In the digital age, it stands to reason that communication skills really are at the heart of industry. After all, we can’t collaborate, form relationships, and ultimately build up brands and businesses without effective interpersonal communication, both within organisations as well as with external stakeholders.
The issue is that people misinterpret communication as being a foundational skill – in much the same way that nobody puts ‘typing’ as a skill on their CV because it’s kind of expected that everyone can do that at this point in our global technological advancements.
But in reality, communication is a lot more nuanced as a skillset, and being an adept communicator doesn’t just mean knowing how to navigate any given professional conversation.
In truth, communications graduates are dynamic professionals who can adapt communications strategies and outputs to different campaigns, clients, and platforms, and audiences. Given that all industries and sectors have their own unique challenges when it comes to communications, PR and marketing, communications qualifications are also broad and can really take you anywhere – whether you want to be in a public-facing or behind-the-scenes role.
You can get started with as little as a graduate certificate of communication or even take on more specialised postgraduate degrees like a Masters in Marketing Communications, Public Relations, or Communications and Media Studies.
So, where can a career in communications take you? For starters, here are just five of the most popular career pathways awaiting graduates with qualifications in communications.
1. Public relations officer
One of the most important aspects an individual, organisation or entity needs to consider is how they are perceived by the public. And with the vicious nature of media cycles today, PR really can make or break brands. As a result, public relations (PR) officers need to communicate strategically and ensure all of their media materials stay aligned with brand strategies.
For those looking to embark on a career in PR, plenty of unique challenges await. This comms discipline will also undoubtedly provide ample content for professional portfolios, with opportunities to develop and facilitate your own PR media strategies.
PR is also an ideal discipline for entrepreneurs, as you may even opt to leverage all your industry contacts later on in your career to start your own PR agency.
2. Social media specialist
With more consumers shopping on their phones, social media specialists have naturally grown in demand. These digital-savvy comms specialists are responsible for developing and overseeing content and sending out messages across multiple social media platforms, all the while ensuring that the messaging and language they’re using are optimised for the audiences they’re looking to reach.
In short, social media specialists have boiled engagement down to a science. They use emerging and established digital marketing frameworks and methodologies to create real-world results that help build brand visibility in cyber spaces.
Again, social media roles will provide ample content for any communications industry portfolio, with plenty of opportunities to helm cross-platform strategies and record performance metrics across socials, web, and even commercial data sets (e.g. sales records, conversion rates etc).
3. Marketing coordinator
A marketing coordinator differs from a social media specialist in a few key ways. While social media specialists often purely specialise in social media posting and advertising, marketing coordinators are also tasked with overseeing campaigns across all included digital channels. This means monitoring web and SEO performance, as well as social engagement, eDM or email marketing engagement, and even news media placements (e.g. articles, interviews, brand mentions, etc).
In simpler terms, marketing coordinators are a ‘jack of all trades’-type role, and are a great career pathway for any communications specialists with a healthy fascination with all things digital media.
This isn’t to say that marketing coordinators have to do a million tasks themselves everyday. In fact, these professionals are likely to collaborate with other creative professionals like photographers, videographers, graphic designers, copywriters, and a wide variety of other roles on any given project.
As such, marketing coordinators are more likely to be strong collaborators, who enjoy project management, have a flair for networking, and love working across multiple campaigns and tasks on any given day of the week.
4. Digital era journalism
The role of journalists has evolved greatly across the sector’s transition from print media to digital media. Today, while the journalistic code of ethics is largely unchanged, the skills and publication practices that journalists use on a daily basis do look very different to what they were ten or 20 years ago.
This is, of course, because of the integration of news media and digital media. Now, more journalists are working across digital publications, with every article they post also being shared to social media and thus, requiring social captions right alongside meta titles, meta descriptions, and other web publication elements.
Even news broadcasters and journalists working across television and radio must also maintain some level of proficiency with digital tools and technologies. Whether you’re working behind the teleprompter, at the tech desk, or in front of the camera as an anchor or presenter, a career in journalism involves so much more than just rehashing current affairs.
Alongside proficiency with digital platforms and tools, journalists must also still adhere to industry standards like using taglines and headlines while ensuring their articles are skim-friendly and optimised to deliver unbiased news updates in clear, accessible formats.
For communications specialists with a strong passion for politics and local news, a career in journalism even in the digital era is still guaranteed to provide plenty of enrichment and job satisfaction.
5. Copywriter
Finally, with more consumers shopping online, we’re also seeing more businesses invest in copywriting services for their websites. And being able to write for the web is a sorely undervalued skill in its own right.
Copywriters are tasked with penning so much more than just product descriptions or dot point lists of benefits. These digital age advertising and marketing experts are also on the frontline of digital communications projects, creating everything from longform articles and blogs to writing digital ad copy, landing page content, and even email marketing content.
Copywriters can expect a lot of professional variety as well, taking on roles with digital agencies, working in-house and as part of dedicated marketing teams for one brand, or even on a freelance basis. Expect your day-to-day life to stay fresh and varied, with opportunities to work both in the office and even remotely, and to maintain full-time work, or even set your own hours.
Find your ideal communications role as a young graduate
With communications being central to any organisation, your skills are easily translatable to just about anything – think media, corporate strategy, marketing, and even in managing internal communications like writing company news updates, training materials, and more.
So, take the time to read up on the career pathways we’ve outlined above so you can find the right roles for your professional growth and development.