BlueSky Team Blog

Okay so a career in public relations might not be as glamorous as Samantha Jones in Sex and the City makes out, however I’ve come to learn that there is so much more to PR than planning parties. Below I have summarised the top three reasons I love my job as a PR person.

I studied English and Linguistics at Nottingham Trent University and my time at university is something I will never forget. Although cliché, I had an excellent time – growing both academically and personally throughout the three years. Although these subjects are certainly not a prerequisite for a career in PR, it does equip you with transferable skills which are key to being successful.

Hard-nosed, cut-throat consultants. Thick-skinned, full of false charm and selfish arrogance. Is that what you think of when you imagine a PR professional? Do you picture PR agency directors barking orders and waiting for hot coffee from shaking interns? I hope not because, personally, I think it’s rather cool to be kind in this industry. Perhaps it’s my Millennial attitudes surfacing. I’m all for doing good by people. I want to work for people who care about me and I want my colleagues – as well as my clients – to know I genuinely care about them. After all, I have only seen it produce positive results. If you know that you are valued and feel like you can make a difference to someone’s day, then you simply perform better. It’s about making that extra effort to pitch until there’s a ‘yes’, to research a country’s media until you understand it’s entire landscape, or to get up extra early to speak to someone in another time zone. Those are the actions of hardworking teams who want to achieve excellent outcomes – and it can be nurtured by kindness. By listening to everyone’s ideas, by creating a space where you don’t feel as though your job is on the line because the traffic was bad and you were five minutes late. Despite our sector’s somewhat harsh reputation, kindness is a feeling that’s woven into our culture here at BlueSky Education.

The inevitable question people ask when you tell them you’re studying for a degree in English and Linguistics is: ‘So, are you going to be a teacher?’

As one of the 51.9 million following Donald Trump on Twitter, his April exchange with Kanye West left me baffled – and not just at the meaning of ‘We are both dragon energy’.

Pinning down the exact qualities that make someone a success in PR is a hard task. Some bloggers don’t bother to delve deeper than the obvious; organised, good communicator, able to multitask. But I’m not sure that goes very far in demonstrating why you would be a great PR, rather than just a good employee, or the PR skills you have to offer. Then there are those who are oddly specific, or even philosophical about the task, perhaps romanticising their own qualities or copying directly from their own CV when they recommend that you are able to synchronise swim and own at least one Blue Peter badge. So what makes this list any closer to the truth? Well, I have decided to focus not on what will make you a successful PR, but what a career in PR would be unsuccessful without.

You probably hadn’t heard the name Charlotte Proudman until this week. And if you still haven’t it’s a sure sign you don’t read the news – she’s been all over it following the apparent ‘sexist’ LinkedIn message she received from solicitor Alexander Carter-Silk. You may sense that I haven’t particularly warmed to her. So what are the facts and why has she got under my skin?

In 1930, economist John Maynard Keynes predicted that by now, we would only be working 15 hours per week. Though, Keynes never said what we would do with all that leisure time. He was an aristocrat, he would probably want us to write poetry, dance and play the violin. Keynes once said “My only regret in life is that I didn’t drink more champagne”.

There’s no perception you should be more aware of than your own. All it takes is Googling a name to get an insight into your character or about seven seconds on average in person before someone has summed up a judgement of your character. Having joined BlueSky PR this week it’s fair to say making a strong first impression has been something of a priority, as it would be for any new starter! These three tips are yet to fail me when in the pursuit of creating a positive perception: Awareness of Your Online Image Have you ever Googled yourself? If not then you should probably open a new tab and do that now, it really is that essential! It’s now a given that your potential employers may do some online research to find out aspects of your life that your CV may not discuss. This doesn’t have to be a negative thing, in fact there’s a great opportunity to use this to your advantage. For example my LinkedIn profile is currently being used and abused to showcase any past activities that may be of interest in a professional context. I have a First Class Bachelor of Arts Honours Degree, just over a year’s worth of experience in the communications field and also work with a charity supporting women in male-dominated industries. These are aspects of my life I’ve made a point of being visible online to help shape a positive perception.

