Peter Shankman makes all the right moves.

The guy is brilliant and, if you’re in PR, you can’t help but know that he has a cat named Karma and, when he’s not jumping from an insane altitude, he’s training for an Ironman. Oh, and he’s the founder and CEO of a PR/journalism game-changing company called Help a Reporter Out (HARO).

HARO was founded on Facebook in 2008 and has since grown to be THE social media services company that connects writers and sources. In my opinion, two things make HARO particularly unique: It’s a free service for all involved and it’s a no-BS community where PR pros are held accountable for the pitches they send. Users get booted for spammy, spray-and-pray pitches and, as a result, HARO is somewhat of a safe haven for members of the media.

The lucrative HARO “sponsorship” program that Shankman created is also noteworthy. He places advertisements at the start of each email, which are chock-full of media queries, and the open rates are said (by HARO) to be about 75 percent.

In fact, this business model is so remarkable that, just last week, Shankman announced that his little enterprise had been scooped up by Vocus, a company that provides on-demand software for public relations management and manages the press release distribution service called PRWeb.

We join the industry in congratulating Peter Shankman on this significant accomplishment. According to a Mashable story, he will continue to build the HARO brand with the help of the folks at Vocus and, more importantly, the service will remain free. We look forward to seeing what the future holds for HARO – and continuing to use this fantastic service to supplement our daily PR activities and outreach!

Today CNBC posted a countdown of the most anxiety-inducing professions in America, sourced from a CareerCast.com survey. Aside from the outrageous omissions of corporate lawyer and Andy Dick’s personal assistant, it’s a well-reasoned register of vexing vocations. A cursory peek at the subject matter would tempt one to believe the listed jobs are day-in, day-out nightmares that no one would possibly desire. Not so it seems: “a number of the most stressful jobs are considered highly sought-after positions, and workers frequently undergo rigorous and costly training for the chance at one of these careers.”

Here is CareerCast.com’s summary of what makes PR a particularly stressful career and worthy of the number eight slot: “Public relations specialists make speeches and give presentations, often in front of large crowds. Because it is a highly competitive field, specialists must work quickly and creatively to meet deadlines. In addition, some PR officers are required to interact with potentially hostile members of the media.”

While the above responsibilities don’t come without a fair amount of pressure, expectations and artful navigation of occasionally unfriendly human interaction, I think it’s what makes this career fun. Call me crazy, but I suspect the fast pace and inventive, on-the spot thinking might be part of the draw for many of my colleagues. Furthermore, I’m a firm believer that competition breeds creativity in all disciplines.

What do you think? Are you a PR stress junkie or just stressed-out?

I was in the checkout line at the grocery store last night and, as I was throwing my purchases onto the conveyor belt, I noticed that almost every tabloid and entertainment magazine had a cover story about Jesse James’ marital affair and the word “monster” somehow worked into the headline. My first thought was, “How sad.” My second thought was, “What’s his PR team doing about this?”

With a client roster comprised of highly reputable, forward-thinking companies, I don’t often get to dabble in crisis PR, but this made me think about how I’d handle this situation.

Call me crazy, but under these circumstances, I think honesty and candor is the best policy. When celebrities like Tiger Woods and Jesse James go mum or offer vague statements and apologies (like James did) stating that the “vast majority” of the allegations are untrue, it drags out the process – and the criticism. We don’t need all the juicy details, but a direct response and an interview here and there might quell the speculation. Being elusive and running off to rehab only makes matters worse and gives the public – and the media – more time to hypothesize. When did rehab become the new crisis PR, anyway?

Take, for instance, the Tiger Woods situation. That saga continued for months until he finally surfaced and made public statements on Feb. 19. The news that followed was that Woods had hired former White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer, that he was returning to golf and, later, that he and Fleischer had parted ways. Chapter over. Situation status quo. If he’s lucky, the next bit of news will likely be about his fifth win at the Masters.

Time may have been a factor in helping Woods smooth things over with the court of public opinion, but I believe that coming out of hiding and showing his face was the best thing he’s done yet. If I were Jesse James’ publicist or PR rep, I’d suggest doing the same, but sooner rather than later.

So now I turn to you, fellow PR pros and colleagues, what would be your advice to someone in those shoes? Let’s discuss …