Six question sets for the employer side of the table: media relations, writing with a paid work sample brief, monitoring, crisis judgment, and a scorecard. Every question comes with the reason to ask it and what a good answer sounds like. Download as DOCX.
The first public relations hire I watched a small company make was a title problem before it was a hiring problem. The posting said assistant, but there was nobody above the assistant. Whoever took the job would own the media list, the releases, the inbound reporter emails, and the judgment call about what the company said in public on a Friday afternoon.
That is who this kit is written for: the owner or manager who is running the interview themselves and needs to know what to ask, not the candidate rehearsing answers. At FirstHR, we build for exactly that reader. Every question below comes with the reason it is worth asking and a description of what a good answer sounds like.
There are six sets: a core set, media relations and pitching, writing with a paid work sample brief, social and monitoring, crisis and judgment, and a scoring rubric. Use the ones that match your job, ask them in the same order of everyone, and score before you discuss.
TL;DR
Interview a public relations assistant on five things: media literacy, pitch judgment, writing accuracy, organization, and discretion. The three questions that do the most work are which outlets and reporters they read, what the real news is inside your announcement, and what they do when a reporter emails at 4:45 pm. Then run a paid work sample. The nearest federal occupation reports a median of $74,750 a year.
What to Assess in a PR Assistant
Assess five competencies: media literacy, pitch judgment, writing accuracy, organization, and discretion. Everything else in a public relations assistant interview is either a proxy for one of those or a pleasant conversation that will not tell you how the hire performs in month three.
Media literacy comes first because it is the one thing that cannot be faked in real time. A candidate who reads the trade press your customers read can name a reporter and describe what that reporter covers. A candidate who does not read it will reach for the largest national brands or promise to research the beat later.
Media literacy
Reads the outlets your customers read
Can name reporters and their beats
Knows what a reporter is looking for
Writing accuracy
Clean, error-free copy under deadline
Cuts length without losing the news
Checks facts against a source of record
Organization
Media lists kept current and verified
Follow-ups tracked, not forgotten
Calendar discipline around launches
Judgment and discretion
Escalates instead of improvising
Protects unannounced information
Knows who is authorized to speak
Discretion deserves more weight at a small business than most hiring guides give it. This role sits near unannounced products, customer complaints, and reporter pressure earlier than almost any other early hire, and an execution mistake costs an afternoon while a judgment mistake ends up on the record permanently.
Which Question Set Should You Use?
Start with the core set for every candidate, then add the sets that match what the job actually involves. If earned media is the point, add media relations. If the person will write across channels, add writing and social. Use the crisis and judgment set regardless of seniority.
Core PR Assistant Questions
Start here
Eight questions covering media literacy, pitch judgment, escalation, and reporting, each with the reason to ask it and what a good answer sounds like.
Media Relations and Pitching
When earned media is the point
Tests whether the candidate understands how a reporter picks a story: beats, hooks, follow-up discipline, embargoes, and corrections.
Writing and Work Sample
Evidence, not claims
Writing questions plus a paid thirty-minute brief on your own announcement, with a five-point scoring checklist for the sample.
Social, Monitoring, Reporting
No monitoring budget
How they would track mentions with free tools, what belongs in a monthly report, and how they handle disclosure for gifted or paid posts.
Crisis and Judgment
Use with every candidate
Confidentiality, escalation, a viral complaint in the first hour, and pushing back on wording they cannot support.
Scoring Rubric and Red Flags
Compare on evidence
A six-area scorecard, a red-flag checklist, and a work sample score, so two candidates are compared on what they said, not on who was warmer.
Match the Set to the Job You Actually Have
Hiring your first and only communications person: core, writing, and crisis. Hiring specifically to earn press coverage: core, media relations, and writing. Hiring someone to run social and monitoring alongside press: core, social, and writing. Comparing more than one finalist: add the scoring rubric to whatever you use. If you have not yet written down which of these the job is, do that before the first interview, because the answer changes which questions matter.
6 Free Question Sets and a Scorecard to Download
Download all six as a single Word document, or copy the sets you need. Each follows the same structure: when to use it, the questions with the reason to ask and what a good answer sounds like, red flags, and space for notes. The rubric adds scoring areas and a decision line.
Download All 6 PR Assistant Question Sets
Core, media relations, writing with a work sample brief, social and monitoring, crisis and judgment, and a scoring rubric. All in one DOCX.
Set 1: Core PR Assistant Questions
Eight questions covering media literacy, pitch judgment, escalation, and reporting. Each one lists why it is worth asking and what separates a strong answer from a weak one. Start here with every candidate.