Which degree is best for a career in PR? There’s no definitive answer. The PR industry benefits from variety – BlueSky PR certainly does! Languages, humanities, social sciences. We’ve graduated from an array of subjects, and our diverse experiences have all helped us in our careers. Take BlueSky’s Natalie Bishop who graduated from the University of Sheffield in English and Philosophy. She says her degree taught her there are always alternative ways of phrasing something. This helps Natalie in PR today, like Steph King, Head of Recruitment Practice at BlueSky, who learnt how to express things clearly and concisely from her Bachelors in Politics from the University of Warwick. “I also learnt a fair amount about drinking,” she said, “something that many people think is a prerequisite of working in PR. Sadly the days of taking journalists for boozy lunches are a thing of the past… in most cases anyway!” Regardless of topic, prioritise communication skills Going from student seminars to working lunches, Bruce Callander, who graduated from Newcastle University in Sociology and Politics, said: “You need to be able to communicate effectively in PR, obviously. Most of my course was seminar based and having regular discussions and debates helped to develop my communication skills. “Generally, I think you need to like learning about things and taking on knowledge – though I’m not sure if that can be taught!” As well as Bruce and graduates from the likes of politics and philosophy, BlueSky counts journalism, law and business alumni in its ranks too. Ian Hawkings, Head of Education Practice at BlueSky, holds a degree in Business and Management with Finance. He says: “I learned about business from a variety of perspectives, but where it has helped me in PR is to be able to see the business case for PR – and how it fits into a company’s overall strategy. This is helpful when working with clients to identify how they could use PR and communications to hit their strategic targets.” What about a degree in Public Relations?

I’ve recently started watching Game of Thrones after months of being told how good it was, how much I’d like it and how much I was missing out on by not being a regular viewer. Well, everyone was right – it’s amazing. Any fans don’t need me to tell them that the combination of power struggles, violence and dragons is practically unmatched on TV. However, while developing an unhealthy fascination with the series, I’ve also noticed a few key lessons that all businesses could learn from. Build strong pipelines – Nobody liked Joffrey but at least he held King’s Landing together. He may have been utterly loathsome, evil, tyrannical and plain awful, but he did at least carry himself like royalty. However, his replacement Tommen is nothing like that and is, frankly, a poor excuse for a King. Can you really imagine him organising a defence against a siege or charging into battle? The Lannister family didn’t necessarily have a choice, but businesses do, and failing to build effective pipelines leads to poor leadership succession. We all know what happened to Apple and Disney after their leaders initially departed and the same thing could be happening to the house of Lannister, which is currently teetering on the brink. Surround yourself with good people – You may think you can run everything, but the truth is, to be successful you have to delegate and that means you have to trust those around you. Robb Stark (RIP) made that mistake and we all know what happened to him. Tywin thought he was surrounded by people he could rely on and ended up being slain on the toilet by his own son. And as a result of that, Cersei is now surrounded by a small council made up of in-laws and relics who can’t offer any valuable advice. If you want to be successful, you have to build a good team around you who can offer additional guidance and tell you when you’re heading down the wrong path.

Last week, the media was hit with articles professing to know the “10 toughest interview questions” of all time, rendering offices everywhere pensive, interviewers inspired, and jobseekers mildly nauseous. We all like to think we’d be ready for any interview, poised, brimming with knowledge and somewhere on the spectrum of a highly caffeinated cross between Legally Blonde and Rain Man. So how do potential employers catch us off guard? How best to respond to questions designed to catch you out? And, when the going gets tough, “WWBSD?” What would BlueSky do?

With it being Halloween it seemed to make sense to do this week’s blog on a relevant and often terrifying subject. That’s why I’ve asked the BlueSky team for their worst, scariest or weirdest interview or employment experiences: Tracey – “When I was in recruitment some of our interview rooms had sofas. One of my candidates was early so he was shown into the interview room to wait for me. When the allotted appointment time arrived I entered to find him fast asleep. I thought he had passed out but it turned out he just had the mother of all hangovers. He was actually a good candidate and later secured a role, but he wasn’t exactly firing on all cylinders that morning”. Vickie – “I once went to an interview where the interviewer discovered he hadn’t booked a meeting room and they were all full. As a result, we ended up having the meeting in the only room available – a storage cupboard! After 20 minutes perched on a box of paper in a very small windowless room, I felt highly embarrassed leaving the cupboard to many amused looks from the rest of the staff. I can only imagine what they thought!” Kerry – “Not long after I left university, I applied for a job online as a ‘copywriter’ at what was described as a new local publication in my home town. I was invited to interview, and attended on three separate occasions because the first two times I showed up the boss had forgotten he was meeting me. When I finally sat down with him in a dingy room of a rundown office block, he spent the first 15 minutes talking about himself and his wonderful hugely successful career. He then went on to tell me I’d actually be cold-calling for ad sales for a publication that was little more than a glorified monthly newsletter. I’d be paid per ad placement, but wouldn’t be paid for the first month whilst I learned how to use the phone… I made my excuses and left.” Steph M –

