Career Field - Communications

Communications is a broad field comprised of subfields such as Advertising & Public Relations and Journalism, Publishing, Literary and Technical Writing. Advertising is king in the communications industries. The money that companies pump into the advertising industry has a trickle down effect throughout the field of communications. With the recent slump in the economy, advertising dollars took a real hit. Businesses are spending less money on advertising and that means that less money is filtering down to print publications, internet sites, public relations firms, marketing consultants, and so on. Numerous advertising, public relations, and print publications have merged or have closed their doors in the Bay Area. On the bright side, as the economy slowly begins to rebound the field of communications is also starting to recover. So while landing a job is difficult in this field, it's not impossible.

Internships are an important starting point for any career in communications. If you are looking to launch a career in journalism or publishing, employers want to know that you have honed your writing skills. While the papers you produce for your classes are a good starting point most employers prefer that you also develop your non-academic writing style. Opportunities abound in and around campus to develop your publishing and journalism skills. Some examples include:

• editing the Mass Comm newsletter
• reporting for the Daily Cal
• writing copy for KALX
• fact checking for a local magazine
• publishing a campus publication such as the Blue & Gold Yearbook, Berkeley Poetry Review or Berkeley Undergraduate Journal

Obtaining an internship in advertising, public relations, or broadcasting requires a little legwork and a lot of tenacity. As odd as it sounds, many internships in these fields go unadvertised. That means you will need to generate a list of potential employers in the city where you would like to work and contact them directly about the opportunity to work as an intern.

The Career Center has several resources to help you assemble your list of potential employers including print publications such as the "Book of Lists." Also check out the Internships section of the Career Center website for more information. Be sure to subscribe to the CareerMail Communications mailing list in order to receive timely information about jobs, internships and employer events.

An internship in communications can help you gain valuable skills, explore possible career options and land a full-time job after graduation. To get an idea of how two Cal alumni converted their on-campus experiences into internships and ultimately careers in communications, read an article from the Career Center archives.

Writing, interpersonal communication, research, organizational and computer skills plus the ability to meet deadlines and be flexible are all essential for any job in communications. For people working in journalism and publishing add to this list editing, proofreading, and interviewing skills. People in public relations conduct a vast amount of work on the phone, which also takes a special skill.

Any major is accepted in the communications industry as long as you have refined your writing, editing, marketing, research and organizational skills. You can develop these skill sets in the classroom, through student publications or organizations, and via internships and part-time jobs. Some employers specifically look for English and/or Mass Communications majors, but this is not the norm. One advantage that declared Mass Communications majors have in this field is the ability to get credit through the major for communications related internships. Some employers will require that students receive course credit for internships which can be difficult to arrange depending on the major.

Communications is a field that values experience, and it doesn't matter whether that experience is gained in graduate school or on the job. Many people are able to advance successfully through the field without a graduate or professional degree. On the other hand, if you have no prior experience, a graduate program can give you additional time and resources to secure an internship and develop your skills. Find out more about this topic in the Career Center article, "J-School?"

Employers, who ask for writing samples, are interested in how well you can communicate your ideas, thoughts or arguments in writing. It's fine to use papers that you have written for class although they may need some fine tuning. Go back and reread the paper, make any corrections or editing that is necessary, and send in a fresh copy. Writing samples are generally 2-5 pages long (unless otherwise indicated) so sometimes it makes since to send only part of a paper that you have written such as an abstract, introduction or summary. Employers are looking to assess your writing style, how you organize and express your thoughts, spelling and grammar.

The subject is truly up to you, but here are a couple points to keep in mind. First, be sure that the topic is approachable by any reader. Sometimes writing samples from classes are on topics that the employer may have no familiarity with, but when you wrote the paper for class you knew your reader was already versed in the subject so some modifications may be needed. Second, if you are submitting more than one sample, select a variety of topics, lengths and formats. For example you might include a short story that you wrote for a creative writing class, an abstract of a paper you wrote on world economics, and an article you wrote for your student group's newsletter. Finally, only submit writing samples when employers ask for them.