For the past two years, we’ve been inundated with headlines about AI taking our jobs. Now that the hysteria has settled into something closer to cautious pragmatism, a more important question has emerged: does PR still have a seat at the table – and more critically, who is sitting in that seat?
Having worked in a PR agency for over a decade and interviewed hundreds of candidates, I can tell you the answer isn’t found in a diploma. It’s found in how someone thinks.
Mindset Before Skillset
The PR industry has shifted dramatically – in tools, platforms, channels and expectations. But the one constant through all of it is the ability to think. To think with curiosity. To think critically. To focus on the solution, not just the problem.
Skills can be developed over time. Mindset must arrive at the door with you.
At a recent AI masterclass, something stopped me mid-note: use AI to try and fire yourself. If you can identify every part of your role that can be automated, enhanced or accelerated, you’re exactly the kind of person who has a future in this industry. It sounds provocative, but the point is simple and profound. The people who will thrive aren’t the ones clinging to what they know – they’re the ones interrogating it.
That’s the mindset we’re looking for at Dialogue.
The Gap Is Two-Fold
The challenge facing this industry is not a shortage of talent. South Africa has exciting, hungry, capable people entering the industry every year. The gap sits somewhere else entirely.
At the institutional level, curricula need to catch up – not just to industry trends, but to workplace realities. How to write a CV that gets read. How to walk into an interview with presence. How to conduct yourself in a professional environment. These feel basic, but they are consistently where promising candidates falter. The talent exists; what needs strengthening is the professional readiness that turns potential into opportunity.
At the individual level, the onus isn’t only on institutions or the industry to absorb talent. Talent has to meet us halfway.
The future belongs to people who don’t wait for graduation to prove their passion. Who seek out free courses, webinars and every learning experience they can find. Who understand that in an industry built on reputation, your personal brand matters as much as your client’s. Your thinking, your attitude and your hunger to grow signal your degree of indispensability long before your portfolio does. Grit, in short, is non-negotiable.
The Industry Has to Be Honest Too
We can’t point fingers without turning one back at ourselves.
At Dialogue, we’ve appointed over 18 interns across 15 years. We’ve groomed, nurtured and watched every one of them grow into professionals – some still with us, others who’ve gone on to build their own consultancies. That track record didn’t happen by accident. It happened because we believe that if you sow the right seeds, you reap remarkable people.
But we’re not oblivious to the challenges. The path into PR is not a straight line – it’s shaped by exposure, socioeconomic realities and a generational divide that the industry doesn’t always acknowledge honestly enough. We know the nuances. And knowing them means we have a responsibility to act on them.
The conversation has to include what we, as an industry, are willing to offer – in mentorship, in access, in honest feedback and in patience.
The Invitation
PR is not an easy road. But it is a rewarding one and we believe that with conviction.
The future of this industry will be built by people with the right mindset, backed by institutions that prepare them properly and shaped by an industry willing to be intentional about bridging the gaps. Through collaboration, candour and a genuine commitment to getting this right.
The talent is out there. The opportunity is there too. The question is whether institutions, industry and individuals are willing to meet each other halfway.
