

Being a PR assistant was not the first job for Fung and Leung. Both of them are attracted by the flexible and challenging nature of this job. Fung said, “I’ve tried many different jobs before, but they didn’t suit my character very much. I don’t like to sit in an office and do the same stuff all the time. Working as a PR assistant has been the longest job I’ve ever had. It is not a boring job and you can see many beautiful faces and interesting things.”

Leung was a journalist before and has now been working as a PR assistant for almost one year. She said, “After I was a PR assistant, I became much more mature when dealing with people and big issues. Now, I dare to make judgements and important decisions. I’ve grown up a lot more.” Job satisfaction is the reason why Leung stays in the field. She added, “When more people know my artist, or when more people buy my artist’s CD, I am very happy and have a great sense of achievement, because it proves my promotion tactics successful and workable.”

According to Fung and Leung, the greatest benefit of being a PR assistant is that they learn the skills to communicate with many different types of people. They agree that the job can improve one’s adaptability and reactions. The experience and social skills people get from this job is twice that of many other jobs. Leung even learnt how to use psychological methods to persuade others.

Having new experiences, learning new things and high job satisfaction is the known positive side of being a PR assistant. People seldom look into the problems they encounter in their work.

But being a PR assistant means you have to be on call 24 hours a day. Usually, a PR assistant needs to work irregular days and unstable hours, sometimes even longer than the artist. They are used to sacrificing sleep. Being a female PR assistant, Leung said women are more considerate and cheerful, but they are not as good as men when doing physical work. She said it takes lots of energy to run from one studio or television station to another.

Since a PR assistant usually has to work on Sundays and public holidays, Fung said his acquaintances are becoming fewer and fewer as time goes by. He explained, “When there is a dilemma of going to an annual dinner with my old friends and working, I have to sacrifice the chance of meeting my friends. My friends need to understand how busy my job is. Otherwise it’s impossible to keep contact with friends outside this field.”

Both Fung and Leung said most of their friends belong to the same circles, such as other PR assistants, DJs or journalists. They did not see great competition in PR assistant career.

Meanwhile, the salary of a PR assistant is not proportional to the effort. The basic salary is low, the allowance is small and there is no commission. They can share a small amount of profit if the recording company earns a lot of money at the end of the year. According to Leung, the starting salary of a new PR assistant is only about $4,000 - $5,000, and there will be an increase in wages only if the PR assistant gets more experiences in work or has worked for a long time. But Leung believes that an outstanding PR assistant has a good chance to be promoted to other departments of the company, such as the marketing department.

However, Fung is not optimistic towards promotion prospects. He said fake CDs have brought a serious crisis to the recording industry. Its decline has led to the cutting of budgets in the companies, including the wages of promotion assistants and the staffs of other departments.

Despite of the low salary, a PR assistant has to face stress and pressure from time to time. If an artist performs a live show on stage, the PR assistant needs to do all the preparations — for example, contacting the organiser to confirm the date and time of the show, contacting the media to promote the show and doing many other miscellaneous things. No mistakes or delays are allowed.

Facing a pressurised and busy lifestyle, both Fung and Leung have good ways to release pressure. Fung said, “You’d better not to get into this field if you can’t bear the enormous pressure.” He adopted a more positive attitude towards life and turned to his hobbies to maintain a balance when he felt strained. Leung talks to her friends or other PR assistants to see how to solve the problems.

Standing behind a famous artist does not make a PR assistant feel uncomfortable. Leung said, “We are just playing different roles. We are doing teamwork. An artist is our representative to present our ideas. He is just the performer and we are the brains behind him.” Fung said, “I enjoy standing behind the stage. This is my character. My job is to promote the artist, not myself.”

Sometimes, a PR assistant and an artist are not only colleagues; they are also good friends. Leung regarded her artists as brothers and friends. She is glad that her artists have taught her many useful things. Fung said there should be a clear distinction between work and entertainment. But after work he also relates to his artists as friends.

When commenting on the phenomenon that so many youngsters want to join the field, Leung said, “They should try to think carefully before they get this job. It’s not as easy as most people think. We are not here to worship idols, but to work for them.” Fung holds similar views. “We do not regard our artists as idols anymore. Being a PR assistant does not have any special benefit. If you don’t mind being low paid, you can give it a try.”

Fung, now 30 years old, has been working as a PR assistant for three years. In spite of what he said about the harsh side of PR career, he said he would not change his job at present. Maybe a PR career has its own strange power to attract people to fall into this “trap” and continue to stay.

October 1996

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