Is PR for me? A deep dive with the Spark team – Part 1

I’m one of many Spark team members who moved to PR from a different industry. I used to work at a public affairs agency specialising in planning and development – but realised PR would give me more of an opportunity to get creative.

Don’t get me wrong, some of the Spark team have had PR in their blood from the outset. For instance, Marnie grew up poring over a scrapbook of press cuttings featuring her Mum, who had featured in a Mattel PR campaign after winning a Barbie lookalike contest.

But at Spark, we also have people who bring in skills and knowledge from other industries. If you’ve ever wondered if PR is for you, some of the team have highlighted how they’ve found the transition across to PR and what they have learned along the way.

Kelly

What were you doing before Spark? I was a broadcast journalist at the BBC working in TV and radio. I also worked as a journalist at a commercial radio station.

Why did you decide to work in PR? I chose PR was because I wanted to keep my toe in an exciting space where I would have the relevant skills to flourish. I also like the fact I can help journalists do their job, having been in their shoes once myself.

What skills have you carried over? So many! The key thing is the ability to get to the heart of a story and decide what the best angle is for our clients and for journalists. I also know how journalists think, and find it easy to be on their wavelength and build a rapport. In addition, the ability to work in high pressure situations and be collaborative with other team members. And of course being in journalism required creativity and the ability to write good content. Both of which I use day to day in my job within PR.

What do you enjoy about working in PR? I love the fact I can help journalists do their job, whilst telling our clients’ fantastic stories. Whether that’s research on the latest nation state attackers, the benefits of having a composable IT approach, or how digital transformation burnout is affecting developers, I find it fascinating.

Charlie

What were you doing before Spark? Before joining Spark, I worked at Business Insider as a tech reporter – first as an intern, then as a permanent staff reporter. The role was varied: one day I might write a piece on quantum computing, the next on an Elon Musk tweet, the next on a European biotech startup.

Why did you decide to work in PR? I was also drawn to PR for its slightly more structured day-to-say schedule. Journalism really is quite open-ended in that you constantly create and re-create your own daily workload. Although that was fun in some ways, I wanted a bit more balance and structure, which Spark offered me.

What skills have you carried over? Being able to write about a range of technical topics in a way that others find engaging, under significant time pressure – that’s the meat of both my current job, and my job at Business Insider. Interacting well with other people, managing an ever-changing workload, and devising new story ideas are also common to both jobs.

What do you enjoy about working in PR? I enjoy lots of things about working in PR. First and foremost, the variety and speed of day-to-day PR work is fantastic. It’s great to be in a job where time flies – we are certainly not sat watching the seconds tick by. The other main thing I enjoy is being able to write pitches, comments and bylines. It’s a fun challenge to write as engagingly as possible, while still making sure to meet client briefs.

Be sure to check out part two of this blog series, where more of my colleagues will be sharing how they got into PR.