Penny Mason:
Penny is an account manager at WAA Chosen, a marketing and advertising agency. In the interview, she emphasises the importance of organisation skills, interpersonal skills, taking responsibility and working well as part of a team. I am proficient at organising since careful planning and writing checklists are an important part of my work ethic. Regarding teamwork and responsibilty, I have collaboratively effectively with a team many times, sharing the workload fairly and making use of my friendly and considerate personality. However, I would undoubtedly benefit from advancing my interpersonal skills because I can be timid with new people and I fear public speaking. Since starting university I have had to push myself to speak to new people and in front of a large group, so I hope to get better at it the more I do it, especially in a professional context. Penny states that her job is fast paced, so she reflects on how supportive her work peers can be. She can get guidance, questions answered or encouragement from her manager or coworkers. It's reassuring to know that I will have support when it becomes stressful and hard work. Penny claims her job is her passion, reinforcing how having commitment and enthusiasm is beneficial to work life. I definitely want to pursue a career I enjoy because that will strengthen the quality of my work and keep me going when it gets tough. Penny's journey to becoming an account manager wasn't always planned out. The media industry has lots of paths you can take, so there are plenty of different jobs available. This tells me that there is no rush or pressure to have my whole career mapped out.
Gareth Owen:
Gareth is a political reporter at ITV. He started working at a local radio studio but felt he needed some training and qualifications so he proceeded to study journalism at university. My degree will give me an advantage when applying for jobs, but I will need experience and skills to stand out to employers amongst the masses of graduates also applying. Gareth contacted lots of people to request valuable work experience. He advises being open to opportunities as those that were not willing to try new things and put it in the effort to learn new skills didn't progress and move forward. For me to do this, I will need to maintain confidence and control my anxiety as that can hinder my approach to new situations. I've had incidents where despite being nervous, there were good results; going to university is a great example. When applying for internships, I will aim to consider positions that require extra training or skills I don't yet have. I must be willing to challenge myself instead of sticking to what I already know so I can grow and expand my abilities. In this industry, technology is constantly changing, so this means you have to adapt and keep learning. In recent years, technology and the online world has transformed almost everything around us, such as communicating, accessing information, education, purchasing, marketing and working. In the advertising industry, you need to keep up with the fast development of media to ensure the advertising you produce is always effective and relevant, making use of modern technology. As Gareth said, being open and willing to try new things will assist with the ever-changing environment.
Amy Ahmed-Dolphin:
Amy experimented with different jobs, roles and university courses before she found the job that suits her. She wanted something that offers a creative outlet and the ability to build relationships, which led her to work in public relations. She states that there is no typical day in PR because it is a very unpredictable job. I believe I'd currently work better with more structure, schedules and plans that I can prepare for. I produce my best work when I feel composed and organised. From this interview, I learnt about in-house and in-agency PR, so I feel working for one company, therefore fewer clients, might be best for my work ethic as it's less demanding. However, I could start slow, then once I am familiar with the responsibilities and want to reach my full potential, I can consider moving onto a more challenging role, with a bigger company. Amy proclaims that flexibility and adaptability are key skills. I've successfully worked on more than one assignment at a time for university, so I know I can manage multiple projects and put different skills to use. Using Amy's advice, I will take advantage of researching companies to learn about their working environment and culture to see if it works for me. I know now that it is okay to try out different jobs and roles before you find the most suitable career.
Jacqueline Farrer
Jacqueline works in the social media sector for Wavemaker, an advertising and marketing agency. She states that although it requires difficult, long hours, the end product is rewarding and provides challenges to progress and learn from. I've recently started to think about working within social media. The work Jacqueline has done sounds intriguing and something I would want to learn about. For instance, she talks about live tweeting from a clients' Twitter account while watching The Great British Bake Off. This is a subtle marketing technique because it is connecting with an audience in an informal way. The campaign won awards which confirms that it's a rewarding job which further encourages me to find out more about this role and learn more to point me in the right direction. That being said I should be open to other positions, especially because the online world is always evolving, so it'll be different in the future and I could always have a change of mind. Jacqueline suggests attending industry conferences or events to broaden your knowledge and offer different points of view, therefore a chance to learn about alternatives so I have other ideas instead of sticking to one.
