5 Year Career Plan by Maria Balcombe

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-02-02 10:08:57 UTC

Employment

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Focus on jobs and how the industry is shifting. These are the key themes for future careers.

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mariabalcombe1 — 2024-02-02 10:37:43 UTC

My Education - Level 3 Fashion and Textiles, Fashion Marketing and Communications Degree

Work - part time fashion retail jobs e.g. Selfridges, M&S, Jack Wills, Host Staffing. Volunteer work for Cancer Research and internship at LFW

Interests - fashion, beauty, PR, events

Values - acceptance, team work, challenge

Vision and goals - career in fashion or beauty PR, gain experience through internships

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-07 14:20:27 UTC

Stage 1 – Reflective practice skills of education, skills, interests, and values.
Stage 2 – Identify core knowledge, talent, strengths, and skills.
Stage 3 - Compare results and findings to core industry requirements, key industry trends and themes
and different career and education options.
Stage 4 – Find “best-fit” (something you love and something you are good at).
Stage 5 – Create your UNIQUE Visual Career Plan strategy to turn your proposals into actions.

The Plan must be created in the form of a timeline covering following periods 0-6 months, 6 – 12 months, 12 – 18 months, 18 months – 2 year and finally year 3 to Year 5

The career plan must include a range of both Professional and Personal goals and objectives. The plan should include supporting visual and auditory content, where appropriate

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-07 14:20:47 UTC

Project brief
Goals and objectives
How to draw your future (benefits of visualisation)

PR

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-07 14:29:28 UTC

Job Description - Fashion PR is the promotion of clothing brands via a range of marketing and media channels including social media, online outlets, print and broadcast. The main role of a Public Relations Officer is to build and maintain a good public image for a brand.

Core Skills - strong written and verbal communication skills to build relationship which is crucial to get brand coverage.

Trends in the industry - inclusivity, omnichannel retailing, influencer marketing, customisation, visual commerce

How to get into PR - internships and experience!!

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-07 14:30:03 UTC

add quotes, reference, my own words, published materials

Timeline

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-07 14:41:43 UTC

Now - Working part time at Space NK and Host Staffing, whilst also completing my uni assignments

May 2024 - 3 week FRA placement

June/ July - Look for graduate jobs or internships related to PR and events

August 2024 - Hand in FMP

August 2024 - Move to Reading with my boyfriend and family

September 2024 - Start full time job in fashion/ beauty PR based in London (I can commute to London within 20 minutes). Also do another internship at LFW and hopefully buy a car.

November 2024 - Graduation

December 2024 - My 22nd birthday

Timeline

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-07 14:42:47 UTC

January to December 2025 - Continue to work hard in my PR role and gain hands on experience with events and influencers

February and September 2025 - Work at LFW

Summer 2025 - Travel to new countries and do more charity work

Also saving money for my future home!!

Pinterest Mood Board & Quotes

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-07 14:46:29 UTC

Timeline

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-07 14:47:39 UTC

Progress within a PR role or move more into event planning/ producing
Promotion
Buy a house
Work regularly on fashion shows
Travel to new countries

Pinterest Mood Board & Quotes

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PR Expert and founder of East of Eden PR agency, Nick Ede, describes PR as "taking an object, a person, an item and giving it some space. Giving it a bit of fame. PR educates a consumer and hopefully makes them buy a product!”

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-07 14:53:57 UTC

PR

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-07 14:57:19 UTC

Two main options when working in Fashion PR: working at a Pr agency or working in-house. Most large fashion houses keep their PR in-house. They may contract out for any assistance during fashion week. When you work in PR in-house you are the brand so you work together with other departments, while a Fashion PR agency takes care of different brands at the same time and oftentimes in different verticals (fashion, beauty, fitness etc)

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-07 15:01:12 UTC

Key takeaways - teamwork, initiative, undertake research, managing events

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-07 15:02:46 UTC

Key takeaways - organised, clear communicator, Microsoft office skills, experience or study in marketing, attention to detail

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-07 15:04:13 UTC

I looked into current jobs advertising PR roles and read their job description. This has helped me see what skills employers are looking for and areas I can develop further. The most frequent skills I have seen is strong communication and being organised, which are skills I have gained through part time employment and balancing my university studies.

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-07 15:06:57 UTC

Key takeaways - organised, motivated, dynamic, networking, event production, online platforms

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-07 15:09:27 UTC

I read this article on key trends for the PR industry for 2023. The main trends which I believe will carry on into the next following years are influencer marketing, inclusivity and customisation. These trends stood out to me as they are extremely important to utilise when connecting with an audience, building coverage, and maintaining a good brand image

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-07 15:17:31 UTC

Camille Roy is a luxury fashion and beauty PR assistant at Selfridges! I have followed her journey and TikTok videos for quite some time now and I find it inspiring and interesting to see what she gets up to in her role. Her videos show glimpse of her work life and some amazing events/ brands she has worked on. I am very interested in both beauty and fashion PR so a role within a department may be a great option for me as I get to experience both. Additionally, I like the idea of the fast paced environment that comes with working within a department store as your not limited to just one brand and get to work with so many!

