ENTERTAINMENT CAREERS

For a list of websites containing job postings for careers in entertainment, go to http://cardinalcareers.stanford.edu/research/arts_entertainment.htm

COMMUNICATION CAREERS

Below are career overviews for jobs in Advertising, Public Relations and Marketing. For additional information and a list of web sites containing job postings for careers in communications, go to http://cardinalcareers.stanford.edu/research/communication.htm.

Not sure how to get started in your career search? Make an appointment with a Career Development Center Counselor. Call 725-1789.

Advertising

Most jobs in the advertising profession are found in the more than ten thousand advertising agencies that create and place advertising of every type in thousands of media sources. The remaining jobs are on the client side, either working with the agencies, or in an in-house advertising capacity.

Agencies handle the marketing process from even before the pitch until after the ad has been placed. Everything from coming up with a product concept to negotiating valuable placement of ads. Because of the broad nature of the business, there is a great deal of variety as well as requirements. Though much of what you will learn on the job is industry specific, general understanding of business and a basic ability to manage (projects as well as people) are essential.

In all agencies the jobs usually fall into five categories: account management, creative department, media, market research and support services. Entry level positions in the five areas are as follows:

•Account Management Assistant Account Executive

•Creative Department Junior Writer, Assistant Copywriter or Copy Trainee, Asst. •Art Director, Art Asst. or Web Designer

•Media Assistant Media Planner, Assistant Media Buyer

•Market Research Research Assistant, Research Trainee

•Support Services accounting, personnel, clerical and office services

Nature of Work & Lifestyle

The environment of a large advertising agency is extremely demanding, hectic, fast-paced, and competitive. Twelve-hour days are more the norm than the exception and weekend work is not uncommon. Advertising is hierarchical, so expect to do grunt work as an entry level anything, and to be the first volunteered to stay late. Once you have paid your dues, you can be an Account Executive or a Copywriter, or a Media Buyer. If you are on the creative side, you will be pressed for ideas on what is popular with particular target markets. Keeping in touch with the latest trends, fads, etc. is a must. If you are on the account side, your job is more to service the client - make sure their needs are met, provide research for potential pitches, perhaps study prior campaign launches, etc. On the media side, you will be contacting program directors for radio and TV, arranging for air time. For print campaigns, you'll negotiate placement in magazines, newspapers and websites.

Although many cities have active advertising communities, New York City is still the hub of the advertising industry. Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles also house advertising agencies.

Skills

To enjoy work in advertising, having LOTS of energy, patience and creativity is a tremendous plus. You have to love the manic, the highly fashionable, and the opinionated. There is variety in this line of work because each client is unique, and has to be serviced differently.

Skills to have include on-the-spot creativity, persistence, ability to follow orders well and quickly, and to ask as few unnecessary questions as possible. Web-based technical skills are also important. Advertising is competitive and artistic, and there are lots of people who would do your job for half your meager pay (while living with parents, of course), so it is important to do your job well. There are no excuses for a job poorly done because you can be easily replaced. So pay close attention to detail, follow through on all pending projects, negotiate with clients (usually about extending a deadline).

Education & Preparation

BA or BS, preferably in Communication, English, Journalism, Business, Economics, Advertising, or Graphic Art.

Internships: the only way to get ahead in advertising right from the beginning is to intern at advertising agencies in different capacities. If you can get a couple summers experience in, you will be much more desirable as an entry-level candidate than someone without that experience, since so much of the work done is on-the-job training. Having that exposure to procedure and lingo will definitely help you.

CDC Resources

•Advertising Career Directory, Morgan

•Adweek Agency Directory

•Career Opportunities in Advertising and Public Relations, Field

•Careers in Communications, Noronha

•Consumer Magazine Advertising Source, SRDS

•Making It In Advertising, Mogel

•Media/Entertainment Management: The Insider's Guide to Careers for Generation X, Siminoff

•US Directory of Entertainment Employers

•100 Jobs in Words, Macmillan

Public Relations

Public Relations is building, maintaining or promoting the reputation or image of a company, product, personality, organization or cause that will impact and influence public opinion, alter behavior, generate interest and support or enhance a favorable image or reputation. The Public Relations (PR) professional is responsible for creating and maintaining the image its client wishes to project. It is a serious profession where dedication, experience and education are essential. Today's PR professional must be a strategic planner and problem- solver with an ability to be creative, perceptive and persuasive. People in this field are above average communicators with strong interpersonal skills and an ability to build images. They are multi-taskers with emotional intelligence, who can impact change behind the scenes while maintaining a high degree of team spirit.

The main components to Public Relations (each not necessarily a part of all corporations, organizations or public relations firms), are:

•Media Relations - perhaps the most dominant function of public relations.

•Speechwriters - focus is primarily to write speeches for the CEO and other top executives.

•Issues Management - deals with matters affecting corporations in the present and potential future.

•Employee Communications - prepare quarterly and annual reports for the organization, and employee publications.

•Corporate Contributions - oversees the policy and contributions for the company.

•Community Relations - the key to the organization's involvement in the local and national community.

•Public Affairs - helps an organization understand and communicate with the government and its agencies.

Nature of Work & Lifestyle

It does not matter if you are interested in working at a large or small public relations firm or in the public relations department of a large corporation; the work environment is fast-paced, demanding, and very competitive. Those interested in the field should be mature, creative, resistant to stress, highly motivated and flexible, yet decisive and able to take risks. It is a myth that public relations is glamorous and that PR professionals "do lunch" and "shmooze" all day. Exciting yes, but glamorous it is not. They must attend client meetings that can begin at 7 am or as late as 7 pm, or make major revisions of articles or speeches with a short turn-around-time. In some cases, PR professionals are required to travel out of town several days a month. They must always be prepared to meet with top executives at unscheduled times.

