Communications and Media

“Nothing in life is more important than the ability to communicate effectively”. (Gerald Ford, US president 1974-1977)

People who work in this area have a greater chance to influence how we all think and act than most others! We all watch TV, including (or perhaps especially!) the adverts. We are targeted by marketing campaigns. We read books and newspapers. We very often take on board the attitudes they promote. We want to have the products they advertise.

We have split the jobs into 5 sectors:

• Advertising, public relations (PR) and media


• Journalism


• Marketing


• Printing


• Publishing.

Most jobs in advertising and PR in the UK are in or near London. They are both relatively small industries. Only about 3% of people working in Institute of Practitioners in Advertising agencies in the UK are based in Scotland, 76% work in London and 20% work elsewhere in England.

The digital media and creative industries in Scotland employ around 58,000 people in television, games, animation, film and publishing. A small number of companies are large multi-national organisations but most are small businesses, often employing workers on a freelance basis. These industries employ around 3% of the Scottish workforce.

Media Studies graduates go into a wide range of jobs, and usually find that it takes time, industry contacts and relevant work experience to get into media and related careers. Competition for jobs is fierce; networking is crucial in this sector.

Journalism is a fairly small profession, there are about 60,000 journalists in the UK. The three areas in the UK employing most journalists are London, the South East of England and Scotland.

Printing is the UK’s fifth largest industry with around 316,000 workers. Despite the growth of electronic media it continues to do well. Most companies are small businesses, usually specialising in a particular type of printing.

Publishing includes book, web content, magazine and newspaper production. It's a small but important industry. There are around 120 publishers in Scotland, employing around 1,500 people, excluding freelance workers. Edinburgh is the main centre for publishing in Scotland. Web-based publishing has become very important with an increasing demand for workers with multi-media skills.

You’ll need to be outgoing and confident to get some of the jobs in this career area. For almost all the jobs you need to be creative and able to work to deadlines, often under pressure. You need a lot of stamina for some jobs too.

You do usually need qualifications. Some people are lucky enough to manage without, but it is unusual.

There are courses in a lot of suitable subjects, including advertising, broadcasting, communication, journalism, media, printing and publishing. There is a wide range of qualifications too, from 1 year National Certificates (NC) or National Qualifications (NQ), through Higher National Certificates (HNC) and Higher National Diplomas (HND) to 4 year degrees and postgraduate courses.

Sources

Prospects (UK's official graduate careers) web site, job sectors Advertising, Marketing and Public Relations, and Publishing, Media and Performing Arts (http://www.prospects.ac.uk/)

Digital Media and Creative Industries: Key Facts and Figures (2010) Scottish Enterprise;
Digital Markets, Scottish Enterprise (http://www.scottish-enterprise.com/)

Scottish Sector Profile 2007: Creative and Cultural Sector - Futureskills Scotland (http://www.futureskillsscotland.org.uk/)

Scoping Project for Convergence Journalism: Final Report, April 2009 - Skillset