Ever worried about your reputation?

In communications, you could make this concern your profession. The rasion d’etre in the fields of marketing, advertising, public relations, direct marketing and arts administration is creating and developing the best public perception for your client, be they cereal manufacturer, investment bank, or opera company.

Within this remit, however, responsibilities and business practices differ enormously. Whereas an advertising agency’s creative staff may be paid to basically brainstorm ideas, a PR accounts executive will spend much of their time determining general direction of a specific consultancy, reviewing contracts and seeking out new areas for agency activity.

The Way In

Many large advertising and marketing agencies recruit through the Milkround, but competition for such account handling jobs is fierce. As with jobs in the media, however, there is much movement within the sector, which offers numerous ‘ways in’ to the profession. Time spent in marketing (regarded as the art of selling at its bluntest) could make the entry into advertising easy, and the communications and organisational skills learnt in marketing, PR and advertising are essential in arts administration. Another option is to gain experience in a smaller marketing, advertising or PR department, before moving to a larger self-contained agency. As with most career sectors, work experience is a very good idea, to gain both experience and contacts.

Key Skills

The key skill required for all areas within communications (as the sector title suggests) is flair in interpersonal relations: in short, you’ll need to make a convincing pitch, and make both your clients and their audience believe in what you’re saying and their product. In practice, this may not be as difficult as it sounds. An ability to express yourself is a primary quality looked for in Oxbridge interviews, so you have already probably demonstrated the kind of skills needed in the communications sector in gaining your place here. Jobs in communications will rely much upon organisational skills, though, as a large proportion of roles include an element of project management.

Pay & Lifestyle

Pay in the communications sector is generally quite good, but starting salaries and pay in smaller firms can be initially low. Creative staff (responsible for producing the ‘raw product’ for the industry) usually take home the most, but the pay structure in the sector is relatively level (ie there are few ‘fat cats’). The stereotype of the glamorous ‘let’s do lunch’ reputation that PR has is to an extent true, as much of the work in the sector is motivated around personal interaction with clients. That’s not to say that abusing the expenses account is the only thing you’ll do in the sector though, and most graduates in communications say that their duties are are remarkably varied from day-to-day.

Roles

Accounts Executive

The agency’s main contact point for clients – typically handles all the logistics of managing clients’ accounts and strategy, including monitoring the progress of projects.

Accounts Planner

Concerned with the relevance of advertisments to their target audience and their effectiveness in the market place. This will involve liason with market researchers and focus groups, and reporting back to both the agency and client to maximise impact in present and future campaigns.

Media Staff/Planners

Similar to the accounts planners, but primarily liasing with the media in order to ensure the clients are getting the best possible exposure. This will have some element of design as well as liason.

Creative Staff

The hub of the operation, envisioning innovative and imaginative ways to sell campaigns. Creative work is team-based, and can be as much design- as concept-orientated.

PR Officer

Project management: In arts administration, the project manager (as the name indicates) will take overall responsibility for the financial and logistical operation of the organisation (but not the creative side). The manager is also in charge of delegation of staff, effectively a human as well as physical resource manager.