{"id":1574,"date":"2019-08-02T16:30:18","date_gmt":"2019-08-02T15:30:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/?p=1574"},"modified":"2019-08-05T15:10:40","modified_gmt":"2019-08-05T14:10:40","slug":"starting-a-career-in-pr-and-marketing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/starting-a-career-in-pr-and-marketing\/","title":{"rendered":"Starting a career in PR and marketing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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In our latest post, Cardiff University alumna Fleur Stamford shares her top tips for students looking to pursue a career in PR and marketing.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Careers in PR\nhave been attracting ambitious graduates for decades. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a lot\nof competition to enter the industry at the moment, to the point where\nspecialist PR firms are attracting graduates from a number of subjects and\nareas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it\u2019s not\nall freebies and liquid lunches \u2013 it\u2019s a lot of very hard, often rewarding, and\nsometimes frustrating work. In a market where PR firms are often inundated with\neager graduates, you need to make it clear that you\u2019re up to the challenge. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, here\u2019s\nhow you can make a good impression and make it last. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Focus on skills \u2013 not qualifications <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The harsh\ntruth about having a degree is that it\u2019s not a guarantee of a job. It\u2019s not\neven a guarantee of an interview<\/em>. It\u2019s a very useful thing to have, but\nwhat you need to highlight are the relevant skills and experiences you can\nbring to the table. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So that means drawing on internships, work placements, events, and conferences to show your ability to hustle, network, and deliver for clients. If you\u2019re not outgoing, it\u2019s not for you: PR is a career-driven by extroversion. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

You also need\nto be able to write, and you can demonstrate this by highlighting any writing\nyou\u2019ve done throughout your degree and outside it. If you contributed to the\nstudent paper, that proves you can get to grips with media, for example. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo one expects you to know everything, but you need to show drive, enthusiasm, and ability.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Read, read, read <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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PR is an industry that\u2019s constantly evolving: today\u2019s best\npractice is tomorrow\u2019s outdated advice. So prove that you\u2019re interested in the\nindustry by reading and keeping up to date. Buy PR Week. Devour relevant blogs\nand follow relevant influencers, agencies, and experts. Subscribe to magazines\nand monitor the media for topics of particular interest to companies you\u2019re\napplying for. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Turn your research into topics you can communicate effectively and\ndiscuss effectively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Do your own PR <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

If you can\u2019t promote yourself effectively, how can you expect to\npromote your clients? Start demonstrating your PR skills on your CV \u2013 list your\nachievements, list the great results that your efforts led to, and highlight\nyour great communication skills. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Above all, infuse your work with a clear desire <\/em>to work in\nPR. Take the extra step to make yourself stand out in all the right ways \u2013 and\ntake any necessary steps to make sure you don\u2019t stand out in the wrong ways. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThat means scrubbing your social media presence for anything that might put off a prospective employer.\u201d <\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Do your research <\/h3>\n\n\n\n

When you\u2019re looking into which employers might be a good fit, see\nhow they market themselves. Read articles on their blogs, discover how they\napproach work \u2013 do they describe any metrics you might be able to help them\nhit? \u2013 and check out their client testimonials. See what their customers value\nabout them and think about how you could add to it or build on it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And you\u2019ll need to go beyond the website. That means reading\narticles on staff members, blogs featuring the CEO\/MD, and getting a general\nsense of the company\u2019s journey to this point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a more general sense, decide whether you want to work for an\nagency or go in-house. That depends largely on whether you\u2019d prefer to work for\nmultiple different clients or stick with one brand that you\u2019ll get to know very\nwell. You\u2019ll also need to look at what they specialise in and think about how\nyour skills and interests can complement that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Think creatively <\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Finally, PR is a creative industry, and\npaint-by-numbers thinking often means paint-by-numbers coverage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t be afraid to show off your personality, or to\ntake a more creative approach in your interview. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fleur\nStamford<\/strong><\/a> graduated from Cardiff University\nin 2018 where she studied BSc Biotechnology.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

She works as a Communications Assistant at TopLine Comms<\/a>. <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In our latest post, Cardiff University alumna Fleur Stamford shares her top tips for students looking to pursue a career in PR and marketing. Careers in PR have been attracting […]","protected":false},"author":1707,"featured_media":1575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[577],"tags":[978,100,970,929,979,909,977,976,187,499,493,972,975,438,973,603,971,980,113,5,974],"class_list":["post-1574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marketing","tag-blogging","tag-cardiff-university","tag-careers","tag-challenge","tag-clients","tag-creative-industries","tag-cv","tag-degree","tag-employer","tag-employment","tag-graduates","tag-internships","tag-job","tag-media","tag-placements","tag-pr","tag-qualifications","tag-school-of-biosciences","tag-skills","tag-work","tag-work-experience"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/paOfaS-po","meta_box":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/620\/2019\/08\/Running-track-with-5-lanes.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1707"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1574"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1582,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1574\/revisions\/1582"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.cardiff.ac.uk\/business-school\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}