Amber B.
About me
| Amber B. | |
| Politics | |
| Politics | |
| Undergraduate | |
| James | |
| 2010 | |
| United Kingdom |
My employment
| Communications Executive | |
| Network Rail | |
| United Kingdom | |
| Advertising, marketing and PR | |
| 2013 |
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A day in the life of a Communications Executive in the United Kingdom
My career history
Local Dialogue - Leeds - PR/Stakeholder Communications
May 2011 - July 2012
I worked firstly as an intern and then as an Account Executive for Local Dialogue. Specialising in planning PR and stakeholder communication, I worked to help clients obtain planning permission. Clients included corporate giants such as Sainsbury's, National Grid and Westfield as well as local companies like Oakgate Ltd who are builing a new multi use complex at Monks Cross in York.
Sheffield City Council - Sheffield - Political Assistant
July 2012 - May 2013
I covered a maternity contract at Sheffield City Council as a political assistant/group support officer for the ruling Labour group. My role was mainly communications based including media relations and internal communications.
Network Rail - York - Communications Executive
May 2013 - Present
I currently work as a communications executive for Network Rail, based in York. My role involves a mix of media relations, internal communications and stakeholder communications. I'm relatively new to the role but Network Rail is continually evolving so it's extremely interesting.
Where I hope to be in 5 years
I'm ambitious and hope to work my way up the ladder.
My advice to students considering work
Getting a job isn't as easy as it used to be. I think students need to think really hard about what you want to do and what skills you will need to get you there. Then go and work on them. I would recommend joining the JCRC, I had a blast and I'm still friends with people who were on it with me. Get involved, take opportunies that come your way and reflect on what you've learnt. A good degree just isn't enough anymore - the competition is fierce so be prepared!!
Get experience - be it an internship, joining a society, volunteering... anything that will stand out and get you noticed.
Get involved, be willing to get your hands dirty and it helps if you can make a good cuppa!
My advice about working in my industry
Get experience - be it an internship, joining a society, volunteering... anything that will stand out and get you noticed.
Get involved, be willing to get your hands dirty and it helps if you can make a good cuppa!
What I do
Along with my boss, we manage the communications for the London North East and East Midlands route. This means media relations, internal communications and some stakeholder communication. With regards to media relations we take all calls from journalists and provide comments/interviews/press releases relating to events, incidents in our area. We also manage internal communications such as staff newsletters etc.
Skills I use and how I developed them
I don't think my degree subject or level were relevant when getting my current job. After you've had one graduate job it doesn't really matter - only that you have one. I think the skills I developed while at university and improved through work were more influential in getting my current job. Experience beats qualification after getting over the initial 'out of university' job hurdle.
Degree skills:
The ability to write to a good standard and to a range of audiences has been important. My degree thought me to analyse information and filter what is relevant to the task in hand. My seminars were often just a debating session which allowed me to feel comfortable expressing my opinion and debating issues which has been useful in my career so far.
Extracurricular skills:
I think the skills I developed from my studies helped me get where I am today. Having spent a lot of time doing extra curricular activies to the detriment of my degree classification this was a risky move, which luckily for me paid off. I was vice chair and then chair of James JCRC which looking back took over my life. I was also a Board of Studies rep and careers officer of the Politics Society which I helped to set up. The main skills I learnt were communication, team work and leadership.
What I like most
I enjoy the variety, no two days are the same and the railway is always evolving which keeps it interesting.
What I like least
I don't like waiting for replies from people. Passing on information is often conditional on getting it from the right people in the first place...
What would I change? I wouldn't change anything. I've learnt a lot about myself through each of my jobs and it has led me here.
Next steps...
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