Agent Emilie shares her insights at UNSW:
Last week, I attended the University of NSW’s Careers Panel for PR and Advertising Students. Sandwiched between four communications industry legends from the likes of OMD, Ogilvy and KPMG, I knew I was going to have my work cut out for me when asked to share ‘what can a future look like with a communications degree?’
Asked to provide insight from a Public Relations perspective, I was tasked with demonstrating how this industry differed to other ‘communications-based’ professions. As the panellists presented, I watched as the students eagerly leaned in and asked endless questions of the presenters…it was then that I realised just how little information is currently available in university about life post-study.
So, using insights from my own experience, as well as the details provided by the panellists; here are 5 career paths you can pursue with your communications degree:
- Public Relations
Of course, I need to start with the obvious; PR! There is still a lot of misinformation around what PR truly is, but at its core, it is about establishing meaningful communication between a brand/organisation and their target audience. In a day-to-day sense, this means working across a range of different campaigns and finding unique ways to get a brand’s message to the right audience, at the right time. This can mean media relations, social media, community engagement and so on. While today PR is very much centred around publicity, there are still a wide range of industries you can work across.
- Journalism
If you love writing too much to ever stop, why not give journalism a spin? As I was told in university, journalists are ‘go-getters’ and people that love finding a story in everything. While most people assume journalism is just writing newspaper articles, journalists have become so much more diversified over the last 5-10 years. Journalists are now opinion writers, blog creators, social media content directors, TV producers and much more! The great thing about journalism is that you can work in niche industries that may be of personal interest to you.
- Advertising
Advertising has always in my mind been the ‘sexy-sister’ to PR. Advertising encompasses a wide range of skills and activities, however in its simplest form, it means producing an advertisement that promotes a product or service. Often these ‘ads’ are paid for and can span across a range of mediums including print/magazines, TV, radio/broadcast, billboards and so on. Advertisers are creative, witty and always finding unique ways to sell and promote goods.
- Media Buying
Often easily confused with advertising, media buyers are exactly what their name claims – they help brands negotiate and purchase relevant media placements. They work in tandem with advertisers to find the best promotional space across print magazines, newspapers, billboards and so on. They are skilled at negotiating a good deal and knowing the best locations to place ads.
- Marketing & Brand Managing
To close off, it’s important to understand that if all the above fields sound of interest to you, you might be best suited to an all-encompassing ‘marketing’ and brand manager role. Marketing managers typically work in-house within the company, with the sole purpose of helping promote and position their services/goods to their audience. A marketing manager will be open to exploring all forms of brand awareness including PR, advertising, media buying…however they are tracked to much firmer KPIs and deliverables!
To find out more, feel free to reach out to me at emilie@agent99pr.com
By Agent Emilie