Core PR Assistant Interview Questions
CORE PUBLIC RELATIONS ASSISTANT INTERVIEW QUESTIONS
Candidate: __
Company: __
Interviewer: __
Date: _
HOW TO USE THIS SET
This is the starting set for most small businesses hiring their first or only
communications person. Ask 6 to 8 of these, in the same order, of every
candidate. Each question lists why it is worth asking and what a good answer
sounds like, so you can score the response even if you have never worked in
public relations yourself. Score on the rubric in Set 6.
QUESTIONS
1. Which publications, newsletters, or podcasts do you read for our industry,
and who covers our beat?
Why ask: media literacy is the job. Someone who does not read the press
cannot pitch it.
Good answer: names specific outlets and at least one reporter, and can say
what that reporter actually writes about.
Weak answer: names only national brands, or says they would research it later.
2. Here is one of our announcements. What is the news in it, and who would care?
Why ask: pitching is judgment before it is writing.
Good answer: identifies a real hook (a first, a number, a conflict, a person)
and names a plausible audience and outlet type.
Weak answer: summarizes the announcement back to you.
3. Walk me through how you would build a media list for that announcement.
Why ask: it is the task they will do most often.
Good answer: sources reporters by beat and recent bylines, verifies contacts,
records a per-contact angle, and keeps the list current.
Weak answer: "I would buy a list" with no verification step.
4. Show me a pitch email you have actually sent. What was the subject line?
Why ask: a real artifact beats a claim about skill.
Good answer: brings a real example, short subject line, a personalized first
line, one clear ask, and is honest about whether it got a reply.
Weak answer: has no example, or a generic blast with no personalization.
5. A reporter emails at 4:45 pm asking for comment on something you have not
been briefed on. What do you do in the next fifteen minutes?
Why ask: this is the escalation habit that protects the company.
Good answer: confirms receipt, asks for the deadline and the specific
question, does not comment, and routes it to whoever is authorized to speak.
Weak answer: answers on the spot, or lets it sit until tomorrow.
6. What does "off the record" mean, and who can agree to it?
Why ask: a junior mistake here is expensive and cannot be undone.
Good answer: it has to be agreed before the information is shared, and only
the person speaking can agree to it. Knows that "on background" and "not for
attribution" are different things.
Weak answer: treats it as something you can declare after the fact.
7. How would you track coverage, and what would you put in a monthly report
for the owner?
Why ask: a small business needs to see what it is paying for.
Good answer: a named monitoring method, a clip log, and a short set of
measures tied to the goal. Honest about what public relations cannot prove.
Weak answer: promises impressions or "reach" numbers with no method behind
them.
8. Tell me about a deadline you missed or nearly missed. What happened?
Why ask: this work is deadline work, and honesty predicts coachability.
Good answer: a specific story, clear ownership, and the change they made.
Weak answer: claims never to have missed one.
WHAT TO LISTEN FOR
•Specific outlets and reporters, not categories
•Curiosity about your customers and your industry
•A habit of checking before speaking on the company's behalf
•Concrete examples of work they personally did
NOTES
__
__
Set 2: Media Relations and Pitching Questions
For when earned coverage is the point of the hire: beats, hooks, follow-up discipline, embargoes, and what to do when a reporter gets something wrong about you.
Media Relations and Pitching Questions
MEDIA RELATIONS AND PITCHING QUESTIONS
Candidate: __
Company: __
Interviewer: __
WHEN TO USE THIS SET
Use this set when earned media is the point of the hire: you want coverage in
trade press, local news, or industry newsletters. These questions test whether
the candidate understands how a reporter decides what to write, which is what
separates a real pitch from a press release forwarded to strangers.
QUESTIONS
1. What makes a story worth a reporter's time, in your own words?
Good answer: talks about the reader, timing, and a concrete hook. Does not
confuse "important to us" with "interesting to their audience."
2. How do you find the right reporter rather than the right outlet?
Good answer: reads recent bylines, checks the beat, follows the reporter
directly. Treats the outlet as the starting point, not the target.
3. Write me a subject line for this announcement, right now, out loud.
Good answer: short, specific, no hype words, tells the reporter what it is.
4. How many follow-ups do you send, and when do you stop?
Good answer: one, occasionally two, spaced out, adding something new each
time. Knows that a third follow-up costs the relationship.
5. A reporter you pitched writes something inaccurate about us. What now?
Good answer: verify our own facts first, contact the reporter privately with
the correction and the source, escalate before anyone posts publicly.
6. How do you handle an embargo, and what happens if one breaks?
Good answer: confirms the embargo in writing before sharing, knows that a
broken embargo means telling everyone else immediately.
7. What would you do in your first thirty days here with no existing media
relationships?
