Young or Old?

Today the Philadelphia Phillies' vice president of public relations is "semi-retiring."
At 69-years-old, Larry Shenk enters this baseball season as his last one as vice president, after 45 seasons. However, he is still staying involved with alumni issues and special events.

According to Shenk, "you need younger people, maybe new thinking. The internet is a new world that I don't fully understand. I'm fortunate they'd like to keep me around."

As the internet is becoming more popular and paper sources are becoming obsolete, it is key to have younger PR professionals. But that does not mean that the older you are, the closer you are to losing your job. Young adults that are new to their PR careers look up to PR veterans as their mentors. They have a lot experience in the field and so much can be learned from them.

It is important to keep PR young and fresh, but it is also important to have experience. In Shenk's case, he is still working with the Phillies but will not be quite at the top. However, he has the familiarity in the world of PR that he can teach to the new professionals coming out of college. So basically, it is important to keep things up to date and new, but you also need the expertise from somebody that knows what they are doing and have been doing it for a long time.

*Information found at www.phillies.com