What are the top 3 skills or attributes employers look for in prospective public relations/press/advertising employees?

The first skill required is spelling, good english, punctuation and sentence structure.
Then from a social media marketing perspective being able to write compelling headlines, being able to condense information into short paragraphs to be able to catch the readers eye and have them click to read more.
Thirdly a solid understanding of online marketing, search engine optimisation, keywords, hashtags and the importance of images to content.

Hi Melanie,

I'm going to hitchhike on the previous responses, all good ones, and say additional great soft skills to have would be:
general communication skills, time management and organization (know how to prioritize projects), respect and high regard for deadlines, creative problem solving (most employees want to know that if there is a problem, you have a can-do, approach that simply solves the problem), a collaborative spirit and relationship building (this is very important in the media/communications field), research/investigation, a general passion and curiosity for cultural happenings and current events.

Cheers,
Stefania

If you are just starting out, I would say the important attributes or characteristics for you are:
relationship building - that you can get a long with all kinds of people because whether it's press contacts or talking to the client or navigating your own organization, it's all about people even in this tech world.

pop culture - certainly for advertising you need to know the latest movies, shows, influencers on social media, what's the latest app that has everyone talking.

curiosity-you have a need to know and love to find out how things work, who makes them work and have the ability to listen learn the facts as others see them.

I'll keep this short winded.

Know their CRM
Have relevant experience
Provide an explanation and strategy of how you'll prospect to build credibility and PR.