Good answer: build and verify a list, read the beat, start with smaller
trade and local outlets, earn a first result before chasing a big one.
RED FLAGS IN THIS AREA
•Guarantees coverage or "placements" in named outlets
•Cannot name a single reporter who covers your industry
•Describes pitching as sending the same email to a large list
NOTES
__
Still Using Spreadsheets for Onboarding?
Automate documents, training assignments, task management, and track onboarding progress in real time.
Writing questions plus a paid thirty to forty-five minute brief using your own announcement, with a five-point checklist for scoring what comes back. This is the set that separates candidates most reliably.
Writing, Editing, and Work Sample Brief
WRITING AND EDITING QUESTIONS, PLUS A PAID WORK SAMPLE BRIEF
Candidate: __
Company: __
Interviewer: __
WHEN TO USE THIS SET
Writing is the majority of a public relations assistant's day: releases, media
alerts, pitch emails, social copy, spokesperson notes. Interview answers about
writing are weak evidence. A short paid exercise on your own materials is
strong evidence. Use the questions to open the topic, then run the brief.
QUESTIONS
1. What style guide do you write to, and what do you do when we do not have one?
Good answer: names AP style or similar, and offers to write a one-page house
guide for names, titles, product spelling, and boilerplate.
2. Walk me through how you proofread something before it goes out.
Good answer: a real process, read aloud or in a different format, a second
pair of eyes for anything public, facts checked against a source of record.
3. How do you fact-check a claim in a release before it is published?
Good answer: traces every number to an internal owner, refuses superlatives
without proof, gets sign-off from the person accountable for the claim.
4. We published a release with a factual error. What do you do?
Good answer: flag it immediately rather than hoping nobody notices, correct
it on the record, notify everyone who received the original.
5. How do you write for a reporter versus writing for our customers?
Good answer: shorter, fewer adjectives, evidence first, no marketing voice.
PAID WORK SAMPLE BRIEF (30 TO 45 MINUTES)
Send the candidate one real internal announcement of about 400 words, your
customer description, and any style notes. Ask for:
a) A 150-word media alert version
b) One pitch email subject line, ten words or fewer
c) Three angles, each with the kind of outlet it suits
d) One sentence on what is NOT newsworthy in the announcement
Pay for the exercise. Give every finalist the same brief and the same time.
Scoring the sample:
[ ] No factual errors introduced
[ ] No typos or style inconsistencies
[ ] Cut length without losing the news
[ ] Angles are genuinely different from each other
[ ] Willing to say what is not newsworthy
NOTES
__
Set 4: Social, Monitoring, and Reporting Questions
How they would monitor mentions with no budget, what belongs in a monthly report to the owner, and how they handle disclosure when a creator posts about a product you sent.
Social, Monitoring, and Reporting Questions
SOCIAL MEDIA, MONITORING, AND REPORTING QUESTIONS
Candidate: __
Company: __
Interviewer: __
WHEN TO USE THIS SET
At a small business the public relations assistant usually owns monitoring and
reporting too, often with no budget for a monitoring platform. This set tests
whether they can build a practical system from free tools and report on it
honestly, and whether they understand disclosure rules for paid or gifted
promotion.
QUESTIONS
1. With no monitoring budget, how would you track mentions of our company?
Good answer: saved searches, alerts, RSS, reporter follows, a simple shared
log. Practical, not dependent on a paid tool.
2. What would you report to me every month, and what would you leave out?
Good answer: coverage in target outlets, message pull-through, referral
traffic, notable inbound requests. Leaves out vanity numbers.
3. We send a product to a creator and they post about it. What has to happen?
Good answer: the material connection has to be disclosed clearly and
conspicuously in the post itself, and the brand is responsible for making
that expectation clear in writing up front.
Weak answer: treats disclosure as the creator's problem, or optional.
4. How do you decide whether to respond to a negative comment publicly?
Good answer: distinguishes a factual correction from an argument, responds
once publicly, moves the rest to a direct channel, escalates real issues.
5. Who approves social copy before it goes out, and how would you set that up
if nobody has defined it?
Good answer: proposes a simple approval line and a short list of topics that
always need the owner's sign-off.
6. How would you keep our press page and spokesperson bios current?
Good answer: a recurring calendar task, a single source of record, version
control on boilerplate.
WHAT TO LISTEN FOR
•Comfort building a system without buying software
•Honesty about what a number does and does not prove
•Treats disclosure and approval as part of the job, not friction
NOTES
__
Set 5: Crisis, Judgment, and Confidentiality Questions
Use this with every candidate. A viral complaint in the first hour, an unannounced product and a friend at a competitor, and pushing back on wording they cannot support.
