Step Into Communications

Are you looking to move into communications or already handling communications as part of your role? This short, focused, highly practical 4-week course introduces you to the world of PR and communications.This training has been uniquely designed to support professionals who are early in their communications career.

You will gain a real understanding of what communications is, how it differs from journalism, marketing, media and other professionals. You will learn how a communications department works and the value it provides. Most importantly, you will gain real world skills used by communications professionals everyday and use these to excel in your role.

The course is accredited by the Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII) and has been designed with direct input from members of the industry across public sector, private sector, agency and education.

This training gives participants a solid grounding to succeed in their role and provides a pathway to join our Diploma in PR at a later stage.

Upon completion of this course, participants are welcome to join PRII at Associate Member level. This will be provided with a 40% discount (charged at €132) and cover you to 30 September 2027.

What can communications offer you? (PRII Census 2025)

The Public Relations (PR) and communications sector worth over €1.9 Billion to Irish Economy.
The sector is vibrant with approx 4,000 people working in the area, this is up from 3,344 in 2022.
Average annual salary in the profession now stands at €78,000, an 18% increase since 2019.
Public sector employment is increasing; in-house public sector PR roles now make up 42% of the workforce.
In-house PR budgets have risen 10% since 2019. Team sizes are growing too, another indication of the sector's growth.
80% of PR professionals enjoy the ability to work remotely at least once a week.

Who is this course for?

This training will be ideal for anyone who is early in their communications career including those:

Working in a junor communications role or has communications as part of their role.
Looking to change their career and move into communications quickly.
Returning to work from a career break.

We welcome all participants from the public sector, in-house, agencies, freelancers, journalism and other sectors.

Learning Outcomes

Upon completion of this training, participants will:

Gain a strong understanding of the role of the communications function.
Understand the real skills used in PR/Comms.
Develop skills to advance their career in the profession.
Develop foundational knowleddge allowing you to advance to the PRII Diploma in PR.

Format & Delivery

This course will be delivered over 4 live online sessions (2.5 hours each) which will discuss core material, associated exercises, and open dialogue with our expert trainer.

Where necessary, the trainer may ask participants to review other online website/articles but this will not be time intensive.

Sessions will be recorded, participants will also have access to optional self-directed learning with a dedicated course resources webpage.