Three Career Possibilities Than Can Be Explored With a Degree in Communications
A degree in communications equips you with the knowledge and skills for communication of information to audiences that may have diverse composition. Communications experts are widely used by companies as well as non-profits and academic institutions to maintain vibrant relationships with their customers and investors, with the basic intention of keeping everybody on the same page. In the complex world of modern business, perception is more important than reality, and communications experts are largely instrumental in crafting communication that will bring about a positive reaction to developments.
Communication experts are much in demand in roles that face inward as well as outward challenges; for example, the human resource department may use a communication expert to recruit and train staff, while the marketing department may use him for marketing messaging and public relations. Communications is usually studied at the undergraduate level as a component of journalism or media studies, but you can take it as your specialization at the postgraduate level. It is also possible that you study communications at the college level and progress further with a master’s degree in something even more specialized such as digital marketing. Some typical career options in communications:
Business
The success of any business depends a lot on whether its products and services fulfill a real need of its potential customers. However, since most customers do not even know what they need, and are not in a position to find what they need, all businesses require a marketing and sales function. However, within the marketing and sales function, there are invariably communications experts who are competent in understanding what the customer really wants and how the promotional messages should be structured so that it is best accepted.
Apart from an in-depth understanding of customer behavior, people in communications must understand customer psychology as well as have the requisite skills in written and oral communication that will assist them to formulate and structure the message keeping in mind the pros and cons of the media involved. Candidates typically must be outgoing and expressive, be good listeners, have excellent networking competencies, and have a very good knowledge of the business and operating environment. With an MA in communications Mumbai, you can expect career progression into managerial roles or that are linked with sales training.
Human Resource
An extremely important function in any business, human resource plays a critical role in the recruitment, training, and retention of personnel. The HR function is also very important in developing and upholding corporate ethics, motivation, and performance evaluation. A communications executive working within the HR department will generally be tasked with the responsibility of ensuring that the various HR policies, company regulations and guidelines are understood by the workers. He will also play an important role in staff recruitment, explaining the roles people are expected to play, and put together training manuals and modules in language that is as crisp and easy to assimilate as possible. Apart from being adept in communication skills, people in this role should have very good interpersonal skills and be able to build enduring relationships.
Advertising and Public Relations
One of the most common areas that people with communications degrees land up is advertising and public relations. Almost every entity, whether business, non-profit or academic, needs to regularly communicate to its target audiences about what it is doing, and how they can interact with it. The advertising function requires communications expertise at various levels; identification of the target audiences, choice of media vehicles, the language of the proposition, the frequency of the communication, and much more. It is only when a large number of these factors come together successfully that the result of any advertising is productive.
Similarly, public relations function involves molding of public opinion for or against something. Typically public relations exercises are conducted both at the corporate and the marketing levels; the first for reputation management and the second to form a favorable opinion about the products or goods being promoted. Typically, advertising and public relations go hand in hand; however, often public relations can be so insidious that it does not leave a perceptible trace. Candidates wishing to make a career in advertising and public relations have to necessarily be very creative, understand the psychology of all the stakeholders as well as the reactions of competitors to be successful.
Conclusion
Candidates who want to acquire a qualification in the domain of communications have extremely interesting and challenging career options. All typically require very good hold over language and the ability to understand the psychology of the target audience as well as excellent interpersonal skills. The work environment can be extremely challenging and stressful, but monetarily very fulfilling indeed.
