PR Week cover the new members of the Creative Access Steering Group initiative, which aims to prepare rising PR pros for leadership roles in comms and other creative industries. You can read their story here.

The next stop on many Creative Access community members’ career journey last week was Coronation Street, as we hosted our creative industries showcase event at ITV Studios in Salford, just above the television set experience! 

We partnered up with ITV Academy to tap into Greater Manchester’s thriving creative community and heard from a panel of professionals living and working in the area spanning TV, marketing, social, creative communications and publishing. The panellists shared insight into their career journeys as well as advice on how to find your own creative industry pathway and move up the career ladder. Luckily for you, we’ve collated some of the highlights here in case you missed out… 

Panellists: 

• Yasmin Hemmings (Chair), Acting Head of Programmes, Creative Access 
• Abdul Tahir, Support engineer, Coronation Street, ITV 
• Malyun Mohamud, Marketing officer, University of Salford (CA alumni) 
• Tierney Witty, Editor, Seven Dials & Trapeze, (CA alumni) 
• Tom Moss, Senior account manager, Citypress 
• Jahmal Williams-Thomas, Reporter & camera operator, ITV News Granada Reports 

The room was full of individuals looking to step into a career in the creative industries, and the appetite for hearing just how these panellists made it happen was high. The team at Creative Access know that the first jump into sectors such as publishing, journalism and TV can be daunting, and creatives based in the North as these are historically London-centric indsutries. But, we know that creative opportunities are opening up around the country and we heard an inspiring range of ways you can make it happen.  

 How our panel got their career breaks 

“I spoke to absolutely everyone…If I walked past someone in the hallway, I asked “What is it you do?”” – Jahmal 

Our publishing representative was editor Tierney, a former Creative Access intern and mentee. Tierney had been training to become a teacher in the pandemic, but his passion was in books. After over 150 job rejection letters,   Tierney came across the CA x Penguin Random House mentoring scheme and was connected with a publishing mentor: “I went from having nothing to having a job in six months.” His mentor helped with applications, networking, and he progressed from intern to editor in just three years.  

Tierney wasn’t the only panellist that had other careers in sight, with Tom, senior account manager in PR, having spent years as a competitive swimmer for Great Britain. Tom, a history and politics graduate at University of Manchester, wanted a career that was rooted in his love of writing, reading and storytelling. After lots of rejections and a job as a bookkeeper, he eventually rose up the PR ranks at Manchester-based Citypress, working on campaigns with Coca-Cola, British Gas and Primark. 

Marketing officer, Malyun, had dreamed of a creative career “for as long as I can remember”, but the dream of journalism quickly unfolded when she didn’t enjoy completing a diploma in the sector.  The skills Malyun acquired studying journalism transferred well into communications. She now loves her career in marketing and comms, which started with a CA internship as marketing trainee.  

Camera operator and reporter, Jahmal, told the audience: “It used to be a totally different landscape to how you get in the industry, it’s much better now with mentoring and other opportunities. I started working when I was 15, in a community group I honed craft in video, then got into the BBC and I spoke to absolutely everyone…If I walked past someone in the hallway, I asked “What is it you do?””  

Coronation Street’s support engineer, Abdul, studied media technology at University of Salford. There were pathways from that course into audio, camera work, directing, and after experiencing a variety of roles in Leeds and within the sports industry, he eventually found a role at ITV. Abdul advised “marketing yourself on LinkedIn – even things you’ve learned that you haven’t necessarily experienced yet. Connect with professionals and send them a message introducing yourself.” 

How to creative opportunities in the North-East 

“This wasn’t the plan, it wasn’t my dream…there aren’t many people from Merseyside that I know in this industry.” – Tierney 

A hot topic of the night were the opportunities, or historically lack of, outside of London. The panellists all have experience in building successful careers in Greater Manchester, and noted that the industry is diversifying, so to pay attention to companies with offices based in the North or which are expanding. The panellists also emphasised how important virtual networking is. For publishing enthusiasts, Tierney said: “Publishing is on Twitter, not LinkedIn. Every publishing house will have a Twitter so follow them and send a message.” 

Attendees were also advised to be pragmatic, and explore the possibility of breaking into an industry through alternative pathways to the most popular, so if you want to become an editor, look at roles in areas of that sector like design, sales or art. Jahmal advised an aspiring director in the audience to look at the many brilliant independent production companies in the North.  

Six brilliant career top tips for creative industry roles 

Straight from the professionals’ mouths: 

“Have your work ready at a moment’s notice, so that if one day you’re in a lift and you hear someone in a say, “I really need more crew on my production” you’ve got a business card, a website, a portfolio, ready and can say “Hi, here’s my information!”” 

