Communications degree?

[Gloschick]

DD is currently looking at A-level options. As a result we are discussing with her possible career paths. She is not stem orientated, so sensible careers in engineering, medicine, accountancy are out. She is also not of Oxbridge calibre, but probably Russel group.

She has a creative mind, and I think she might do well in something like communications eg head of comms for a company rather than working in the media. I appreciate that such jobs are competitive and prior experience is most important. But in terms of degree, what do those in the industry recommend? There are a lot of media & comms courses out there. Is that the way to go? Or something like English language? Or something else?

And what does your daughter want to study?

Head of comms is a great target for sure – and offers a nice salary for a creative role. As long as she knows (without wanting to sound to downbeat) that this will be a good number of years down the line. The most driven and targeted comms pro I know took about eight-10 years to get there, via a host of stepping-stone roles. Most people take longer and in fact lots of comms pros will never be a head of comms – there just are not enough roles at the top of the tree.

So from uni she could look at comms officer type roles – NHS band 4/5 roles (Band 4 currently starts at about £27k so not too bad) and similar level roles in the private sector.

Degree choice IMHO is not critical. People I know who do or have done this role (including me) have all kinds of degrees – yes including journalism, but also English, classics, MFL, history – all things that would be likely for a candidate not keen on STEM. Tho a specialism in STEM is also no bad thing for a comms professional. But overall I would advise a degree subject she is interested in and enjoys.

Journalism degrees are wanted by some employers and not by others. I will say that a lot of the journalism graduates I have known seem to have learned very little about how to write! OTOH some have been excellent.

The key if she really wants to seek a comms role is to write and get her writing published. That’s easier now than ever before – a blog, social media accounts, writing reviews of local theatre or music for the local press, volunteering as comms officer for your sporting club or drama group, ditto being the person in charge of their website… loads of opportunities now so she needs to show what she can do there, and then she will have something to call on when applying for job roles.

She doesnt know yet, hence we are looking at different careers. DS has a very clear plan (stem) but this is trickier. Just trying to make sure she doesn't close any doors with her A-level choices.

@clary thanks for your very detailed reply. Sorry, I wasn't implying that she would walk in to a senior role, just indicating a potential trajectory, similar to saying cardiologist rather than junior doctor (and indeed, many drop off along the way!). It is reassuring to know that she could pursue such a career with a variety of degrees. As you say, there is a lot of potential to do relevant activities whilst a student, so we'll have a look at that first.

No worries @Gloschick - I only said that bc reading MN sometimes you would think that all DC are on six figures three years after uni!

If she wants to write, she can write now, and get published, and she should. Don't wait till she is at uni. Apart from anything else, it might show her if it is enjoyable!

What A levels is she looking at? What does she enjoy?

I don't think degree choice is critical. Things like English Literature/Language, Languages, History etc are probably popular choices. I know an English Language graduate who is now a director at a university in a totally unrelated subject!

@clary current long list is English, Psychology/sociology, politics, philosophy & ethics, Spanish.

DD is Head of Comms for a charity and she studied Geography at university. She started her career in a different industry. A relative also works in comms for an agency and she didn’t do a comms degree either. I would agree that it is important that she starts writing and gets published or at least writes a regular blog.

Sorry - I can’t edit my post but I have come back to say that I just remembered that someone else I know in Comms/PR told me there are a lot of redundancies because smaller companies are using AI.

@Rocknrollstar thanks. It is a real worry re which jobs will still be around by the time our kids graduate!

Yeh tbh that is a valid concern. It’s OK for me bc I am old, but the managers where I work partly as a copy editor alongside an education role are making noises that the copyediting element could be done by AI. It’s not the case right now, thankfully, but going forward it may be. Worth bearing in mind anyway.