Hiring the Best: How to Think About Comms Roles
Hiring for a communications role can be deceptively difficult. The field is vast—spanning everything from media relations to analytics to design—and organizations often expect a single person to be proficient in all of it. But the reality is that no one is an expert in everything. So, how do you hire the right person for your needs?
Communications Is Not One Job
It’s easy to assume that a “communications professional” should be able to handle executive messaging, internal communications, social media, public relations, video production, email marketing, digital strategy, government relations, crisis communications and more. But these are distinct disciplines requiring different skills, experiences, and even educational backgrounds.
For instance, graphic design is typically housed in fine arts colleges, while marketing is often within business schools. Expecting one person to master it all is not only unrealistic—it’s a setup for burnout and underperformance.
The good news is that there are plenty of people who can get your organization what it needs most if you think through your job description strategically.
Start with Your Needs
Before you post a job description, assess your team’s structure and resources. Ask yourself:
Do you have the budget to hire multiple specialists, or do you need a generalist?
What are the most critical communications functions for your organization right now?
Are there gaps in your team’s existing skill set that need to be filled.
If you have the ability to hire multiple people, look for specialists who can bring deep expertise in key areas that will help you meet the goals of your organization’s strategic vision. If you need a generalist, identify the most important priorities for your organization and find someone who excels at those while being adaptable enough to handle other responsibilities as needed. Or, consider a hybrid and hire for your top needs and backfill other responsibilities with a trusted strategic communications contractor. (This is seriously not a plug, just an idea!)
The Specialist vs. Generalist Debate
Neither a specialist nor a generalist is inherently better—it depends on your organization's needs.
A specialist will bring expertise that can elevate a specific function, such as building out a CRM and customer journeys, but they may not have the bandwidth to support broad communications functions. Specialists can skyrocket you in specific areas of strategic focus.
A generalist, on the other hand, can get you far in several communications areas, but they don’t usually have the capacity to take your organization deep in any of them. For example, a generalist may be good at pitching a few stories to media each year for the big announcements, but with their other responsibilities, it’s unlikely they get an expert in crisis communications. The beauty of a generalist is that they can flex across multiple roles and respond to emerging needs.
For small teams or startups, a strong generalist who understands strategy and can execute across multiple channels is invaluable. But as organizations grow, specialists become necessary to refine messaging, enhance brand identity, and drive measurable results.
Prioritization Is Key
If you’re hiring a generalist, prioritize skills based on your business strategy. Do you rely heavily on media relations? Look for someone with PR experience. Need to drive engagement on social platforms? Seek out a social media strategist with content creation skills. Trying to improve your donor relations? A candidate with fundraising communications expertise might be the right fit.
We recommend identifying these needs and listing them as requirements in a job description, with the “nice to have” items in another section of the job description. Listing every skill a communications professional could possibly have as a requirement is a surefire way to scare off amazing candidates.
Once you identify what skills you must have and what skills are less important, discuss how the other work will get done. For example, you may hire a PR pro who also is great at content strategy – but graphic design is not a skill they possess. Will you allocate budget for a contractor? Settle for graphics on a user-friendly tool like Canva? Think through these solutions.
Finding the Right Fit
Hiring for communications is not about finding a unicorn who can do it all. It’s about knowing what you need and hiring accordingly. Define your priorities, assess your team’s strengths and gaps, and choose the right person—or people—to move your communications strategy forward.