“I will respond better to a DM saying ‘Alright mate? How’s it going’ than an email with loads of unnecessary words. You just need to be casual and say ‘Here’s what I do, I would love if you could look’. Be specific about what you’re asking of them and spell names correctly!” 

“Speak up. Ask to get involved in big projects. If you don’t see progression opportunities with your current company, look for one that does.” 

“Experience is the buzz word isn’t it. How can I get experience? Blogging, podcasting, anything that showcases your skillset…If I went to a gig, I’d review it. It shows passion.”  

“Be a sponge. Be ready to do everything and learn something from every person you interact with. You’ll build yourself up made from skills you’ve learnt from a million people around you.” 

“Imposter syndrome doesn’t just happen to people early in their careers, it happens to my colleagues that have been here 20 years. Look back at your career and what you’ve achieved. You’re here for a reason, so back yourself.” 

Finally, ITV Academy’s Sonny Hanley spoke to announce a very exciting ITV cohort of traineeships across Manchester and Leeds, that will be going live on the Creative Access website soon. Make sure you’re signed up with us to be the first to hear about it! 

The evening continued with lots of networking, LinkedIn connects and spring rolls. We want to say thank you so much to our panellists, our host at ITV Salford and everyone in our community that came. Until next time! 

Calling all PR pros – aspiring or seasoned – we’ve got some fresh careers advice for you from #CAAlumni and steering group member, Abs Gandhi. 

Abs started off as an intern at Freuds back in 2014 and he is now the PR manager – EMEA at tech company, Snowflake. If you want to know how you can leverage your agency position to go inhouse, the importance of relationship management and why those from under-represented communities should work on their personal brand, then read on… 

Snowflake used to be one of the clients that I represented when I was working at a PR agency. I helped launch Snowflake into the UK market in 2017, and it was my favourite account to work on. It really helped me to grow and flourish in my role. A role came up to lead the PR in EMEA and it was the perfect opportunity for me. I knew how great the company was, as well as the employees within the company. The client I was reporting into is now my boss, which really helped me fit into my role easily and lead the Snowflake PR engine in EMEA.  

Relationship-management. There are so many tools and skills that help you flourish in a role in PR, but without the ability to form good connections with fellow colleagues, senior leaders, and of course, media, you will really struggle to drive real impact in your role and for the business. If it wasn’t for my abilities to focus on relationships, I may never have secured my current role.  

PR is not just about what you do for the company or clients you represent – it’s how you conduct PR for yourself. If you’re bringing something to the table, whether that’s unique or otherwise impactful, you should really shout about this. I have often felt that people from ethnic or low socio-economic backgrounds always have more to do when progressing in their career, and it’s essential to take the time to focus on your own brand, as much as you do in your job. 

Being responsible for the growth of PR across EMEA is a project in itself, and one I’m most proud of. When I joined the company there were only three core markets. Now we have PR presence across 17 countries which shows massive growth, and one that I’m truly happy to have played a key role in.  

Diversity in each working day. I often get asked, what do you do in your day-to-day role, and it’s the most difficult question to answer because every day is a new day. And that’s what really separates PR from other industries. You have the ability to be creative, expressive, strategic, be at events (domestic or international) – all completely different experiences and which help you develop skills all-round.   

One thing that I tell anyone starting their PR career, and one that I think is essential in the creative industries, is to remain authentic and be true to yourself, without compromising too many of your core values.  

The other thing more specific to PR is to find your niche. There are a number of PRs out there, but to climb the ladder and make yourself known in your agency/company/amongst colleagues, you should hone in on something that you’re interested in (just as writing or another specific skill set), and one that makes an impact. For example, in agency life and still in my role now, developing strong and authentic relationships with media has really helped me in my career in creating trust and of course, landing the right stories. 

A great deal of managers I’ve had have really inspired me, and have become mentors and great friends at the same time. I’ve always looked up to them because they have enabled me to be authentic, support my career, and always been a great sounding board if I’m ever facing any difficulties. Having a good manager can really propel your career, and I’m grateful to have had such an amazing group of people manage me. 

Looking for a new role in PR, check out our opportunities board! 

Hi! I’m Adina and I work as an Account Assistant for London Communications Agency (LCA), having started in January. My family is originally from South Africa, however I was born and grew up in North London and ended up studying Media and Communications at the University of Sussex. Graduating in 2019, I was part of the first year hit by the major economic repercussions due to the pandemic. Finding a job proved to be a near impossible task….

After countless applications and soulless rejections (if I was lucky enough to receive a reply at all), I knew I had to go about my job search in a different way. At this stage, nearly all my friends were a part of the Universal Credit scheme, and almost half were now employed through Kickstart – it was time to hop on the band-wagon. Although slightly lengthy, the registration process for this scheme was smoother than expected, and in about a week I was matched with my coach at my local job centre.

