PR adviser CV example (2026)

Writing the CV for the PR adviser role

Start your CV with the organisations you worked for and the sector. Then put your main campaign or media result, with the year. That way the reader sees in the first lines which organisations and which work you know.

In this role you write press releases, approach journalists and keep an overview during a crisis. The sector, the media and your experience with crisis communication are points you can name concretely. A CV that contains those three points shows the work you already did.

What you do in this role

A PR adviser writes press releases and newsletters, prepares spokespeople for interviews and monitors media coverage. In a crisis the adviser drafts the statement, decides the spokesperson and keeps the stakeholders informed. Drawing up a crisis protocol is also part of the work.

Keep the CV to one or two pages.

How your CV matches the advert

Read the advert and note the sector, the media and the requirements for crisis communication or media training. Put in your CV the organisations and campaigns closest to that sector. Name your role per project, so the reader sees what you did yourself.

PR is about getting the story to the right journalist and keeping calm during an incident. Describe in your CV one campaign or one incident: the goal, your approach and the outcome. That sequence shows how you think, and it is easy to probe in an interview.

Check the names of organisations, media and people, and the job titles of your clients. Read your CV aloud and cut sentences that only sound good. A short CV with one strong campaign and a clear crisis story is stronger than a CV full of terms.

A press release starts with the most important news and has a clear headline. Describe in your CV which releases you wrote and which part you considered most important. That keeps the CV focused on the craft, not on a list of media outlets.

A spokesperson needs preparation, especially on a difficult subject. Describe in your CV how you prepared spokespeople, for example with a list of expected questions and the key message. That preparation shows you understand how the media works.

A media story can have a follow-up, and the PR adviser keeps track of those developments. Describe in your CV how you handled journalists’ responses, how you dealt with a follow-up story and how you kept the organisation informed. That shows you follow media attention over time.

Which layout suits the PR adviser CV

Choose one column, clear headings and a standard font. Tables and text boxes can cause errors when software reads a CV.

A PR CV works best when it is tight and well presented, in a single column. Put your main campaigns or media results at the top. Keep the layout simple, so the text gets the attention. For each role, name the organisation, your role and the type of communication.

The example on this page uses a more eye-catching layout. Applying through an applicant tracking system? Then choose a template with one column and the ATS label.

Save your CV as a PDF with a recognisable file name, such as firstname-surname-cv.pdf.

What to put on the PR adviser CV

Every CV contains at least your contact details, your work experience with dates, your education and certificates, and your skills and languages.

Name your press releases, the media you worked with and the campaigns you led. Describe your experience with crisis communication and media training, and the role you had in them. List the stakeholders you worked with, such as the municipality, the client or the shareholders. Include your education and your languages.

Put your name at the top, with your town, email address and phone number. Your citizen service number (BSN), date of birth or marital status do not need to be on your CV.

Profile text: example (good and weak)

Below are two profile texts for the PR adviser, both written for a fictional person. You can copy the structure.

PR adviser with eight years of experience in the public sector and healthcare. I write press releases, prepare spokespeople and build relationships with journalists. I think in stories and know what an editorial team needs. I am looking for an advisory role in which I can guide an organisation's reputation and communications strategically.

PR adviser with eight years of experience in public communication for a municipality and a healthcare organisation. I write press releases, prepare spokespeople for interviews and draw up crisis protocols. I renewed the media policy of a care organisation, with more attention to the positive stories. I am looking for an organisation in which I can steer reputation and communication strategically.

The first example names the sectors, the role and the work. The second names the years, the result and the role in the crisis. The weak version says you listen well, but not what you did. The campaign and its outcome make the profile text concrete.

Weak version: “I am a communicative PR adviser who listens well, is creative and always wants what is best for the organisation.”

A profile text is short: four or five sentences. Write in the first person and say what you do, what you are good at and what you are looking for.

Making your work experience stand out

The example bullet points below belong to a fictional example CV. The figures are illustrative: use only your own figures, and only if they are accurate.

Start each bullet with an action word and state the result, not only the task.

• Press releases written and issued for a municipality, with ten to fifteen releases a month on neighbourhood projects.
• Media training given to the alderman and the management team, with practice interviews on difficult subjects.
• Crisis protocol drawn up, with a fixed spokesperson per subject and the escalation steps.
• Local and national journalists approached for a story about a new care facility: three interviews and an article in a national newspaper.
• Internal communication supported during a reorganisation, with a weekly newsletter for 900 staff.
• Media coverage tracked in a dashboard and reported weekly to the management team.

For each job, give the job title, employer, place and period, and put your current job at the top.

No work experience?

Have little PR experience yet? A placement in a communications department, a part-time job at a press agency or writing for a student paper counts. Show which pieces you wrote, for which medium and on which subject. A published article as a link makes it concrete.

Action words for your CV

Action words make your work concrete. A few that work well on a CV:

• Organised
• Supervised
• Improved
• Monitored
• Planned
• Recorded
• Consulted
• Delivered
• Coordinated
• Ensured

Use each word only once per job, and only if it matches your work.

Education on your CV

An hbo (higher professional education) course in communication, journalism or public administration suits PR. Name a specialisation in public relations or corporate communication in the same section. Add a minor in crisis communication or media law, with the year.

List older education more briefly, so that recent work gets more space.

Skills on the PR adviser CV

Hard skills

• Writing press releases
• Crisis communications
• Media training
• Stakeholder management

Soft skills

• Writing in clear, short sentences
• Mapping and approaching stakeholders
• Preparing spokespeople for difficult questions
• Keeping an overview across several campaigns
• Keeping a cool head during an incident

Show a cool head with an incident for which you had a statement within the hour and prepared the spokesperson. That is more concrete than the word calm.

Choose five to eight hard skills that you currently use.

Give an example from your work for Writing press releases, Crisis communications, Media training and Stakeholder management.

Certificates, languages and hobbies

For PR, a media training course, a crisis communication programme or a certificate in press policy are relevant. State the institution, the year and the duration. A course on social media communication goes in too, if you used it. List your languages with the level.

Put a certificate on your CV if it fits the role.

Languages in this example: Dutch (moedertaal), English (goed).

Example PR adviser CV

This is how the example looks in a real template. It is a starting point: take over the structure, not the text.

The fictional candidate is called Thijs Mulder and lives in Zwolle. The example carries the headline: PR adviser · public sector and healthcare.

Common mistakes on the PR adviser CV

• Naming campaigns without the result: the media attention, the number of articles or the reach.
• Not naming the organisation or the sector. Without those details it is not visible which clients you know.
• Leaving out crisis experience, if you have it.
• Describing press releases without the subject or the medium. Name the type of release and the channel.
• A long list of qualities without an example, such as “strong communicator”.

Check the names of organisations, media and people. A misspelt newspaper or a wrong job title stands out.

Key points

• Name the number of press releases or the media attention a campaign produced, if you have those figures.
• Show that you handled crisis communication, with the role you had in it and the outcome.
• Name your stakeholders per organisation, such as the municipality, the client or the shareholders.
• Put a published article or a press release as a link in your CV, if you can.

Read your CV aloud before you send it.