Crisis, Judgment, and Confidentiality Questions
CRISIS, JUDGMENT, AND CONFIDENTIALITY QUESTIONS
Candidate: __
Company: __
Interviewer: __
WHEN TO USE THIS SET
Use this set with every candidate, junior or not. A public relations assistant
sits closer to unannounced news, customer complaints, and reporter pressure
than almost any other early hire. You are hiring judgment as much as skill, and
judgment is the hardest thing to fix after the offer.
QUESTIONS
1. A customer posts a complaint about us that is partly false and it is
spreading. What do you do in the first hour?
Good answer: verify the facts internally before anything is posted,
acknowledge quickly if the complaint has merit, respond once from one
approved account, take the detail to a direct channel, log it.
Weak answer: argues publicly, or deletes and hides the comment.
2. You learn about an unannounced product two months before launch. A friend
who works at a competitor asks about it over dinner. What happens?
Good answer: says nothing, and does not treat "a friend" as an exception.
3. Someone senior asks you to say something in a release that you believe is
not accurate. What do you do?
Good answer: raises it privately with evidence, proposes accurate wording,
escalates rather than publishing something they cannot support.
4. What is the last thing you would put in writing about a live issue, and
what would you keep to a phone call?
Good answer: understands that internal messages can end up in front of
people they were never written for.
5. Tell me about a time you had to say no to a request from a reporter.
Good answer: a specific example, said no without damaging the relationship,
offered what could be shared instead.
6. How would you know when something is above your level and needs the owner?
Good answer: draws a clear line: anything legal, financial, personnel
related, or on the record with a named journalist.
CONFIDENTIALITY CHECKLIST BEFORE DAY ONE
[ ] Confidentiality agreement signed before access to unannounced information
[ ] Written list of who is authorized to speak on the record
[ ] Written escalation path for reporter inquiries, with response times
[ ] Approval line documented for anything published under the company name
NOTES
__
Set 6: Scoring Rubric and Red Flags
A six-area scorecard, a red-flag checklist, and a work sample score. Pair it with a general evaluation form if several people are interviewing.
PR Assistant Scoring Rubric and Red Flags
PUBLIC RELATIONS ASSISTANT SCORING RUBRIC AND RED-FLAG CHECKLIST
Candidate: __
Company: __
Interviewer: __
Date: _
HOW TO SCORE
Score each area from 1 to 5 immediately after the interview, while the answers
are fresh, and anchor every score to something the candidate actually said. If
more than one person interviews, each scores independently before the group
talks. Use the same rubric for every candidate for the same role.
Rating scale:
5 = Strong, specific evidence 4 = Solid evidence 3 = Some evidence
2 = Weak or mixed evidence 1 = No evidence or red flags
SCORING AREAS
Writing accuracy and clarity: clean copy, cuts length without losing the news
Score [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ]
Evidence: ______
Media literacy: reads the beat, names real outlets and reporters
Score [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ]
Evidence: ______
Pitch judgment: can tell news from announcement, picks a real hook
Score [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ]
Evidence: ______
Organization and follow-through: lists, calendars, deadlines, follow-ups
Score [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ]
Evidence: ______
Judgment and discretion: escalates, protects confidential information
Score [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ]
Evidence: ______
Coachability: honest about gaps, asks good questions, takes feedback
Score [ 1 ] [ 2 ] [ 3 ] [ 4 ] [ 5 ]
Evidence: ______
RED FLAGS (WEIGH CAREFULLY)
[ ] Guarantees coverage or named placements
[ ] Cannot name one outlet or reporter covering your industry
[ ] Would comment to a reporter without checking with anyone
[ ] No writing sample, or samples with factual errors and typos
[ ] Vague about what they personally did versus what the team did
[ ] Treats disclosure or approval rules as red tape
[ ] Talks freely about a former employer's unannounced work
If you only have twenty minutes, ask three questions: which publications and reporters they read for your industry, what the real news is inside one of your announcements, and what they do when a reporter emails at 4:45 pm about something they were not briefed on. Those three cover media literacy, pitch judgment, and escalation.
Which publications do you read for our industry, and who covers our beat?
Why ask it: Media literacy is the whole job. Someone who does not read the press cannot pitch it, and this question is impossible to fake in real time.
Strong answer: Names specific trade publications, newsletters, or local outlets, and at least one reporter, with a sentence about what that reporter actually writes. A strong candidate has read something in your space in the last week and will say what they thought of it.
Weak answer: Names only the largest national brands, or promises to research the beat after starting. Both mean they are not currently reading anything.
A reporter emails at 4:45 pm for comment on something you were not briefed on.
Why ask it: It tests the single habit that protects a small company: checking before speaking. This exact situation will happen, usually in the first quarter.