Skills

Successful PR professionals possess several of the following skills and abilities:

•Outstanding planning & organizational skills to plan programs, recommend activities or events. This involves analyzing problems, creating opportunities, defining goals and extreme flexibility.

•Research and evaluation abilities that include gathering information and fact finding. This is done through interviewing, surveys, and working with firms specializing in and conducting opinion research.

•Clear writing style is a must for preparing reports, news releases, film scripts, articles, executive speeches, product information and employee publications.

•Knowledge of how the media works to disseminate material to media sources. This means getting to the right editor/producer with the right publication/program and at the right time.

•Interpersonal and oral communication abilities. This includes addressing individuals and groups and representing the corporation at community and business functions.

•Knowledge of the techniques of art, layout, typography, photography and desktop publishing.

Education & Preparation

It is recommended that the PR professional have a BA or BS degree in PR/Communications, Marketing, Advertising, Economics, English Literature or Journalism. However, there are increasing number of PR professionals with Master's degrees in Communications and Business Administration. Familiarity with word processing, data base applications and the Internet are important due to high-tech, hot growth industries, and the high demand for services. Internships in the field are highly recommended.

CDC Resources

•Career Opportunities in Advertising and Public Relations, Shelly Field

•Careers in Communications, Shonan Noronha

•How to Survive and Prosper as an Artist, Caroll Michels

•Making It In Public Relations, Leonard Mogel

•Public Relations Career Directory, Ronald W. Fry

Marketing

According to the American Marketing Association (AMA), marketing is "the process of planning and executing the conception, pricing, promotion, and distribution of ideas, goods, and services to create exchanges that satisfy individual and organizational goals."

The field of marketing can be broken down into the areas of product development, product marketing, brand management, marketing research, internet marketing, product support, strategic planning, advertising, public relations, promotions, corporate communication, physical distribution, sales, and retailing. The consumer goods, high-tech, and manufacturing industries hire marketing staff to serve in many of these functional areas.

Consumer Products Marketing: This department is involved with planning, introducing, and managing one or more products throughout the product's existence. Individual jobs include product planners, product marketing specialists, product planning managers, and product marketing engineers.

Product Development: Typically this takes place at the corporate level, where strategic planners and upper-level management assess marketplace trends and business goals. Their decisions are based on customer requirements; designers' and service originators' requirements; research and development needs; sales staff requests.

Marketing Research: Marketing research analysts study market trends and analyze data to help marketing managers make decisions about new and existing products and services. Market researchers may work for the marketing research department of a company, a marketing research firm or as an independent consultant.

Marketing Communications (marcom): According to the AMA, the marketing communications staff "inform, persuade, and remind various audiences about an organization's products or services." Advertising may be conducted through brochures, direct mail, trade journals, professional publications, magazines, and the internet. Sales promotion can take place at trade shows and exhibits.

Internet Marketing: Internet marketing topics include advertising on the World Wide Web, Web business models, Web marketing planning, legal aspects of electronic marketing, and electronic commerce and security.

Nature of Work & Lifestyle

Marketing work is done in teams, with the exception of market researchers who sometimes work alone analyzing data. Marketing communicators are required to interview staff members and customers in order to promote a product. In most marketing positions, individuals must work their way up in the organization by starting in an entry-level capacity as a marketing assistant.

Marketing staff typically have regular work hours, although depending on the industry, it is not unusual to work late on reports and meet with other team members. Marketing staff can be called on to travel as part of their job. People in marketing spend much of the day contacting and meeting others; therefore, those who enjoy meeting new people of diverse backgrounds should find the work stimulating.

Skills

Consumer products marketers use communication, interpersonal, and sales skills; and must demonstrate interest in competition, creativity, enthusiasm, strength of conviction, empathy, and assertiveness. Product developers use creative, research, conceptual, and design skills; and must demonstrate interest in future trends, thinking globally, and be a team player. Product marketers use management, leadership, creative, forecasting, planning, and communication skills; and must demonstrate interest in future trends and promotions, be product-oriented and able to deal with ambiguity.

Marketing researchers use research, analytic, writing, communication, and quantitative skills; and must demonstrate interest in conducting surveys and interviews, gathering data, using statistical applications, compiling summaries, being a team player, working independently, and presenting results in a concise manner. Marketing communicators use communication, writing, editing, design, organizational, and interpersonal skills; and must demonstrate interest in future trends, being a team player, promoting ideas, and dealing with ambiguity.

Education & Preparation

Individuals with BA or BS degrees work as marketing assistants, sales management trainees, marketing specialists, marketing coordinator, etc. Companies often are seeking applicants for marketing positions who have a combination of interpersonal and analytical skills. A liberal arts major balanced with some quantitative coursework (especially computer-related) is often valued by employers.

For marketing research-type positions, students may find coursework in psychology and statistics helpful. Engineering students may be interested in marketing positions with high-tech engineering firms. The position often chosen is within the area of product or technical support, which provides the individual with an opportunity to interface with other engineers, sales staff, and the customer. Industrial engineers who have an interest in marketing typically begin in manufacturing operations positions before moving into marketing. This enables them to learn about the company and company's product in depth before attempting to market to customers.

An MBA and/or at least five years experience is often required to move into some areas of product management. Some recent graduates are eligible for positions similar to these if their work history and/or academic projects include an internship(s) in which they have displayed the skills necessary to manage the marketing of a product.

CDC Resources

•Adweek's Directory of Interactive Marketing

•Careers in Marketing, Rosenthal & Powell

•Vault Reports: Industry Guide, Marketing & Brand Management

•Check the CDC's Career Resource Library for additional publications