5 skills needed for a job in corporate communications

I’ve answered dozens (Hundreds? Sometimes it feels like hundreds.) of questions from communications students or those wanting to get into the field about how, exactly, one goes about doing that. The short version: Skill. Timing. Luck.

All right, I know that’s not terribly helpful. Here’s a list of what I think really matters when you’re trying to get a job in corporate communications and why these things are important.

Make sure you ‘get it’

This, to me, is the most important thing. What is “getting it”? This is more than knowing the company’s slogan and being able to recite the latest annual report from memory. You have to know what the company is about. Not what they say they’re about, but what they’re actually about. What are the CEO’s unspoken priorities? What’s the culture?

What do they want the culture to be? What’s the one big thing you need to weave into all your waking thoughts about communications plans and materials? It might be safety, the bottom line, sales, being a top employer. Whatever it is, you need to be able to identify it and eat, sleep, and write it.

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