My first two months in local government communications
The buzz of joining a communications team as a graduate
Two months ago, I stepped into the world of local government and joined the communications team for my first placement on the National Graduate Development Programme at Bedford Borough Council.
I’ve always had an interest in working for my local community and completed a degree in politics at university. This programme provides me with the opportunity to gain experience in different areas of the council over two years, and kick start my career in local government.
Starting the programme, I had no previous experience working in communications, so it’s been a steep, but very enjoyable, learning curve. Here’s what I’ve learnt in my first two months…
It’s fast-paced…
It didn’t take me long to realise just how varied the fantastic work carried out by the council is, due to the number of emails landing in my inbox from an array of different services. The communications team acts as the council’s storytellers and information providers, and we are sometimes the first point of contact for residents, especially on social media.
In a single day, our team could publish a press release about economic investment in Bedford Town Centre, launch a festive promotional video featuring Father Christmas and post important safety updates on Facebook about local flooding. It’s a very fast-paced environment, and I’ve had to learn quickly in order to keep up!
…and all about variety
As part of the NGDP, I work on a number of my own projects within my communications placement. These have given me great exposure to different styles of communications, and how to create content for a variety of audiences.
In a typical day, I’ll draft our museum’s newsletter, write text for the market’s website and research, plan and create content for Bedford Borough Council’s social media platforms. Filming and photographing out and about for social media is one of the things I enjoy most about working in communications, as it allows me to be creative.
Through these projects, I’m fast learning that you can’t always predict what the most popular social media content will be – our residents love to see photos of knitted post box toppers alongside information about council services!
Recently, I’ve filmed iconic landmarks around Bedford to celebrate Bedfordshire Day, our gritting vehicles and chief executive for different social media projects and information campaigns. It’s a great way to collaborate with other services and showcase our council’s great work. The diversity of my communications work has also given me an overview of a busy council and enabled me to build a variety of valuable relationships.
A new challenge every day
Every day presents a new challenge, as we represent the public corporate face and digital presence of our council. Amongst the proactive campaigns our communications team works on, we occasionally receive attention from high-profile figures on social media who require carefully considered responses.
These situations have provided an insight into a completely different side of communications work, where we react in real time to situations around us.
Before joining the NGDP at Bedford Borough Council, I had little knowledge about what life in local government communications may be like. I have learnt so much in the short time I have been part of the team and continue to learn new skills every day. It’s exciting to be part of an environment where no two days are the same and to work for my local community.
I didn’t realise that I would enjoy working in communications as much as I do! If you’re thinking about a career in comms, I really can’t recommend local government more highly. And for me this six-month placement has been a great start to life in local government.
Bedford Borough Council are currently recruiting for next year’s intake, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.
Sarah Combes is a National Management Trainee in Communications and Communities at Bedford Borough Council. A longer version of Sarah’s blog originally appeared on comms2point0.co.uk. Read the original post.
Main image by GordonBellPhotography on iStock.