Strong answer: Acknowledges the email quickly, asks for the deadline and the specific question, does not offer a comment, and routes it to whoever is authorized to speak. A strong answer treats the deadline as information to gather, not pressure to obey.
Weak answer: Answers the reporter on the spot to be helpful, or leaves the email until the next morning and lets the deadline pass in silence.
Here is one of our announcements. What is the news in it, and who would care?
Why ask it: Pitching is judgment before it is writing. A candidate who cannot separate news from announcement will send releases that get ignored.
Strong answer: Points to a specific hook: a first, a number, a customer story, a change that affects someone outside the company. Then names a plausible audience and the kind of outlet that serves it. Best answers also say what in the announcement is not newsworthy.
Weak answer: Restates the announcement in different words, or calls the whole thing exciting without picking an angle.
Notice what these have in common. Each one asks the candidate to do a small piece of the job in front of you rather than describe how they would do it. That is the general rule for this role, and it is why a structured interview works better here than a conversation that goes wherever the rapport takes it.
Ask
Why it is worth asking
What a good answer sounds like
Show me a pitch email you sent
A real artifact beats a claim about skill
Short subject line, personalized opening, one clear ask, honest about the reply
How many follow-ups do you send?
Follow-up discipline protects relationships
One or two, spaced out, each adding something new
What does off the record mean?
A junior mistake here cannot be undone
Agreed in advance, only the speaker can agree to it, distinct from background
What would you report each month?
You need to see what the work produced
Target-outlet coverage and message pull-through, no vanity numbers
The Paid Work Sample That Settles It
Run a short paid exercise on your own materials with every finalist, because public relations candidates interview better than almost any other role. The job selects for people who are warm, fast, and comfortable talking, which is precisely the profile that makes an interview conversation weak evidence.
Send the same real announcement of about 400 words, your customer description, and any style notes. Ask for a 150-word media alert, one subject line of ten words or fewer, three distinct angles with the outlet type each suits, and one sentence on what is not newsworthy. Thirty to forty-five minutes, paid, same brief for everyone.
Score the Sample on Five Points
No factual errors introduced. No typos or style inconsistencies. Length cut without losing the news. Angles genuinely different from each other rather than three phrasings of one idea. Willing to name what is not newsworthy, which is the single strongest signal in the whole exercise, because it means the candidate can tell your enthusiasm apart from a reporter’s interest. Published clips are useful context, but somebody else edited them; this sample is the candidate alone.
Give feedback on the sample even to candidates you do not hire. It costs ten minutes, it is the decent thing to do when someone has done real work, and it keeps your name good in a small professional community that talks to itself constantly.
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Interview for judgment explicitly, with scenario questions, rather than assuming it comes bundled with experience. The three areas worth testing are escalation under deadline pressure, confidentiality about unannounced work, and the disclosure rules that apply when you pay or gift someone to talk about your product.
Scenario to pose
Why it matters
What a good answer includes
A partly false complaint is spreading
First-hour choices set the whole outcome
Verify internally first, respond once from one approved account, move detail to a direct channel
A friend at a competitor asks about unannounced work
Confidentiality is tested socially, not formally
Says nothing, and does not treat a friend as an exception
Someone senior asks for wording they cannot support
Accuracy is the asset you are protecting
Raises it privately with evidence and proposes accurate wording
A creator posts about a product you sent
Disclosure is the advertiser’s responsibility
Clear and conspicuous disclosure in the post, expectations set in writing up front
Disclosure Is the Advertiser’s Responsibility, Not the Creator’s Alone
If you give a creator a free product, a discount, or payment in exchange for a post, that connection has to be disclosed clearly and conspicuously, and the advertiser is expected to make the requirement explicit and monitor for compliance (FTC Endorsement Guides). A candidate who treats this as the creator’s problem is describing a risk you would be carrying. This is general information, not legal advice.
The final judgment question is the simplest and often the most revealing: how would you know when something is above your level? A good answer draws a clear line around anything legal, financial, personnel related, or on the record with a named journalist.
Scoring Answers and Red Flags
Score every candidate on the same six areas from 1 to 5 immediately after the interview, anchoring each score to something the candidate actually said. Scores written from memory a day later are memories of the conversation, not of the answers, and that is where a strong impression quietly replaces evidence.
Scoring area
What a 5 looks like
Writing accuracy and clarity
Clean copy under deadline, cuts length without losing the news
Media literacy
Names real outlets and reporters, reads the beat now
Pitch judgment
Picks a genuine hook, can say what is not newsworthy
Escalates rather than improvising, protects unannounced work
Coachability
Honest about gaps, asks good questions, takes feedback
Weigh the red flags carefully. Guaranteed coverage, no named reporter, willingness to comment without checking, and loose talk about a former employer’s unannounced work are the four that predict the most trouble. If more than one person interviews, score independently first, then compare written evidence before the discussion and use a consistent feedback step before the decision.
