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19th, August 2020
Guest blog: Three ways into a career in public relations
It may come as a surprise, but not everyone who has a career in the PR and marketing industry will have a degree in one or both subjects – or a degree at all for that matter! There are plenty of other ways to gain the skills and experience needed for the role.
Business Members, Industry Insight
Here are just three ways into the brand building industry…
Work experience
We believe in the power of meaningful work experience, and it could be argued that a few months of working at an established PR and marketing firm will teach you more than you’ll ever learn at university.
What’s more, many PR and marketing firms rank experience highly when searching for new recruits. If you can show that you’ve spent time working in the real world and have the skills and knowledge to back it up, then you’ll be a very strong candidate.
If you’re looking to take on work experience, research firms in the area, build up knowledge and, most importantly, show your passion!
Degree
Arguably the most traditional route into the industry will involve university. However, there are more degrees than just ‘PR and marketing’ that can prepare you for the sector and develop the skills needed.
For example, a communications course will teach you everything you need to know about communicating with the public, whether that’s through spoken word or written content like social media and blogs, or even websites, radio and TV.
Writing press releases and liaising with journalists is a large part of an account manager or digital marketing executive’s role, and a journalism degree will give you plenty of transferable skills and an understanding of how the industry works.
You can have the best communication skills in the world, but if you don’t know how to put pen to paper then a role in PR and marketing might not be for you. An English language degree will teach you to understand the power of sentence structure and strong vocabulary – valuable skills to have in the industry.
Apprenticeship
The world of social media and marketing is ever-changing, with new technologies and platforms becoming available all the time. The rapid growth of the online world means up-to-date digital skills are in higher demand than ever.
With a marketing apprenticeship, not only will you learn new trends as and when they appear, you’ll also have the opportunity to apply them in the working world as you gain your qualifications. Once your apprenticeship is complete, you’ll have a great combination of skills, experience and qualifications.
Marketing apprenticeships are offered in a number of specialties, including social media, digital marketing and PR.
If you want to find out more about roles in the PR, marketing and digital industries, we have some fantastic career stories from our members on our Learning Hub.