Communications professionals must be strong writers and storytellers and be able to communicate to various audiences through different media. This includes writing for media releases, publicity materials, brochures, advertisements, blog posts, social media, video scripts, speaking notes and media op-eds.
For a career in communications, it is recommended to have at minimum a college or undergraduate university degree in communications, journalism, or public relations. It is common for communications professionals to start in entry-level positions including communications coordinators. By gaining more experience and responsibilities, they can move on to roles with more responsibility such as communications specialist, public relations officer, press secretary, social media manager, and more senior roles including creative director, community engagement leader, or chief communication officer.
Professional communicators also need to think strategically, have strong interpersonal skills, and a willingness to stay on top of digital trends, especially around social media and video production.
There are many fields in communications, including journalism and media broadcasting, corporate communications, marketing and public relations, and politics. A communications degree offers the transferable skills that allows for specialization in one of many disciplines for a rewarding career.
The director of communications is responsible for developing a communications strategy to manage their organization’s public image. Their tasks can include managing the company’s brand guidelines, leading the design and content strategy for the company web site, developing the company’s e-newsletter and overseeing activities for public and media relations, crisis management, social media and corporate events. In many cases they also act as the key media spokesperson for the organization. Communications directors are also responsible for analyzing qualitative and quantitative data to build an organization’s target audiences. The resume below is an effective example of a mid-career communications professional highlighting their experience.
Starting your resume with a short, clear opening statement summarizing your experience and specializations is an effective way to encourage the recruiter or hiring manager to read on. You can also include specific accomplishments to support this statement.
Senior-level roles require ambition, leadership and initiative. This resume in particular highlights the job seeker’s rise through the ranks due to their demonstrated leadership and ability to develop big picture, top-level communications strategies.
Typically working under a Director, the Communications Manager is responsible for overseeing the daily activities of a company’s internal and external communications. Their duties include managing or preparing the production of materials for product launches, promotions and events, writing press releases, and creating campaign reports. In many cases they also supervise a team of junior employees to execute these activities. Communications managers should have excellent skills in writing, researching and presenting, be able to collaborate with others, and demonstrate strong leadership abilities.
In this resume template, each bullet point begins with a strong action verb that highlights the candidate’s managerial skills. Words such as “conducted”, “led”, “oversaw” helps show your pro-active nature and feature your achievements in a positive light.
Carefully read the job description for each role before you apply and tailor your accomplishments to reflect the top skills required for the role. As in this sample, you should also customize the skills at the bottom of the resume.
The communications specialist is responsible for coordinating the day-to-day activities of a
company’s communications. Although the specifics of the role can vary by organization, common tasks involve executing and monitoring public relations activities, updating the company’s web site, developing social media content, event planning, and developing and executing marketing and communications campaigns. Communications specialists will often collaborate with other departments. This resume shows a relatively early-career communications professional highlighting their experience.
Note how this candidate includes skills to include those that are specific to the communications field. When applying for a role, read the job description carefully and only include the skills that are relevant to the position.
For many recent graduates, getting that first professional job in their chosen field with little to no practical experience can seem like a daunting task. If you’re in that position, take heart. Recruiters for entry level roles look for important skills you probably already have. The ability to communicate, collaborate, analyze and a demonstrated interest in digital and social media are considered valuable assets when applying for that communications dream job.
If you lack professional experience, showcasing relevant work through volunteering and school projects demonstrates initiative, a positive attitude and willingness to learn new skills. These are traits that can look favorable to a recruiter or potential employer.
In this position, you are in charge of controlling and guiding the communication and messaging given out on behalf of an organization. This includes communication using various mediums like social media, magazines, traditional media, websites, etc. You need to have a strong understanding of the organization’s brand, and will then need to develop strategies for relaying information and communication in a way that serves the organization’s brand and goals. This role requires a background and understanding of communications, as well as creative and managerial skills. Look at this strong resume sample.
Show recruiters that your work stood out and earned you recognition in previous positions. It is an easy way to indicate your skill level and to present yourself as the best among your peers. Take a look at this applicant’s listed award. This applicant has 3 impressive awards.
Show recruiters that you have been successful in communications and marketing by showing promotions in your career. It will also show recruiters your dedication to your profession. This applicant started as a product marketing associate and moved their way up to a communications coordinator position.
Typically considered an entry-level role, the communications coordinator is responsible for administrative tasks such as collecting, organizing and distributing information for marketing campaigns, public relations activities and events. They may also develop content for marketing materials, social media and web sites. Many communications coordinators hold a bachelor's degree in marketing, communications, journalism or public relations. This resume sample effectively shows a candidate seeking an entry- to mid-career role.
This resume effectively uses transferable skills from an academic background in engineering to demonstrate their suitability for a role in communications. Creativity, problem-solving, attention to detail, thinking critically, and experience with technology are highly valuable and well-suited to both fields. When reviewing a job posting, think of how your skills from other types of roles could transfer to the one you’re applying for.
A press secretary typically represents a government agency to the media to enhance their public image. They have a very important job – as the voice of the agency, they must be stellar communicators and presenters. They typically develop relationships with the media by responding to questions and issuing statements through live press conferences, briefings and news releases. In addition to an undergraduate degree in communications, journalism or public relations, press secretaries may also require a specialized background in politics, law, and government. This resume sample represents a relatively early-career press secretary.
Note how the accomplishments listed in the bullets are figures tied directly to success for this specific role and shows the positive impact the candidate made to their organization. The use of action verbs such as “created”, “collaborated” and “documented” also adds credibility to these statements.
This resume sample shows impressive career growth within a relatively short time frame, which demonstrates ambition and initiative. They highlight increased responsibilities and accomplishments from intern to their current role as press secretary.
As you work your way through your public relations (PR) career, you may have ambitions to become a manager. This is a role with increasing responsibilities, including leading a team, strategy planning, responding to media inquiries, managing budgets, organizing press conferences and events and overseeing and monitoring media coverage.
In this resume, the job seeker highlights their ability to manage large-scale projects and campaigns (i.e. “Supervised 15 projects across 7 countries”, “Arranged and led an RW campaign”). This shows recruiters that you have the organizational and leadership skills which are critical to senior communications roles.
Even though communications is a diverse field with many career options and skillsets, there are several core skills that are required for success in almost any communications role.
It is important to research the role and include the skills that are relevant to the specific position you are applying to. This ensures your resume is well targeted, and gets past the screening stage.
To help you get started, here are some hard skills from communications job postings. You should aim to only include keywords that are relevant to the role. You can also add these to a Skills section on your resume. If you do this, remember to tailor your resume’s skills section to the specific job you apply to.
This word cloud highlights the important keywords that appear on Communications job descriptions and resumes. The bigger the word, the more frequently it appears on job postings, and the more 'important' it is.
Each of your achievements and bullet points on your communications resume (in your work experience section) should start with an action verb. The action verbs here are examples of strong verbs you can use when writing your communications resume.
Notice how these particular action verbs are related to improving processes, undertaking new initiatives and growing business objectives. Don’t repeat action verbs more than twice on your resume - use different verbs to highlight different experiences.
For a full list of effective resume action verbs, visit Resume Action Verbs.
