Welcome to Medha Pal who joins the NoTurningBack2020 Campaign as an Ambassador.

A warm welcome to @Medha Pal who joins the NoTurningBack2020 Campaign as an Ambassador. Medha is currently an AE @ccgroup  an international B2B tech PR and marketing consultancy. She started out working  in B2B tech sales following her degree in International Relations & Affairs and at Kings College London.

 

Here she talks about her ambitions for her future in the PR industry, her view on what more needs to be done to level the playing field  and why she chose to carve a career in  the sector.

 

• Tell us a bit about your career to date, your experience and your key skills.  

I’ve worked in PR now for almost 2 years for CC Group an international B2B tech PR
and marketing consultancy,and previously worked in B2B tech sales. Although my career span has been short so far, I’ve sharpened my writing, relationship building skills as well as providing solid counsel to clients.

• Why did you study International Relations at University? What was it that helped you decide on a career in communications?  

The main reason I studied IR at university was due to my global upbringing (lived in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UK) and feeling like an international citizen. I wanted to learn more about the world from a political angle and develop my understand of how things work in different places.

A lot of my classmates were dipping their toes in the comms industry, bringing further attention to myself that this could be a viable path for me.

• Tell us about some of the challenges you faced breaking into the sector. How could some of these barriers have been removed?

I wasn’t getting noticed by recruitment agencies whether that was because I didn’t study PR or have formal work experience in the industry, being ignored by a handful of recruiters became increasingly frustrating.

I think more recruitment agencies need to understand that a CV doesn’t have to be black and white stating you have X years at Y agency and to read between the lines.

• What most surprised you about the type of people that work in the PR sector.

You’d assume all PR folk are extroverts, but it’s been surprising to see a handful of introverts.

• Can you give an example of a project you have worked on since you have been at CC Group that has really used your core skills and enabled you to shine?

We did a report for a client of ours, Tribe Payments, called Fintech 2030. The report brought together 15 leading businesses from across the European fintech community with each market leader covering a different part of the fintech ecosystem.

I was able to leverage my relationship building skills which I sharpened at my former job to recruit several high-profile companies to participate in this report, as well as strict adherence to timelines and overall project management of overseeing all the different and moving parts of the report.

• What more do you think needs to be done to level the playing field for people from more diverse backgrounds in the communications and marketing sector.

 More awareness on comms and marketing careers for sure. There’s a huge emphasis on STEM focused jobs and traditional careers, but shining a light on alternative career paths needs to be highlighted more at schools and universities.

• What projects in diversity and inclusion are you currently working on? What success have these projects had so far and why?

An exciting project coming up is several of my colleagues are participating in Elizabeth Bananuka’s first Blueprinted event on ‘How to diversify comms’.

• What are your personal ambitions in the sector?

I’m keen to be an industry leader, whether that’s in B2B tech or dipping my toes into other fields e.g. gaming/policy comms.

• What is your one piece of advice to young people looking at a career in the creative sector

Don’t be afraid to take the leap in to the creative field, even if you don’t have any formal experience and don’t be discouraged if things don’t go your way immediately.