Author: Change Isn't Hard - A practical playbook for people-centred change communication | Speaker | Facilitator | Consultant (all things change, internal, and crisis comms) | International Award Winner
A quick skim through any job ads for communications roles and you'll undoubtedly see: 'High-level written and verbal communication skills.' To which I say... Duh. In fact, most of the skills listed in these ads are just tactical skills that can be taught. They don't reflect the *real* skills strategic communicators need that can't be taught, they can only be developed with the help of great mentors and experience, and a learning mindset. For example: - Business acumen (I cannot stress enough how important this is if you want to be taken seriously as a strategic advisor) - Relationship building - The ability to adapt quickly, and often, sometimes multiple times a day! - Influencing and negotiating to get the outcomes you need - Making the complex simple (a skill that takes a lot of time to master) ... and more. So my call to hiring managers and recruiters is this - think about the strategic skills that will add value to your team, not just the tactical stuff, if you really want that role to make a difference. Have I missed anything from this list? Let me know! [Image description: A list of the skills people think we need as comms professionals, vs what we actually need. The 'think we need' list includes tactical, low-level skills like creating campaigns and managing channels. The 'actually need' includes interpersonal and strategic skills, like business acumen and relationship building.] #jobs #communications #career
Super interesting that the job ads are mentioning tactical skills more than strategic. It says a lot about the expectations to our profession - also by ourselves.
Awareness of how culture, linguistic background, gender, neurotype, learning style, and other filters impact how a message is received; awareness that the same message might need to be communicated several different ways to reach as many audience segments as needed. Not sure how to condense that into a few words… brevity is not my strong suit.
Great list Mel. Thanks for sharing. I’d add curiosity and intuition to the list of essential and underrated skills in comms. It’s the powerful soft skills that set the good from the great practitioners apart.
100% agree Mel. Our ability to connect the dots especially is often so overlooked. As comms pros we’re often in a unique position to do that across an organisation.
Couldn’t agree more! I’ve only been working in comms for a year and have witnessed that the section in red gets more wins and happy clients.
The reality for comms professionals on the job market is that the interview process involves educating the hiring team about the fact that these roles should be, as you describe, based on strategy first, tactics second. What I hear from job seekers is that many hiring teams say, "No, we don't want you to think. We just want you to do." That means the doers, not the strategists are getting hired, thus reinforcing the idea that comms is a purely tactical function. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy that can only be broken by strategic comms pros partnering directly with hiring managers.
Being able to write anything - I used to be a copywriter and speechwriter - makes my job a great deal easier. I am not sure it is a skill that can be taught (though basic writing can be improved) and AI will definitely help. I also think this skills question depends where you are in your comms career; and how your comms team is set up. If you have masses of agency support, you can "just" be a manager but I have always found it useful to have great tactical skills, particularly when budgets or time are tight.
Yes! The connecting the dots and thinking quickly on our feet skills are not really understood too. It would be great if interviewers did more deep diving on how skilled communication professionals bring this to the table, rather than "can you tell me about a time when you've managed a communication channel". It's a bit like asking a chef if they can describe a time when they've chopped an onion rather than exploring their overall approach in designing a balanced menu that's a hit with customers. At least the blue column doesn't include 'can sprinkle fairy dust on stuff to make a message fun'!
Yey. Nice one, I like the red box! Am just wondering… why have appended training in there? Quick learner and curiosity are key.
Communications Strategist | Project Manager | Cross-functional Collaborator | Storyteller | Cat Dad
1moThanks for putting this info out. As a communicator transitioning from the Army to a corporate career, I’m frustrated that a lot of the job ads I’ve seen are more focused on those tactical skills, which seem more appropriate for entry-level communication roles.