Know-How Exchange : Advertising/PR

In my humble opinion, it's about qualities and experience rather than qualifications.
They need to be a)Personable – likeable and well presented
b) Organised, c) hard working and d) genuine – and if they can fake all four your on to a winner.
Doesn't matter what their degree is in, could be English or Psychology… interest and aptitude are what count!. Write your recruitment ad carefully and you'll screen out the undesirables.
Follow the example of Ernest Shackleton and his ad for men to join him on his Antarctic expedition of 1901… ""Men wanted for hazardous journey. Small wages. Bitter cold. Long months of complete darkness. Constant danger. Safe return doubtful. Honour and recognition in case of success." Brilliant, although you'd have to be a little less sexist these days!

I would add to chough's comments that the person needs to be smart and service-trained. I have worked with many a rep who were personable and all that, but they couldn't solve my problem and they didn't have the smarts to really know what I (the client) wanted and needed. They didn't understand and dig into my business. They were great people, but too removed to be trusted advisors or partners. They didn't understand strategy and didn't have intelligent thoughts to contribute. And if something went wrong, they weren't trained on customer service recovery skills to make it right. All that said, I just may have had some bad experiences that are the exception instead of the rule.

So, I would definitely ask candidates experiential and situational questions to see if they have substance, know how to solve problems and can think on their feet.