A university education encourages curiosity and teaches you to think critically. Communication Science also shows how the media landscape has developed and which patterns can be identified within it. The analytical thinking learned at university is extremely valuable. It is a good foundation for starting work, but where does an academic background add value, and how do you translate it into practice?
The basics: from theory to practical action
Communication Science provides extensive knowledge of the media landscape, media influence and the theories behind it. You examine cases through papers, dissertations and other assignments. Then, suddenly, a real client presents you with a real communications challenge.
Budgets and working hours enter the picture, and effective project and account management become essential. These practical basics are not necessarily taught at university. Who reviews whose work, and how do you safeguard quality for the client? You need to find the right working method, manage your time and understand the sequence of processes.
You can learn these skills fairly quickly by putting them into practice. Do not worry too much, but remember that solutions to real communications problems need to fit realistic practical boundaries.
Thinking: from analysis to strategy
A major benefit of university is learning to think analytically: examining your own work and others’ work critically and asking what conclusions are based on. Communication Science would be more complete, however, if translating analytical thinking into strategic thinking played a more prominent role in the curriculum.
Anyone can memorise theoretical models. What matters is applying them to the business or client you work for. What is the objective? Who are the audiences? What strategy supports that objective? Which channels and content fit?
And yes, Lasswell’s model of communication really can be applied. Consider a simple example: your objective is to build a valuable social media community around a brand. The strategy is to encourage the audience to talk with the brand. The channels must match that audience. You discover they use Snapchat rather than Facebook or Twitter. You then create content in a format they appreciate, using Snapchat’s features to encourage interaction and achieve the objective.
Analytical ability helps you break a problem into steps. Use that ability to think ahead and put the pieces in the right places: turn the analysis into a strategy by attaching an action to each step.
Deduction: from broad to specific
One of the first things you learn in those lengthy research-methods lectures is that science often uses deduction. Apply the same idea when exploring work after graduation: move from the general to the specific.
Try different things and discover your interests and strengths. You might be an excellent account manager, or your interests might lie in social media, crisis communication, SEO or online marketing. Our field is constantly changing, and working across disciplines is increasingly important.
Gratification: from expectations to achievement
Finally, manage your expectations. Some students imagine becoming Don Draper immediately after graduation, with a bottle of whisky beside their desk, or starting straight away as creative director at a fashionable advertising agency.
As Generation Y, we can feel entitled to professional success. We want enjoyable work, substantial responsibility, plenty of travel and a generous salary. Yet many first jobs involve saving press clippings, administration or providing customer service through online channels.
Do not underestimate that work. It offers an inside view of how a business operates. A bachelor’s or master’s degree does not mean you have already arrived: communications jobs are not simply there for the taking. Proving that you can become a “new media strategist” at an agency, as described on the University of Amsterdam website, takes time.
The opportunity to explore broadly, observe and learn from more experienced people is immensely valuable. It is an excellent starting point.
Kinyi
This blog also appeared as a guest column in Medium, the magazine for Communication Science programmes at the University of Amsterdam, published by student association Mercurius.
More news ›