It’s been an interesting week for British women. Not only has the Church of England voted to allow women to become bishops for the first time in its history, David Cameron’s reshuffle has doubled the number of women in Cabinet to eight. This has seen an influx of articles that insist progress is forging new pathways like never before, yet others that argue change is still desperately needed and, in a way, they’re both right. Which isn’t surprising when you consider that gender equality is a topic that remains high on the news agenda – inextricably connected to issues of diversity and leadership – and that’s why the headlines this week were littered with “women bishops” and “women MPs”. Headlines like these simply won’t stop being front page news while female representation remains so low. Essentially, the issue here stems from the lack of women in leadership.

Last week my sister, who is still a student, walked into an interview room for a summer job – she was completely terrified. She rang me up to say she had got the role. It came as a surprise – I could hear it in her voice, as she said she could not answer some of the questions that had been posed. I guess we all have moments of self-doubt and perhaps the younger and less experienced we are the more we feel the stress of a job interview. But sometimes we’re good! And we should own it! Perhaps all job interviews are just as important but the real clincher is the first interview into your future career. The job you dream of doing and becoming exceptionally good at. You want to get that one right, leave an impression and make sure you get the call with an offer. I have read numerous blog posts claiming that the majority of first interviews are unsuccessful for various reasons. So I was also curious to find out how the first job interviews went for the amazing people I share an office with, and what advice they would give to someone attending their first interview. Tracey Barrett ‘’ My first job interview was for Bejam, the frozen food retailer (now Iceland), as a management trainee in 1983. The interviewer asked me to sell them the ashtray sitting on the desk (yes you could smoke in the office in those days). I threw it out of the window and said “You haven’t got an ashtray have you?” I got the job! ‘’ Ian Hawkings ‘’ My first proper job interview was for a well-known recruitment firm- they did a standard interview for about 30 mins and then took me onto the sales floor, gave me a bunch of CVs and made me cold-call candidates….while they watched and listened. It was terrifying. ’’ Kerry Gill ‘’ The most entertaining story I could tell you about would be from one of my first interviews after graduating. I’d applied for a position advertised as a “Content Writer” at a local newspaper. After submitting my CV, a cover letter and a few examples of my work, I was invited for an interview at the office. When I turned up, I realised the office was two rooms above a pub on the high street… not a very encouraging start! When I walked inside, the place was in complete disarray. The walls looked grubby, some of the ceiling tiles were missing, it didn’t smell great and there was stuff everywhere. The staff were all my age and paid me no attention at all when I arrived. When finally someone did notice me I introduced myself and said I was there for an interview. After a few blank looks the girl gave me a scrap of paper (ripped from another person’s CV) to write my mobile number on as the boss wasn’t there. She told me to come back later, not giving a specific time. ‘’ Foolishly, I did go back. I actually met the boss this time. He guided me into his office (a small room with bare walls, a disproportionately large desk, a chair and a small plastic coffee table strewn with books) sat down and proceeded to tell me that I was going to flog ad space over the phone for unheard of local newspapers all around the Midlands. Cold calling for minimum wage, with an unpaid trial period to “test my abilities”. Needless to say I turned down the job offer when it came two weeks later! '' Stephanie Mullins’ first real interview was similar to mine; we both interviewed for the company we work for now. We both have some good stories to tell but perhaps some other time. For all it’s worth, I would advise you to expect something different in your interview – I sure didn’t and it took me by surprise. When Adrian Barrett interviewed me, one of the questions was: ‘’what country had lost a war but came out of it wealthier than when it joined?’’ My reaction: straight face. My answer: ‘’In all honesty, warfare is not one of my strongest points.’’ (By this time I was wondering whether I was still being interviewed for a PR role). But I was able to mention some of the ongoing wars and I proved that I had some knowledge of the war related news stories. I understand the role of that question now.

