The assessment of the vocational competency of pr professionals

Competence orientation in education and employment is becoming increasingly important. As causes, inter alia, international developments are to be mentioned. The construct "competence" is referred to the field of Public Relations to contribute to the professionalization by integrating the competence orientation. Job-specific frame conditions, existing subject-specific developments and relevant findings of psychology, education and vocational science are taken into account in order to elaborate a specific competency profile for PR- Professionals, which can be applied flexibly to the changing and differentiating vocational field of Public Relations. A basis is provided by an analysis of the expectations towards PR-professionals which is constituted from the perspectives of economic, PR practitioners and lecturers, as well as career models and PR-specific vocational roles and the current state of competence orientation in the field of Public Relations is illustrated. Based on this competence categories are developed and a fundamental profile is generated. A self-assessment and an assessment by others is enabled by a record sheet which is derived by the competency categories. The differentiation of the competencies is realized in order to enable a practical application, despite diverse and barely defined professional profiles. As a result, the benefit of competence orientation that occurs in a vocational and educational context for the field of Public Relations is transpired.