DD trying to forge career in PR/Marketing

[NaturalBlondeYeahRight]

She’s currently at a good uni reading history in year 2 and has fancied working in London after in the PR and marketing field. I’m trying (and failing) to help her write a CV to try and get some work experience in the field in the summer holidays this year.
Anyone know what sort of thing they might appreciate on a CV? A lot of websites have said she needs a good SM presence- is this correct as she is quite low profile online. Should she set up a LinkedIn profile? Is she mad to think about this career after taking history? So many questions, sorry. I’d be grateful for anything you through at us.

‘Throw not through’

I don't think it's mad. But she does need a fairly decent online presence. I don't work in marketing but work in. Digital project managing which sometimes overlaps with marketing agencies.

She should use the university careers service. They're experts at this.

Oh and history is a very desirable subject for lots of graduate careers.

Agree Careers office at uni often run workshops and offer cv writing help. Do they have any useful contacts with alumnae perhaps or information on employers who offer placements?

Her uni careers dept have been very flaky so far. They only give certain time slots per week, all have clashed with lectures so far. They have also sent her a generic cv template for grads to adapt but it’s nothing we couldn’t google. She’s on reading week, that’s why we were having a look together but I will get her to take it back to them to have a look at.

I have a degree in history and a career in PR.

The history degree has, in my opinion, been absolutely essential in making me good at my job - the skills of writing, thinking, parsing through different angles/views etc are all really important. But...

... it did not help me get a single job interview.

Having said that, PR and Marketing degrees are not considered particularly valuable by the industry so a good degree overall from a good university is still on the right track.

A social media presence is helpful, particularly if she wants to work in consumer PR. But it's not essential. IF I was looking for a summer intern I'd be looking for:

1. A CV with NO mistakes. You can't work in PR/Marketing if you can't even proof read your own work/lay it out nicely etc. This is absolutely crucial and anything less than a well written, well laid out CV will lead to failure.

1. Someone who is flexible, can demonstrate initiative and a genuine interest in more than just their day to day lives. So I'd like to see someone who has had weekend/evening jobs and/or joined societies at university (ideally engaged in some form of leadership position even if's just the person organising logistics for the hockey club and/or volunteering, and/or taken part in sporting or cultural activities and/or done additional course/cultural programmes etc etc etc.

1. This may just be me, but I also personally prefer candidates who have done basic jobs over "better" jobs clearly gained through daddy's business. Mostly just because it shows that they are able to take responsibility for their own lives. Having said that, if they ARE getting experience in the family business, show how this has been maximised by taking on specific projects or responsibilities or whatever.

1. On that note, any experience whether it's volunteering, work experience at a friend's doctor's surgery etc needs to show that the person has learnt something and/or was able to successfully do something. So, "work experience at estate agent" is completely pointless. But "Work experience at estate agent where I was responsible for tracking listings, adding them to social media, liaising with buyers and sellers to schedule appointments" is better. If that's not possible, highlight what was interesting about the experience in terms of learning about client relationship management or whatever.

1. Demonstrating strong administrative/organisational skills is very helpful as most PR and Marketing roles, especially at a junior level, are often not dissimilar to working as a PA!

1. Must have basic computer skills - word, excel, powerpoint, email etc. Any graphic design or similar skills will be valued, especially in consumer PR and marketing overall.

1. Any writing experience will be useful. Even if it's just writing for the school newspaper at A levels.

Does she know what area of marketing / PR she's interested in? The more glamorous (but more competitive) FMCG side, or B2B?
Is she drawn to a particular sector - tech, finance, law, fashion, food, charity, travel....? I'd advise her to narrow down the areas she might be interested in, then go on LinkedIn and have a look at a few job ads for junior marketing / PR / business development roles and see what they are asking for.

I can also recommend the national careers service

Have a look at the subreddit r/marketing.

It's very active and absolutely filled with these types of questions.

The consensus there is that CVs and resumes are generally useless.