Starting my job search afresh with a new sense of hope made this whole process so much easier! I also was pleasantly surprised to see such a large number of companies taking advantage of this scheme, and it then only took me a day or so to come across Creative Access. Although I am somewhat creative, a role in the arts industry wasn’t quite where I had imagined myself. Luckily, the advertised vacancies were not limited to only these, as this is where I spotted my role at LCA!

LCA is a full-service PR consultancy that delivers campaigns, consultations, and content to clients across the built environment sector. My main role within the company is providing practical and logistical support to my client account teams, which includes King’s Cross and a range of developers and architects. Along with daily monitoring and scoping the net for any coverage for our clients, I also research a variety of topics within the built environment when handling client requests and come up with creative ways to pitch my clients’ projects to the media.

Being LCA’s first and only Kickstarter, this was a new realm for all of us. Luckily, everyone on my team made it their main focus to ensure this has been entirely a learning process, allowing me to try all aspects of the business, even those my role wouldn’t usually cross!

On the topic of my team, I have to say this isn’t a normal office. Everybody here has been more than welcoming and supportive throughout my whole journey, but also approachable and just plain lovely (shout-out to my appraiser Phoebe)! It’s a pleasure to be here, and I can thankfully say the feeling seems mutual as I was offered a full-time position just two months in.

In my experience, the Kickstart scheme is literally the sole reason I am where I am today. I was lucky enough to join a thriving agency, but for many other companies, Kickstart helped them to stay afloat through an exceptionally difficult period. Similarly, for myself and so many other young people living through the pandemic, the re-opening of the job market meant we now had a chance to start/continue our careers.

Creative Access allowed my transition into LCA to be as smooth as possible. I have now attended two workshops since starting, giving myself and other Kickstarters key information to take into our roles and further in our careers. This also gave us a chance to connect with those in similar roles and hear about their personal experiences. Those on the Creative Access team have always been warm and welcoming as well as supportive whenever needed.

As my Kickstart journey soon draws to a close (and I became a permanent member of the LCA team!!!), my aim is to continue learning and growing here, soaking up everyone’s knowledge while progressing on my PR path.

The PR industry is notoriously competitive so it’s always useful to get advice from talented people in the sector who have managed to successfully launch their careers. In this guest blog piece, FleishmanHillard Fishburn’s Max Kalu talks about how he got into PR and offers some valuable advice to anyone wanting to do the same.

Growing up Public Relations, known to many as ‘PR’, was an industry I had heard of, but never considered. In truth, it just never occurred to me to look into it, in typical Nigerian fashion my parents were intent on me being a “banker, doctor or lawyer” and that was about it.

I accidentally discovered PR whilst I was studying Politics at Swansea University. In my third year, a friend and I decided to act on our massive interest in fitness and launched ‘Mr University’, the UK’s first student bodybuilding competition.

We ran the competition for a successful year, securing sponsorship from Microsoft and coverage in various outlets including the Huffington Post and BBC Three.

I naturally fell into a PR role; my essay writing skills were used to write press releases, and my eye for detail and critical thinking were needed to navigate the various reputational issues namely unfounded claims of steroid use and sexism, we were levelled with.

Mr University offered me clarity on the direction I wished to take post-university, and following graduation I joined FleishmanHillard Fishburn as a Graduate Trainee in the Corporate Communications team.

Having spent just over 7 months at FHF, I can say no day is the same. At one moment I may be on a conference call with a client across the world, the next having lunch with a journalist from a global newspaper.

If you’re contemplating a career in PR, the first thing I advise is a frank and honest self-assessment of your personality type and attributes.

Practically, there are a number of ways to get into the industry. University level education is expected with subjects varying across industry specialisms. For example, many of my colleagues in the Corporate team have arts and humanities backgrounds, but many of my colleagues in the Healthcare team studied science subjects.

Prior experience is also a must. My path was unconventional, but I’m a big believer in the worth of real-life experience. Nothing demonstrates natural aptitude better than taking your own initiative. This can be a pretty simple – outreach to local media outlets for an event at your university for example.

Internships remain the most common way for students to build their CV’s and can provide valuable insight into agency life. Familiarise yourself with agency profiles on PR Week, and shoot off introductory emails along with your CV.

The main concern of any PR firm is managing client reputations and generating publicity. In order to continue achieving this in our rapidly evolving and increasingly global society, the PR industry needs more people like you and I – people that bring diverse and different views to the table. I haven’t looked back since entering the world of PR, and I don’t think you will either.