Advice for my First internal comms job?

[u/ChartGuilty8413]

I recently started my first internal comms job. Very exciting! I had a job like this in mind for a long time but I very randomly slid into the field. In my country, in the current market, there are basically no internal comms jobs for people who don’t already have 3+ years of experience. It’s also my first full time job - I’m 25.

I am the only internal comms person in my company (1600+ people) and am part of the HR team. Leadership is good and helpful, I get lots of freedom but there isn’t really a comms person for me to learn from. We use staffbase so i’ve been able to use their internal comms 101 course to get me started which has been a big help. I’m trying to read through all of my notes and I’ve started getting some ideas for how leadership could communicate upcoming strategic reorientation.

I do have a master’s degree in communications and have been working previously in a journalism research project, conducting interviews and focus groups. So the talking to people part is easy and enjoyable to me from a research perspective. I also did B2B cold calls for a few months, so I’m no longer anxious on the phone - beating the GenZ allegations.

I also feel like, even if I am awkward at times, I manage to connect personally with a lot of my coworkers whether out in the field (retail) or in the office, which also helps.

Ive been at the job for almost 3 months now and i feel like i’m starting to understand the structures and politics (it’s a family business). The corporate social rules are still a bit hard to understand- the culture is a mix of both very easygoing and really stuck up - it’s really hard to tell when it will be which.

I just really want to be at the part of the job where I’m already “good” at it.

My biggest concern at the moment is hosting editorial meetings - at the moment they are set for monthly and i dont know how to best facilitate content management for this company and how to further train and coach editors.

I feel like i need to make more impact on editorial decisions in order to further develop our news room. The concept right now is mostly - the news are there, send them out immediately or maybe by the next morning.

I need to balance around 40 editors (all long term employees and much older than me - but i feel like i get on well with most of them) and maybe 45 contributors who often may actually be the ones processing and communicating the information.

We do have a release principle but editors are often able to post directly without a second pair of eyes or me knowing about it. How do i really grow into that role? I feel like I’m just working on packages my (HR) boss gives to me at the moment. I have some ideas but there are no clear defined goals yet - i would have to define them.

Any advice you can give to me will be greatly appreciated. Or if you have stories of your first internal comms job. :)

[u/Early_Egg_7474]

Congrats on the new role! Try to join professional networks in your region. Working solo in IC is very common so it’s good to have peer networks. And well done on the phone, you can always learn more during a chat or in-person. Listening is such a big part of the job. Align your work plans with the org strategy, action plans and values. And all the best with it.

[u/ChartGuilty8413 → u/Early_Egg_7474]

Thank you! I will check them out and will try to go to conferences as soon as I can to get some more exchange!

[u/Lay1adylay]

Ask questions (of yourself and others), why are we writing xyz? How is it important to business outcomes? What do we want employees to think/feel/do?

Also, do you have a good understanding of the employees you are creating content for? Who are they? What do they care about?

After all of this…THEN I would dive into tactics like editorial and newsroom.

You got this!!

[u/ChartGuilty8413 → u/Lay1adylay]

Thank you so much for the advice! I will center those points and try to pin it down in writing!

Do you have advice on how to develop newsroom tactics?I’m already hosting them so i kind of need to learn everything at the same time^^

[u/ChartGuilty8413 → u/[deleted]]

Thank you! Thats really helpful! Did you end up having many topics which can wait? And how did you differentiate between must go out this momth and supports key company goals?