What things is she doing right now to set her apart from the competition?

She could be getting started learning copywriting, which is probably one of the most valuable skills for a marketer, and then build on it.

Here is a list of online marketing qualifications:

https://www.reddit.com/r/marketing/comments/64vkbe/listoffdigitalmarketinggcertificationsyou/?utmmsource=share&utmmedium=iossapp&utm_name=iossmf

I'm not actually in marketing, just a small business owner who has had to learn a lot of this stuff myself.

Does she know what area of marketing / PR she's interested in? The more glamorous (but more competitive) FMCG side, or B2B?
Is she drawn to a particular sector - tech, finance, law, fashion, food, charity, travel

From your original post, I assumed she was just generally interested but agree with @MissSueFlay that if she has a sector in mind that's more helpful and she can try to demonstrate an interest in that industry. Again, to be successful in PR/marketig you need to understand the industry you're working in. So I'm pretty good in my specialist sector but couldn't do PR for the launch of a new restaurant if my life depended on it.

I’m glad to hear History is a good choice for a degree as she doesn’t want to teach (people always assume) She loves the idea of a fairly young, fast paced city job as we live quite close.
Going to help set up a LinkedIn now

History is a good choice for a degree

Yes, but please don't forget my rider... it won't help her get a job at all. It will just, hopefully, make her better at the job she does get eventually.

Depending on industry, an industry specific degree is the most helpful. So financial PR - degree in economics/ finance. Political PR - a degree in politics. Fashion PR - a degree in fashion (I assume, I don't actually know anything about consumer PR).

On that note, if she can add electives in whatever industry she's interested in, that would be helpful. Also any business related course will be helpful too.

Absolutely agreed with the previous poster. When CV sifting for work experience/grad positions I look for part time work in hospitality, retail, care, office temping to show willingness to support themselves.

Also got to be happy to pitch in with any small jobs, it’s still definitely a career where you start at the very, very bottom and the tasks you’re asked to do often often reflect that. Also make sure to offer to make the teas and coffees/do the post run/tidy the office before meetings. Final one, read as much of the news from the sector as possible and thus includes trade titles. Bound to impress!

I think if she’s going to stand any chance in securing a job she should be able to set up a LinkedIn on her own without the help of the parent!

... equally I would leave her to crack on with the rest of it other than a quick proof read of her CV

Oh she’s well able to set one up, I’m just being nosey as I have no idea what LinkedIn looks like. As for the CV, I want someone who sees them regularly to have a look. She can ask me to take a look but I don’t know what they are after specifically. I’m just being used as a sounding board and as we don’t know anyone in this particular field, I thought I’d ask here if anyone did.
Mumsnet has been very useful today. I think she feels like she’s on the right track.

Hi OP

I did history degree and work in marketing in London. If it's helpful I can tell you how I got into the job?

I was really really poor after my masters degree so I just took any role I could in an office it happened to be a sales role in a tech company I did sales for one year then realised my strengths lay in writing prospect emails, running events and social media and I was lucky that my company made a marketing role for me.

That was eight years ago now, I worked my way up to head of marketing and then I decided to go freelance and I'm now a consultant which means I can charge a massive day rate and I've got flexibility since I've had a baby.

I have friends who work in fashion and film PR it's very difficult to get into because it is so so competitive and this means that they can get away with offering a really low salary. I work in the B2B tech space, I work with online retailers. I find the sector really interesting there is lots of innovation and lots of growth plus it's really high salaries so if your daughter is motivated by money it's a good one.

In my sector what is important for marketers is being a good writer, Be able to pick up new technologies really quickly this isn't because I work in the tech sector it's just that marketing these days is increasingly digital focused and you need to be savvy when it comes to technology, You need to be really organised and on the ball.

If I was interviewing for a junior entry role I would expect that they understand about social media have basic knowledge of how to run sponsored posts. I would expect there to be some evidence of writing that they had done on the side of their degree whether this is a blog or contributed articles to a newspaper for the uni or something. And I would expect them to understand Google analytics basics from home study.

