Kiera W.
About me
| Kiera W. | |
| English and Related Literature | |
| English | |
| Undergraduate | |
| James | |
| 2013 | |
| United Kingdom |
My employment
| Circulation Executive | |
| Marketforce | |
| United Kingdom | |
| Journalism and publishing | |
| 2014 | |
| £22500 | |
| £22500 |
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A day in the life of a Circulation Executive in the United Kingdom
My career history
After graduating from York I worked briefly at my local Council in an admin role. It was great experience in terms of seeing how a large organisation works and just getting into the new routine of working life. I had also read that most jobs require 6 months office experience, and it can be helpful to have this even if the experience is not in the sector you want to end up working in. After about 6 months at the council I went for an interview and was hired my current employer!
Courses taken since graduation
Online FutureLearn courses
Where I hope to be in 5 years
I've only been at the company for around 5 months, but I hope to continue to work here for a number of years and progress through the ranks. There are a lot of different departments in my company, be it editorial, retail or marketing, but ideally I'd like to remain in circulation, which is the most exciting! (I may be biased). Maybe I'll become a senior circulation executive!
My advice to students considering work
Get yourself out there on as many job seeker's websites as you can, and put time and effort into your profile. Add as much detail about yourself, your interests/hobbies and your qualifications as you can. This will really help set you apart from other candidates. I hadn't had a lot of job experience before getting my current role, but the recruitment agency was impressed by the voluntary work I had done- so I'm really glad I added that to my profile!
My advice about working in my industry
Research! I think one of the things that helped me to get this role was that I did an immense amount of research just for the one hour interview. If you know the publishing sector that you are interviewing for (in my case, magazine publishing) and you can demonstrate that you know some facts and trends, it will help the interviewers to see that you are engaged with their sector and not just there to get a job. And if you are interviewing for print media sector, then be enthusiastic about it; digital editions certainly haven't beaten us yet!
What I do
My company is one of the UK's leading magazine distributors, based in Central London. Within the company, a circulation executive's role is to manage all aspects of an external publisher's account. For me, this is the publisher Panini - you may be familiar with the sticker books! On a day to day basis I liaise with a contact at Panini and provide them a number of services- whether they need sales forecasts and reports or for us to put together presentations for them to deliver to outside agents, we give them the insider knowledge on their brand from an outside perspective. We also manage the delivery of all of the magazines into wholesalers and retailers on our computer systems, book in-store promotions for the magazines, and help them to improve their retail listings.
Skills I use and how I developed them
Extracurricular skills:
Excel skills. There is no denying it, even if you have an English degree like me, you will improve your maths and excel skills in ways you never knew you could! I've also improved my presentation and oral communication skills tenfold by presenting to the MD of Panini and the Publishing services director (scary stuff). I've also had to collaborate a lot with my team which is something I've really enjoyed. Recently we had to put together a massive presentation and we all contributed several slides to the final product, which made it a real group achievement at the end.
What I like most
It feels cheeky to say it, but the perks! I recently got to attend a 2015 Showcase by The Disney Company, where they presented the new products and TV shows and movies they would be releasing and/or promoting heavily next year. As I work closely with Panini it was important for us to be there to see what Disney events we could capitalise on when promoting Panini magazines, since they run a number of Disney titles. I also like the team I work with a lot - Team Panini. It's really great to collaborate with such a friendly, professional and creative team of people. plus our office building is amazingly beautiful!
What I like least
If I had to pick something (it's really a great job) I would say the days when we have a big meeting to prepare for, so we are up to our eyeballs in excel spreadsheets, reports and forecasts. But mostly I love it.
Next steps...
If you like the look of Kiera’s profile, the next steps are down to you! You can send Kiera a message to find out more about their career journey. If you feel you would benefit from more in-depth conversations, ask Kiera to be your mentor.