Responsibility
PR Assistant
PR Manager or Specialist
Builds and maintains the media list
Drafts releases, alerts, and pitch emails
Monitors coverage and reports monthly
Comments on the record as spokesperson
Owns strategy and the annual plan
Use that split to set expectations in the interview itself. If you need someone to speak on the record and own the plan, you are hiring a public relations specialist, not an assistant, and the pay and the questions should both move accordingly.
Fair, Legal, and Structured Interviewing
Ask every candidate the same job-related questions, score them on the same rubric, and keep the evaluation on work product. Structure is simultaneously the fairer approach, the safer approach, and the one that predicts performance better than an open conversation.
Ask about the job, not the person
Federal anti-discrimination law, enforced by the EEOC, prohibits basing hiring decisions on protected characteristics, and questions that probe them create risk even when they are asked as small talk. Do not ask about age, race, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy or family plans, disability, or genetic information. Public relations interviews have their own traps, because the conversation naturally drifts to social feeds and personal networks: do not ask to see a candidate’s personal accounts, do not ask where they are originally from because the role involves a particular community, and do not treat a graduation year as a proxy for age. Keep every question tied to writing, media judgment, and discretion. This is general information, not legal advice.
Ask every candidate the same core questions
A structured interview, where every candidate answers the same job-related questions and is scored against the same rubric, is both fairer and a better predictor of performance than a free-flowing conversation. For a communications hire this matters more than usual, because the role attracts warm, articulate people who interview well, and rapport is easy to mistake for evidence. Write the questions before you meet anyone, ask them in the same order, and write down what was actually said. The six sets on this page are built to make that the path of least resistance rather than an extra process to maintain.
Score independently, then discuss
When more than one person interviews, have each interviewer complete the scorecard alone before the group talks. This stops the most senior or most confident voice from anchoring everyone else, which is how strong candidates get talked out of and weak ones get talked into. Compare the written evidence first, then discuss where the scores disagree, because a disagreement usually means the two of you heard different answers to the same question. For an owner who is also the hiring manager, the scorecard is the discipline that keeps one charming interview from deciding the hire.
Judge work samples, not personal feeds
You are entitled to ask for professional writing samples and to run a paid exercise on your own materials. You are on much shakier ground browsing a candidate’s personal social accounts, which expose protected characteristics you are not allowed to consider and are hard to un-see once viewed. Several states also restrict asking for social media credentials. If public writing is relevant, ask the candidate to send the specific published pieces they want considered, and score those against the same criteria for everyone. Keep the evaluation on work product. This is general information, not legal advice.
Structure Beats Conversation, and It Is Also Safer
Federal guidance on assessment describes the structured interview, where every candidate is asked the same predetermined job-related questions and rated on the same anchored scale, as substantially more reliable and more legally defensible than an unstructured one (U.S. Office of Personnel Management). Asking the same job-related questions of everyone also keeps decisions away from the protected characteristics the EEOC puts off limits.
The practical version for a small business: write the questions before you meet anyone, ask them in the same order, and write down what was said. That habit does most of the work of reducing bias and separates a structured process from an unstructured one. This is general information, not legal advice.
What a PR Assistant Costs
There is no separate federal occupation for a public relations assistant, so the nearest benchmark is public relations specialists, and an assistant-level hire sits near the bottom of that range rather than at the median. Use the government figures as a floor and a ceiling, then adjust for your metro area.
Median $74,750 for the Nearest Occupation (BLS OEWS, May 2025)
Public relations specialists had a median annual wage of $74,750, about $35.94 an hour, with the lowest 10 percent under $44,110 and the 25th percentile at $56,260, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey, May 2025 (U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). An assistant with limited experience typically lands in the lower quartile of that ladder.
Two adjustments matter. Metro area moves this figure more than almost any other factor for communications roles, and a sole communications hire at a small business carries responsibilities the assistant title hides, which argues for paying above the entry band if you want someone who can be trusted with judgment calls. Related postings such as a communications assistant or a marketing communications specialist are worth reading before you fix a number.
Interviewing Without an HR Department
Without an HR department, the owner runs the whole interview alone, which changes what the process needs to protect against. The three failure modes below are the ones I see repeatedly, and each has a fix that costs almost nothing to put in place.
