So what's your background?
After leaving university, I got a place on a graduate training scheme with what was then the UK's number one public sector PR agency. This was fantastic training on how to engage with stakeholders, harness the power of the media and cope with the demands of a high-profile client. However, the buzz of ringing 100 journalists a day to sell-in the same story soon began to wear off and I wasn’t getting to write anywhere near as much as I'd hoped. I started looking to move to an in-house communications role, specifically in writing and with a charity.
How did you get this job, and did getting it fulfil a long-held ambition?
Through a combination of persistence, self-belief and luck. After spending four months filling out applications and hardly ever hearing anything back, I saw that Elizabeth Finn Care was advertising two roles in its marketing team: Marketing Assistant and Publications Officer. I applied for both, and was invited to interview for the Publications Officer position. It was exactly the kind of role I was looking for, so when I was offered the job I accepted straight away, while doing a small victory dance round my living room.
How long have you worked at your current organisation for?
A year and three months.
What was your first charity job? And your first communications role?
My mum is a comms manager for a large charity so I spent a lot of my childhood helping out at events. I did work experience in a regional fundraising office of Macmillan Cancer support while at university, and later temped in their northern office's Communications and Events team where I helped assist with their regional marketing campaign for World's Biggest Coffee Morning. In particular, I got to work with case studies and write up interviews which I absolutely loved.
What do you actually do on a daily basis?
Elizabeth Finn Care is a national charity that helps people living below the poverty line in the UK. It's my job to take the charity's work supporting these people and turn it into interesting and inspiring copy for publications. I'm responsible for writing, editing and managing production of all the charity's publications, including internal communications and some online work. More generally I provide editorial support wherever it's needed – so I regularly write awards entries for the charity and have produced the content for our most recent direct mail appeals. I'm also currently helping to draft new key messages as part of Elizabeth Finn Care’s Brand Guidelines.
On a day-to-day basis, I prepare copy for materials and campaigns (I've recently been working with the Digital Marketing Officer to supply content for Twitter and Facebook), work with designers and agencies to create new publications, manage reprints of our existing materials, work on our internal comms, provide guidance on key messaging and writing style, undertake small in-house design projects and chip in with any other marketing support as needed.
What's been your biggest achievement in this role so far?
The 2009/10 annual report. I was trusted to manage writing and producing the report, with supervision from the Head of Marketing, and was responsible for drafting all content and working with designers to choose a good concept. I wanted the report to have a strong theme and case-study presence throughout so that it would really show what the charity is all about. A lot of people don’t really think that poverty is an issue in today's UK. We know it is, so wanted to challenge this misconception. It’s been very well received and I'm proud to be able to say 'I wrote that!'
What are the most challenging parts of your role?
Elizabeth Finn Care is quite a complex set-up as it incorporates several activities: grant giving, support for other grant giving charities and Turn2us, a website and helpline service which helps people gain access to welfare benefits and charitable grants. We also act as landlord to Elizabeth Finn Homes Limited, which operates private care homes in England. It can be quite challenging to communicate how everything fits together in a simple and straightforward way. Having the new key messages will make this much simpler.
What do you enjoy most about your job?
I love writing for the people the charity helps. We send out a newsletter called Connect twice a year to everyone we give grants to. I write all the features, work with case studies who want to share their stories with other people receiving support and also do the design work in-house. For me personally, it’s nice to work on every aspect of a project, and Connect is one of publications which consistently gets very positive reviews. It's lovely to know that people read and enjoy something I've produced.
Anything you don't enjoy?
Receiving a vague brief which I have to try and interpret, or on occasions receiving no brief at all! Especially if I then put effort into writing a lengthy document and find out later that the focus of a project has changed.
What kind of personality is best suited to working in a job like yours?
Someone who is creative and adaptable, as you need to be able to produce materials for lots of different audiences and make sure they resonate. But it also helps to be logical, thorough and diplomatic. Producing publications requires good project management skills and the ability to work with lots of different people, internally and externally.
Any top tips for people wanting to follow in your footsteps?
Apply to jobs even if you don't think you have enough direct experience for them. I knew I could work as a writer; it would just take someone to give me a chance to prove it. Also, try and get involved with writing and design work if you can. At my PR agency, I joined the internal communications committee and helped produce the weekly agency newsletter, which was great experience.