Agent Academy runs a 12-week programme, aimed at upskilling the next generation of creative, digital and tech talent. Over the course of the 12 weeks, learners get access to industry experience, networking opportunities and attend speaker sessions to uncover career paths they might not have previously considered. The Rise programme is open to anyone aged 18-30 who is looking for their first job in creative and digital sector.
Here at Active Profile, we have our very own Agent Academy success story. Our client director, Elliot Ramsey, who was on the programme, said:
“I took part in Agent Academy just over five years ago and it's an experience that has shaped the trajectory of my own career in creative and digital - a sector that can feel inaccessible and challenging to break into at times.”
We were delighted to be asked to host a speaker session for the learners about PR. Elliot and senior PR specialist, Leila held a 90-minute interactive session at our offices in the Baltic Triangle.
We covered the foundations of PR, starting with famous campaigns that learners might have seen and not realised were PR – such as their Spotify Wrapped playlist each December, the viral Shrek’s Swamp AirBnB, and the time that KFC ran out of chicken and had to apologise.
From there, we uncovered the skills needed for a career in PR. We wanted to show the learners, many of whom said at the start of the session that they were working in customer service roles, that soft skills were just as important. For example - whilst you need to be a good writer, you also need to be resilient, and whilst you need to have a strong interest in the media, you also need to be able to manage your time effectively. And those soft skills are all things that can be learned in other roles outside of the industry.
Once the learners were acquainted with the foundations of PR, we began to introduce tactics to them – showing them a good vs bad press release, and a campaign in practice, modelled on our work with Avison Young’s Urban Futures reports.
Lastly, we explored finding proactive opportunities for clients and the principles of digital PR, before moving on to a real-world client challenge which asked the learners how they might promote one of our client’s initiatives.
After sharing some useful resources to learn more about PR, we moved on to the Q&A session, where learners asked insightful questions about careers in PR. Finally, we got together for a lovely lunch where the learners were able to network with the team.
One learner said:
“PR was an avenue I’d never considered before and didn’t know much about. The speakers broke down really well the skills that you need, what they do and how it’s all applied in the real world.”
We really enjoyed our day with Agent Academy – it’s great to see initiatives out there helping to make creative and digital careers accessible.