The title says assistant, but there is nobody above them
At an agency, a public relations assistant works under an account manager who reviews every pitch and takes every hard call. At a small business, the assistant often is the communications function: they build the list, write the release, answer the reporter, and decide in the moment whether something needs the owner. That changes the interview. Weight judgment and escalation at least as heavily as writing speed, because an execution mistake costs a wasted afternoon and a judgment mistake ends up on the record. The crisis and judgment set exists for exactly this, and it is the one set worth using with every candidate regardless of seniority.
Public relations candidates interview better than most roles
The role selects for people who are warm, quick, and comfortable talking, which means an interview conversation tells you less here than it does for an accountant or a technician. The fix is evidence: a real pitch email they actually sent, a named reporter they actually read, and a short paid exercise on your own announcement. Give every finalist the same brief and the same time, then score the sample against the same five points. A candidate who is charming in the room and vague on the page is a common and expensive miss, and the work sample catches it before the offer does.
Nobody can promise you coverage, and the ones who do are the risk
Earned media is not a purchase, and a candidate who guarantees placements in named outlets is either inexperienced or willing to say what you want to hear. Score the process instead: how they build and verify a list, how they choose a hook, how many follow-ups they send, and what they would report honestly at the end of a month. After you choose someone, the work shifts to hiring them properly, and that is where FirstHR fits: e-signature for the offer, a confidentiality agreement before they see unannounced work, document management for the signed paperwork, and task workflows for access and policy sign-off. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
What FirstHR Does and Does Not Do Here
FirstHR handles the part after you choose someone: e-signature on the offer and the confidentiality agreement, document management for signed paperwork, onboarding task workflows for access and policy sign-off, and employee profiles where the signed records and scorecards live. FirstHR is an onboarding and HR platform, not a media database, a monitoring tool, or a payroll provider, so pair it with those. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
One more small-business habit worth adopting: check references specifically on discretion. Ask a former manager whether the candidate ever put something in writing they should not have, and whether they escalated or improvised under deadline. That single reference check question is worth more than a general character reference for this role.
From Interview to First Month
Once you choose someone, define the boundaries in writing before day one: who is authorized to speak on the record, the escalation path for a reporter inquiry with a target response time, and the approval line for anything published under the company name. Those three documents prevent most of the mistakes this role is capable of making.
Send the offer and the NDA
Confirm role, pay, and start date in writing, and have the confidentiality agreement signed before the new hire sees anything unannounced.
Write down who speaks to press
A one-page list of who is authorized to comment, plus the escalation path and response time for a reporter inquiry.
Agree the first monthly report
Settle in week one what gets tracked and reported, so the first review is about the work rather than about the format.
Store the records
Keep the signed offer, NDA, I-9, W-4, policy acknowledgments, and interview scorecards organized and easy to find.
Then give the first month a shape. A public relations assistant who spends week one reading the beat and week two building a verified list will produce a better first pitch than one who is asked to get coverage immediately. Pair a standard onboarding template with the role-specific plan below, and keep the new hire paperwork moving in parallel so nothing blocks the start date.
Week 1: read the beat
Subscribe to the trades your customers read, follow the reporters covering them, and write a one-page summary of who covers what.
Week 2: build the list
A verified media list with a per-contact angle, plus a house style sheet for names, titles, and boilerplate.
Week 3: one small pitch
A single, well-targeted pitch to a trade or local outlet, rather than a broad send to a list nobody has verified.
Week 4: first report
The first monthly report in the agreed format, honest about what worked, what did not, and what to try next.
FirstHR connects the offer letter, the confidentiality agreement, e-signature, the paperwork, and the access-and-policy checklist in one place, so a small business can hire a communications person without assembling a process from scratch each time. More question sets for adjacent roles live on the hiring templates hub. Applicant tracking is coming soon to FirstHR.
Key Takeaways
Assess five things: media literacy, pitch judgment, writing accuracy, organization, and discretion.
Three questions do most of the work: what they read, what the news is in your announcement, and the 4:45 pm reporter email.
Public relations candidates interview well, so settle it with a paid work sample on your own materials.
Interview for judgment explicitly, because an execution mistake costs an afternoon and a judgment mistake ends up on the record.
Treat a guarantee of coverage as a red flag, and score the process instead of the promise.
The nearest federal occupation reported a median of $74,750 a year in the May 2025 OEWS survey.
Frequently Asked Questions
What questions should I ask a public relations assistant?
Ask questions that test five things: media literacy, pitch judgment, writing accuracy, organization, and discretion. The three highest-value questions are which publications and reporters they read for your industry, what the actual news is inside one of your announcements and who would care, and what they would do in the next fifteen minutes if a reporter emailed at 4:45 pm for comment on something they were not briefed on. Add a request to see a real pitch email they sent, including the subject line, and ask what off the record means and who can agree to it. Every question should have a reason behind it and a clear picture of what a good answer sounds like, so you can score consistently. This page includes six ready-to-use sets and a scorecard built around exactly those criteria.