I've been searching for opportunities to enhance my employability, learn new skills or use existing skills professionally. It's important to have experience for the role you're applying for and a winning CV to increase the chances of being employed in such a competitive and popular industry. I applied for a social media manager intern role for a company called Byolitic, which is a CBD and wellness organisation. As part of the application, I was tasked to write a blog article about wellness and CBD with visuals. I used my content writing skills that were developed by the News and Copywriting Add+Vantage module and my creativity to make a visually pleasing infographic using the site Canva. [http://meahbarnett.coventry.domains/other-work/byolitic-social-media-marketing-intern/] I focused on the subtopic of mental health because I am genuinely passionate about the topic as I have difficulties with it myself and strongly believe, that how it is treated both medically and socially, needs improvements. I have knowledge of, and experience using CBD to alleviate symptoms of anxiety which would benefit me working with this company. I'm also applying to collaborate on social media projects for small businesses on Create Explore. Due to the pandemic, I've been restricted to remote positions. If I can take part in face-to-face internships, that will help me develop my interpersonal skills and push myself to work in a new environment with new people. In the meantime, I can use online learning such as LinkedIn Learning and TryTech to learn about social media marketing and potentially acquire more skills that I can put on my CV. This could include Adobe Acrobat, Search Engine Optimisation, Pay Per Click and other key skills and knowledge.
After collaboratively creating a social media campaign for the 2012MAPA: PR and Social Media module [https://meahbarnett.wixsite.com/mnbportfolio/post/mock-campaign-for-depop], I am definitely interested in social media marketing. We created a social media campaign for Depop. I chose this brand because I use it regularly and respect the environmental benefits of sustainable fashion. This was not just a campaign for money, it was advocating for change. I now have valuable experience applying my social media expertise to advertising and proof that I find it enjoyable, especially when it is for a brand I associate with. I created social media posts to advertise the brand to our target audience, wrote a press release, a campaign strategy and analysed different social media platforms and their distinctive features. As a group, we had to present it during a zoom meeting, the same way you would pitch to a client. Not only is this valuable experience with the entire progress of producing a campaign, but I had to speak in front of multiple people which is something I need to do more of so I can improve and overcome my fear of public speaking. Despite my shortcoming, I engage with social media every day so I keep up to date with trends, I know how to create content on multiple platforms and because I've used it for many years now, I have watched it evolve over time. The monetisation of social media platforms has increased, growing the digital marketing industry. It is now a very popular career since most brands want to expand their marketing online. Therefore there are plenty of job opportunities. For the second assignment for the same module, I critically analysed Dove's Real Beauty Campaign's marketing techniques, communication strategies and ideologies. I admired the unconventional approach to confront issues that concern many women, including myself. Like Depop, the goal was more than just selling more products. The research I conducted broadened my knowledge of marketing, with terms such as, above or below the line marketing, outbound and inbound digital communications and horizontal or vertical competition. I examined how it demonstrates postmodern marketing, so I can see how marketing has evolved with the development of social media. This knowledge will assist me to produce effective advertisements or campaigns on social media, even when it continues to change and move forward.
For the podcast and press pack assignment, I applied my proficient written communication skills to write the podcast description and content on the website. Communication is a key skill in the advertising industry as you communicate with clients to persuade an audience. I created the website for our project using Wix [https://meahbarnett.wixsite.com/my-site]. This aids my experience for a social media advertising role because I wrote website content, maintained a brand image, ensured it was easy to navigate, designed it so it is compelling to attract an audience and then delegated with the group to accumulate all the press pack elements in order to embed on the website. With this project, I have developed my team management skills which is another essential skill for advertising. I had to be flexible when creating it as it took trial and error and problem-solving. We did have some communication issues regarding late responses on our Whatsapp group, but in the end, everyone completed their assigned responsibilities. If we were on a tighter schedule, I would be willing to step up and fill in the gaps where others failed to. For further development and improvement, I would like to continue challenging myself, as many guest speakers have said that the industry is hard work and requires resilience. Taking on the role of the website creator gave me the opportunity to endure taking on a difficult and demanding task and execute leadership skills, which will be needed when working with clients. I sometimes decline demanding responsibilities to avoid getting overwhelmed or due to the belief I won't be able to do it at a high enough standard. I will continue taking on tasks that encourage me to push myself and build up resilience. I can take advantage of my organisation skills to break the tasks up into smaller ones and I can speak to others for support, answers or reassurance.