It's great that you're such a supportive mum, but my advice would be please let your daughter set up a LinkedIn and do her CV herself it's really really important that she learns to self start and how to do these things. By all means do a proof for each we all need our work proof read.

If she wants any more advice feel free to @ me and I'll give you my email or LinkedIn profile

Just saw your update I'd be happy to read her CV if that will be helpful

I did Drama and English at Uni but have never actually done a marketing degree or any formal training. When I started out, companies were just desperate for someone who could write! I have worked in marketing and business development in London and Europe for nearly 20 years.

Copy writing and editing is a crucial skill, you can break into many roles with that experience. These days I would also advise a strong focus on online marketing, SEO, WordPress, Google analytics, hubspot, etc. She needs to at least know about the most utilised tools in the market.

I don't think a social media presence is actually required unless she is going to work for a brand that actively sells or promotes on Insta, etc. But she certainly should have a decent LinkedIn profile with relevant experience. You can also join some good professional groups on LinkedIn.

There are plenty of free courses, training and webinars online if she wants to expand her experience. Charity and volunteer work will also give her the chance to get her hands dirty and have an impact when she is just starting out. Good luck!

A friends daughter did this.

She started her own blog, focused on things she was reading, reviewing books, as well as other personal stuff. She reviewed movies she saw, shows she saw, talked about charity work etc,

She also used her on line profile, insta, Facebook, LinkedIn etc to basically market herself, the things she did at uni, the extra activities, clubs etc, as well as images from her blog.

I think as a starting point your daughter needs to prove she can market herself, but no getting pissed, lounging about in swimwear stuff, it needs to be professional. Then she should Link all the platforms together. So if you’re on one you can link to the other.

She can then link to her blog and her social media presence on line on her applications or cv..

For a good job opportunity, showing she knows how to market herself online, how she can write interestingly etc, all will help get her to interview stage. I strongly suspect that’s what she’s competing with.

I don't think a social media presence is actually required unless she is going to work for a brand that actively sells or promotes on Insta

I don’t think any big company now doesn’t have an online or insta presence. Even big law firms have them. Everyone does.

I can't speak for every industry but for my sector when it comes to social media your own account is irrelevant and in fact I don't think it would be an HR policy that they could look at your Facebook or Instagram and definitely not factor that into any decision-making. Instead what they're looking for is that you understand how brands use social media so they might ask something about which fashion brand does a really good job on Instagram and why, or who has had a good advertising campaign that you can remember and what made it good? It's the ability to analyse social media that they care about not how many followers you have yourself.

Check out the CIM website.

Personally if you don't have an already established social media I wouldn't spend a lot of time building this up I would concentrate your time on doing digital marketing courses online for free something like the Google Analytics Academy or the Hubspot Academy. Most people use social platforms for different things anyway. When I've interviewed for marketing graduate roles or marketing manager roles it would never cross my mind to look for them on instagram, I would find that very unprofessional. But I would ask them what tools they have learnt to see if they have initiative and their opinion on which brands are nailing it to assess their critical evaluation skills.

If she's looking for an internship then she must narrow her field and really, really get to know her area, especially if she's wanting to do something mega-competitive like fashion, music, food, festivals. She will be up against people who live and breathe their chosen topic, who can list all the biggest influencers in their field and who can dissect a press campaign without thinking too hard about it.

She will also be up against a L0T of well-off students going through mummy and daddy's contact books to get a leg up. Who will work for free. and probably be useless, but free...-

What are her passions? She needs to start from there. It's entirely possible to get a normal job and work your way into PR, but she's not going to get a summer job in something that she 'just fancies trying.' She needs to have a clear plan based on what she knows and what lights her up. For example, if it's film then most film festivals have internships. It won't be head of PR, but it could be something like working with the guest lists, driving people around, or manning the press desk. The good ones will pay a small amount for this, though by no means a proper wage. But it's great experience.