Rush hour traffic, an overflowing inbox and the working week ahead. Yes, it’s Monday again. But did you know, you might hate Monday because of a PR stunt? ‘Blue Monday’ was a name given to a date in January to be the most depressing day of the year – and it was all part of a publicity campaign. It was included in a press release by the public relations agency appointed by Sky Travel. My colleague, Alex Dobocan, said: “Blue Monday came about as a PR stunt but it seems to have had success and made us all regard Mondays as… well, depressing. “Whilst we all dread endings and we could agree they are never all that pleasant, when it comes to ending a week we are more excited than anything! So why are we not treating Monday as any other start? - An exciting time to make things happen, to plan and to conquer.” Monday: the day we love to hate Taking this positive attitude, and inspired by a paragraph on Tumblr, I’d like to tell you a little more about these Mondays that we love to hate.

As a woman who took a relatively lengthy career break to care for my children, I was interested to learn about the launch of a new scheme by Credit Suisse in London to help senior professional women re-start their careers after taking time out of the workplace. Dubbed the “returnship”, the Real Returns programme is the first UK example of an idea which has been gathering pace in the US over the last few years. The scheme involves returners taking on CV-worthy projects that draw on their existing skills and experience and being paid accordingly. It’s effectively putting a toe back in the water of the corporate world, allowing women - who have perhaps lost confidence in their abilities - the opportunity to prove that they’ve still got what it takes to succeed and that it is actually possible to juggle corporate life and a family. 70% of women fear taking a career break This story really struck a chord with me personally, as believe me, when you’ve been out of the corporate world for a good few years, the prospect of going back is a daunting one indeed. Once you’ve jumped off the train, it’s very hard to jump back on. In fact, a recent survey from London Business School shows 70% of women fear taking a career break. Nagging doubts about whether you can still do your job, whether you’ll be up to speed with new technology and how you’ll combine a working day with the working day you usually put in as the primary carer are more than enough to put you off even looking for a role. Female brain drain I know of far too many professional women –experienced, bright, capable and very well-organised – who have never returned to work after having a family. Not only is this a great loss to the professional world and the wider economy, but it’s also a personal loss for these ladies. All of that brain power, time invested in studying - in most cases for a degree or professional qualification – not to mention years spent climbing the career ladder, potentially sidelined for a future of domestic drudgery or a low-paid job for which they are massively over-qualified!

I am not a career adviser and whilst I cannot tell you what to do, I can tell you what I did and how it worked. I am writing this blog for undergraduates from all backgrounds who might need an inspirational speech or some guidance. Here are three ways to get the most out of your university years and potentially the great job you want. Network. A lot I think I spoke with more people during my university years than I have spoken with in my entire life. For real. Being at university is a great opportunity to meet people (d’oh). But just think about it! Not only have you got your peers (who one day might be influential) but you also have the academic staff, non-academic staff, and external speakers at various events. Interact with as many people as you can without being judgemental – the son of one of the cleaners at my university gave me an internship. I met my best friend by making small chat at the cafeteria and I have this great job today because everyone knew I was looking for one. It’s great to have a network but you have to know how to use it too! So, if you are offering something or are looking for something, make sure everyone knows it! You’d be surprised how fast the word gets around. Be the best you can

A bit tongue in cheek this but those of you of a certain vintage will remember a song called Time After Time by Cindi Lauper. There was a great parody of this called I'm Billing Time which was aimed at the Legal Profession but it also resonated ( just a little bit) with me. Not with our lovely current clients I hasten to add but a few organisations who never became clients over the the years who haven't quite got what we do. So all together now - to the tune of Time After Time: Lying in my bed I hear the clock tick and think of you Caught up in your campaigns insomnia is nothing new Downstairs at midnight - its coffee time Read a briefcase of documents - I'm billing time Sometimes you call me up and beg me for free advice You're stealing from me and wondering why I'm not nice My mind, my time... are my merchandise Don't make me say this twice If you come to my office or call my phone - I'm billing time If you stop me at parties to whine or moan - I'm billing time

The unpaid intern debate is back in the news this week with announcements that HMRC will be probing the exploitation of interns in the PR industry. This comes on the back of reports that, of the 100 firms reported by Intern Aware, an incredible 10% were either PR agencies or companies advertising PR roles. Now forgive me for potentially going off on a rant here, but is it really necessary for PR – and indeed any industry – to use unpaid talent? In my view, if an individual at any level, and regardless of their background, is doing work for a company which it deems necessary, that person should receive payment for their services. Yes an intern will require a level of training and perhaps even more hand holding than someone with more experience would, but they can also prove invaluable for the business.