Status Safety and Enhancement
On a typical day, Purdy will discover herself fielding requests from the media, teaching her staff, and providing steerage to those that converse on SAIT’s behalf. She additionally crafts statements together with her staff on varied matters of curiosity. “I’ve been quoted in a variety of locations which have made my dad and mom proud,” she jokes.
Purdy says that her staff’s mandate is to guard and improve SAIT’s fame. It’s a phrase she repeated a number of occasions, an indication that her expertise has resulted in sharp focus.
Communications Not for the Faint of Coronary heart
A part of Purdy’s job is to watch social media exercise associated to the college. This ranges from the pretty routine, comparable to college students discussing programs and instructors, to extra urgent points such because the pandemic, or Calgary’s current water use restrictions within the wake of a broken pipeline. Distinguished politicians will typically go to the campus to make bulletins, which may additionally trigger debate on-line.
Whereas participating in this sort of exercise shouldn’t be for the weak, Purdy relishes the position.
“If there’s a problem happening, I wish to be within the trenches,” she says. “Different folks could discover on-line negativity to be damaging to their psychological well being, however I dwell for the position.”
Her toughness is a results of expertise. “I typically joke that I’m a little bit bit lifeless inside, as a result of I’ve seen numerous completely different situations unfold on-line,” she says.
Purdy’s profession path has put her on all sides of the PR spectrum.
“The primary group I labored for was beloved on-line, whereas the second was usually criticized,” she says. “SAIT is the proper combine for me.”
Fingers-on Expertise Worthwhile in Management
At 37, Purdy is sufficiently old to recollect the genesis of social media, however younger sufficient to be adjoining to the college’s core viewers. Her thesis, written at Mount Royal College through the early days of social media, focussed on the professionals and cons of organizations collaborating within the new phenomenon. At the moment that call is a no brainer.
“Once I started at SAIT, I needed our social media accounts to be seen by different post-secondary establishments,” she says. “Reels weren’t as outstanding then, so it was extra essential to be intelligent in your captions.”
Purdy discovered that she loved sharing her expertise with others, which made her a pure alternative for a management place. She credit her staff with serving to her keep present.
“The social staff is younger, which is nice,” she says. “I can present a basis based mostly on what I’ve realized alongside the way in which they usually can put a contemporary spin on it.”
Purdy believes {that a} key to her success is the hands-on expertise she’s collected within the trade.
“If I inform a member of the staff that there’s a bit of rubbish within the background of their picture and they should reshoot it, I understand how that feels, as a result of I’ve been there,” she says. “If I’m asking them to do one thing, there’s a lesson concerned.”
Recommendation for Aspiring Communications Professionals
Whereas creativity and wit are good traits for a particular person in communications or social media administration to own, they’re just the start.
“It’s essential to contemplate the affect of statements and the chance concerned,” Purdy says. “Social media posts aren’t a ‘set it and overlook it’ exercise. You must monitor the content material and see what’s resonating.”
One other essential step for these searching for a profession within the area is to do the homework. Purdy says that an annual report or strategic plan will supply precious details about a company’s priorities and tone. Social media is one other apparent alternative to achieve these understandings.
“Doing all of your analysis exhibits that you just care,” she says. “We’re all the time impressed by candidates which have sturdy data about current occasions at SAIT.”
Purdy explains that good storytelling expertise will be utilized to any trade and that an essential a part of the job is the flexibility to translate complicated phrases into on a regular basis language.
“Do you assume I do know all the things about drones?” she jokes. “Completely not, however I’ve a powerful basis of educated those who I can have interaction with and ask questions. I inform them to clarify issues to me like I used to be in grade one.”
Passing on Data
“SAIT may be very fast-paced,” says Purdy. “Something might come up at any given time.”
She clearly loves her job and enjoys being part of the switch of information and knowledge. “Those that are new to the trade ought to develop into sponges,” she says. “The perfect hires are those that have a foundational data of communications and are open to studying. It’s not the kind of setting the place you may take over on day one.”
Cited Sources
1 Direct communication with Jill Purdy