Fashion Show Producer

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-07 15:19:27 UTC

The event aspect of PR has always fascinated me and after I gain years of experience in the PR world I would love to go on to producing fashion shows or something similar. This article highlights the role of a fashion show producer and the key skills required to be successful. Organisation and creativity is a huge aspect of this role and I feel this would be an amazing role for me once I have gained experience in PR, seen more behind the scenes of fashion shows through fashion week internships and developed an even deeper understanding of the fashion industry! As the industry is changing and technology is becoming more advanced, fashion shows in the future may be more digital and technology driven so it will be exciting to be apart of this change.

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Pinterest Mood Board & Quotes

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Things I like

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-07 15:32:06 UTC

Makeup and beauty in general
Events
Planning and coming up with ideas through assignments (pop up shops and events etc)
Fashion
Social media - TikTok and Instagram (my favourite influencers: Grace Foley, Madison Beer, Aimee Smale, Camille Roy)

My Skills

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-07 15:32:13 UTC

Maths (A in Maths GCSE)
Communication (customer service jobs)
Creative (through art, textiles and fashion studies)
PR and Internationalisation was my best assignments (1st in both)

Amplitude / Logic Test

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-08 17:07:45 UTC

I found this quite difficult, however it was an interesting way to see my speed and accuracy when answering these questions.

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Interview 360

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-08 22:16:20 UTC

Overall I did well on my mock interview and I found it very helpful. I looked through my feedback and it was good. Some key points I need to focus on are smiling more and slowing down my speech at certain points. As this wasn't a face to face interview I wasn't focused on smiling and my speech rate however now I know this is an area to improve on for the future.

Interview 360 - AI generated

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-12 18:15:57 UTC

I took another mock interview on the FRA careers website. I scored high on confidence which I am proud of! However it took me slightly longer on time spent (average was 7 minutes) so this is an area I need to improve on and be quicker at my interview answers.

Boot Camp Feedback

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-14 16:59:12 UTC

CV 360

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Interview 360 Feedback

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-14 17:51:26 UTC

Tell us about your experience and education and how that relates to the role you're applying for?

Interview 360 Feedback

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-14 17:52:18 UTC

What have you accomplished outside of education and work that you're proud of?

Interview 360

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-14 17:53:01 UTC

How would your colleagues describe you?

Video Quality - Interview 360

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-14 17:54:05 UTC

LinkedIn Courses

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-15 11:06:07 UTC

As I don't have a lot of PR experience yet, I would love to develop my knowledge of the industry further through LinkedIn Learning. I have seen a couple of courses I will be taking in the following weeks such as Public Relations Foundations and building relationships.

Fundamentals of Digital Marketing Course

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-15 11:07:57 UTC

As the industry has shifted and almost everything is digital, I feel having a digital marketing course is an amazing way to develop my skills and lead me to my dream job. I am currently in the middle of completing this Google course and I aim to complete this in 2 weeks time. There are about 26 modules of curated video classes and tests, each addressing different areas of digital marketing. I am half way through my course at the moment and so far I have learned about SEO, Search Engine marketing and social media marketing. This course will also be helpful for my other university module 'digital and social media marketing'.

Internships

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-15 11:11:11 UTC

I aim to complete my 3 week work placement for university and at least one more internship before I graduate in November. To gain another internship I am going to use website such as LinkedIn, Business of Fashion and Fashion Workie to find new opportunities and apply.

AI

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-15 11:41:44 UTC

In the future AI will be a massive change for the fashion industry in general and in order for me to have a successful career I will need to adapt to changes and future technology. I have read this article, that highlights ways AI will change fashion such as consumer personalisation, AI generated images and models and making online shopping a smoother experience.

Trends in Fashion PR

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-15 11:47:42 UTC

As an aspiring PR assistant, it is important for me to be aware of industry trends. Some key trends I have learned about through this article are changing demands of consumers, advancements in technology, influencer collaborations, sustainability, diversity, technology integration, and storytelling.

Trends in Fashion Events

mariabalcombe1 — 2024-03-15 11:58:06 UTC

This article shows an excellent overview of the fashion events market size and trends in the industry. Overall the main trend for fashion shows is sustainability. Fashion shows are being pushed to embrace more sustainable techniques as environmental concerns rise. Some ways shows will embrace this trend is by using eco-friendly materials in runway collections, reducing waste during event production, and incorporating ethical/ sustainable fashion practices into event themes.