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Like many people working within internal communications, I never even knew the profession even existed until I saw the advert for my first internal comms job. My experience up until this point had been focused around customer experience since I was 16, working as a waiter and shop assistant at the weekends, then into the 5-star hotel industry as a Reception Supervisor part time as I was at University. My degree is Environmental Geography, nothing even remotely linked to communications and public relations, but I'll share later on how it has helped me.
I then took a role as cabin crew for a UK airline and during this time, I had the opportunity to take a secondment in the business within the Compliance department, giving me a greater insight into the wider business. My housemate at the time who was also crew and on secondment with the Corporate Communications team provided me with my first insight into the profession, listening to the activities and event she was getting involved with.
When I went back to flying, I felt as though I was missing out knowing about what was happening in the rest of the organisation and it felt like a massive knowledge gap existed between the remote worker community and the headquarters operation. I had been sending articles into the Corporate Comms team for the staff magazine to give the cabin crew community a little more spotlight. A few months later an Internal Comms Officer vacancy went live and since then, I've never looked back.
Bringing your skills into the profession
You don't need to have a journalism or communications degree or background to join the internal comms profession and looking back on my journey, there are a range of skills that have helped me.
What would I have liked to know
Never in my time at school and university did the words public relations ever arise in conversations. I think marketing might have done but internal communications certainly never did. I wouldn't say now that I wish I'd taken a different approach to my career as I look back on all the opportunities I've had with fond memories, but it would have been interesting to have explored internal comms as a career path.
I definitely would have liked someone earlier in my working career to have shared more about the profession. The close ties between internal comms and employee engagement is certainly something I think more people would be interested in sooner if they knew about the profession. I think careers teams tend to focus more on HR for those that have an interest in working with people, yet internal comms has the same professional development opportunities from one day courses, through to diplomas and onto studying at masters level.
Come and get involved
If you're reading this I hope that you are already exploring the fantastic world of internal communications and I'd encourage you to take the first step and get involved in the many online IC groups that exist, giving you the chance to network and learn. We're a friendly bunch and it wasn't that long ago I was sat trawling through the various IC websites trying to find out more and I wish I got more involved sooner.
I run Horizon Comms, a resource site designed to support those new to the IC profession and have an online Guild group that's open for anyone to join here. Come and say hello, meet others that are at the start of their IC journey and ask questions as it's the best way to discover more. You can also follow me on Twitter @HorizonCommsUK where I share a wide range of resources to help those #NewtoIC.
Dan Holden is a Chartered PR practitioner with a dedication to internal communications. He’s the founder of Horizon Comms and an active member of the CIPR subgroup, CIPR Inside and recent member of the IoIC FutureNet committee.
Having experienced in his early, professional career the frustrations of being new to the profession as a solo internal communication practitioner he set-up Horizon Comms. Through sharing helpful content, resources and signposting to other sources of information the site provides a central resource to help those #NewtoIC find their feet.
Thank you for the invitation to write this blog. Always happy to chat with anyone about my IC journey and offer advice.