Applying for a PR job at Nexnet
Jobs at Nexnet are rarely advertised, so if you think you would like to work here the best thing to do is to write in speculatively. You never know, you might be just the person we are looking for.
We provide advice and professional support to our clients on all aspects of PR except two highly specialised areas - Parliamentary lobbying and City/investor relations. Within the agency different individuals have different strengths, so we always work as a team, sharing our knowledge and experience to the benefit of our clients, and to help progress our own professional development.
Everyone who works at Nexnet is on a continuous programme of professional development. It is a journey without end, as we all strive to become better at our jobs. Our most senior consultants provide mentoring to their colleagues wherever it is required. We have six-monthly appraisals and formal, personal-development plans, which are regularly updated. External training is organised and funded whenever it is appropriate.
However, at whatever level people join us, there are a couple of core essentials that we do expect from the start.The first is professional writing skills. You will need to have at least three years' intensive experience researching and writing news and feature copy every day for a living - either working as a journalist or in a busy in-house or agency PR job.
Media relations touches on much of our work, and our approach is to demonstrate a news-sense and writing ability that are at least as professional as the journalists and editors with whom we work. Our aim is always to produce copy that is right-first-time, and to publication standard. Mentoring for new recruits in this area is a given at Nexnet, so we can be sure that everyone is aiming for the same high standards.
Secondly, you will need to demonstrate that you understand the commercial aspects of being a consultant, and that you are genuinely interested in, and have a fair grasp of news, current affairs, business issues, and marketing principles. If these are things that leave you cold, then consultancy work isn't for you. If they excite you, then you might be a rarer breed than you think, and you should definitely consider Nexnet for your next career move.
We don't mind if you have never worked in an agency. If you have the core skills we are looking for, then we would expect you to be able to learn agency ways very quickly.
So, if you think you can meet our essential requirements, and it turns out we need someone new, then whatever your age, gender, race or creed, maybe it would be useful for us to talk to each other.
Learning the PR Craft
Being an effective PR consultant requires very wide-ranging knowledge, understanding and experience, together with communications and analytical skills, and some degree of cunning. In order to make sure that that is what our clients get, we have to take very seriously a commitment to continuous personal development and training. Everyone who works at Nexnet is in training.
Unfortunately, however, we don't have opportunities for students looking for work placements or for recent graduates looking for their first job in PR. The reason is that at the level we operate our clients expect to deal with, and have all their work done by experienced professionals. Regrettably a relatively small agency such as ours doesn't have the opportunities for anyone to learn the basics on the job.
It's tough for students, we know. Degrees in PR and media studies seem to be becoming increasingly popular, and the competition for jobs is fierce. So here at least is our career tip for any students who have set their hearts on working as a PR consultant.
When you have completed your full-time education - at whatever level - aim first to get a job where you can develop your news-sense and writing skills. You'll be amazed how much there is to learn when you have to do it intensively every day.
Maybe go for a job as a journalist, or in a large in-house PR department or large agency where there is a demand for high volumes of news and feature writing. Do that for three years or until you have a reputation as a good writer. Then weigh up the options, one of which might be writing to find out if there are any vacancies at Nexnet.
Ultimately you will probably be a much better PR consultant for having started that way.