How do I test a PR assistant’s writing before I hire?
Run a short paid work sample on your own materials rather than relying on interview answers about writing. Send every finalist the same real announcement of about 400 words plus your customer description, and ask for a 150-word media alert, one pitch subject line of ten words or fewer, three distinct angles with the outlet type each suits, and one sentence naming what in the announcement is not newsworthy. Give the same time limit to everyone, thirty to forty-five minutes is usually enough, and pay for it. Then score the sample on five points: no factual errors introduced, no typos or style inconsistencies, length cut without losing the news, angles genuinely different from each other, and willingness to say what is not newsworthy. Published clips are useful context, but they were often edited by someone else.
What should I ask a candidate with no agency experience?
Weight curiosity, writing accuracy, organization, and coachability over campaign results they could not have owned. A candidate one or two years into their career has not run a program, so asking about campaign outcomes invites invention. Better questions are which outlets and newsletters they read and what they thought of something published recently, how they would build a media list from scratch, how they proofread before something goes out, and how they would know when a situation is above their level. Ask for any writing they have done, including student publications, internal newsletters, or volunteer work, then run the paid work sample so you are judging current ability rather than a resume. Honesty about a missed deadline is a better signal than a flawless record, because it predicts how they will handle the first mistake here.
What are the red flags in a public relations assistant interview?
The clearest red flag is a candidate who guarantees coverage or named placements, because earned media is not something anyone can promise. Watch for someone who cannot name a single outlet or reporter covering your industry, since that means they are not currently reading the press they would need to pitch. Other warning signs include saying they would comment to a reporter without checking with anyone, having no writing sample to share, samples that contain typos or factual errors, vagueness about what they personally did versus what the team did, treating disclosure or approval rules as unnecessary friction, and talking freely about a former employer’s unannounced work. That last one is often mistaken for openness in the room, and it tells you exactly how they will treat your unannounced work later.
What questions are illegal to ask in a PR assistant interview?
Avoid questions that probe characteristics protected under federal law, which the EEOC enforces: age, race, color, religion, national origin, sex, pregnancy or family plans, disability, or genetic information. In practice that rules out asking how old someone is, when they graduated as a proxy for age, whether they plan to have children, where they are originally from, or about health conditions, even as friendly small talk. Communications interviews have a specific trap: asking to see a candidate’s personal social accounts or asking for social media credentials, which exposes protected characteristics you may not consider and is restricted in several states. Ask instead for the specific professional pieces they want considered. You may ask whether someone can perform the essential functions of the job and whether they are authorized to work. This is general information, not legal advice.
How much does a public relations assistant cost?
There is no separate federal occupation for a public relations assistant, so the nearest benchmark is public relations specialists. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey (May 2025), public relations specialists had a median annual wage of $74,750, about $35.94 an hour, with the lowest 10 percent under $44,110 and the 25th percentile at $56,260. An assistant-level hire with limited experience sits near the bottom of that range rather than at the median, and pay varies substantially by metro area and by whether the role is in-house or at an agency. Benchmark against your local market and the scope you actually need, and remember that a sole communications hire at a small business carries more responsibility than the assistant title suggests. This is general information, not financial advice.
Should a public relations assistant speak to reporters directly?
Usually yes for logistics and no for substance, and the boundary should be written down before day one rather than negotiated during a live inquiry. A public relations assistant can reasonably acknowledge a reporter’s email, ask for the deadline and the specific question, send approved materials, and coordinate an interview. Comment on the record about legal matters, financial results, personnel issues, or anything unannounced should come from a named, authorized spokesperson, usually the owner or a senior leader at a small company. Put the authorized list and the escalation path in writing, along with a target response time, so the assistant is not making that call under deadline pressure. Interview for this directly: the reporter-at-4:45-pm question tells you whether a candidate checks first or improvises.
What is the difference between a PR assistant and a communications assistant?
A public relations assistant is oriented outward toward press and public perception: media lists, pitches, press releases, coverage monitoring, and reporter logistics. A communications assistant is a broader title that often includes internal communications, employee announcements, newsletters, and marketing copy alongside any press work. At a small business the two frequently collapse into one job, which is why the title on the posting matters less than the actual list of duties you write down before interviewing. Decide first whether the hire is primarily about earning press coverage or primarily about producing content across channels, then weight the question sets accordingly: the media relations set for the first, the writing and social sets for the second. Being explicit about this before the first interview also makes the offer and the first ninety days far easier to define.
