Advice from comms and marketing people!

[Helpaladyoutplease]

I'm planning my exit from teaching and would love some advice from people who work in comms and marketing.
Before teaching, I was a senior marketing exec for a couple of charities before career changing in my late 20s (focus was copywriting, PR, editing, speechwriting, events, with some digital marketing). I'm now planning my exit over the next 2 years and would love to get back into my previous career or similar comms focus. My question is what courses/qualifications would be useful for me to work on over the next 2 years to make myself an attractive hire again in the charity comms sector? Any advice welcome! Thankyou.

I think AI is changing these types of work significantly and quickly.

I did a course with the Cambridge University continuing ed team about UX testing that could be the sort of thing you'd find useful (you don't have to have gone to Cambridge and there was a discount for state school teachers).

Short online course list | Professional and Continuing Education https://share.google/cV6Jq8OBzS5TvYhXu

As @Needlenardlenoo says, AI is having a huge impact on the industry. People inside it can see the lower quality output, but people outside it don't see it or feel that it is good enough.

If you are set on c&m, I would advise against entering roles focused on creative output (writing and similar), focus more on those jobs where things change too quickly for AI to keep up or where it can't yet deliver - analytics and optimisation, online user experience etc. Events are also tough - there are SO MANY and all of them all bang on about AI as if they have the sole angle on it!

OR: lean right into the AI part and become the expert for the organisation. It may be everywhere, but a lot of people are still clueless about how exactly it works and what it can do. There's a lady called Heather <something> on LI. She has some good courses on AI for non techies which may be worth investigating. There are also shit loads of free courses available - google has loads, also microsoft I think, and LI itself.

Roles are limited and competition fierce. As people have already said, AI has hit the industry hard. I have been looking for 6 months now and am thinking of retraining to get out of writing and marketing altogether.

Thankyou all, so many careers being hit by AI!

You could also look at joining CIPR, CIM or similar. They will then have free/discounted training and networking events. Should be useful but also look good on future job applications.

Thankyou!

Yes, definitely do the CIM and lean more into digital/AI.

I honestly wouldn't recommend it! Competitive job market, extreme pressure and burn out, complete lack of recognition, respect and investment as it's seen as something anyone can do. I would 100% steer clear of charities - maybe companies are a bit better?

I don’t recommend it. I got out of teaching into marketing/comms in 2013. It was all good until about late 2023. The industry is so bad now that many years later I’m a teacher again. And I’m very savvy with digital and AI but the jobs just aren’t there anymore. Those that are left tend to be remote and you’re often competing against hundreds of applicants from all over the country now.

The charity field is insanely competitive, too. Maybe go on Charity Job and look for voluntary marketing/comms opportunities you can do between now and then.

Don't go into Comms and marketing cos ai has changed everything

I'm a bid/product manager which is a bit of a spin off from marketing... The industry so far seems bouyant