Q. I’m not a graduate, but a person with more than 6 years experience in banking, from Romania. Two years ago I moved to Madrid, Spain. Since then I have tried to enter a PR agency. I had an interview with Burson-Marsteller Spain. Can you, please, give me advice of how should I proceed in landing a PR job? (My last job in Romania was in the PR department of a bank. Currently, I am the manager of a customer care office for a logistic company in Madrid.) -CM
A. Websites, newspaper ads and personal contact are the three most effective ways to find PR jobs in Spain, according to Helena Borras, Ketchum’s HR director in Madrid. Helena suggests you check out two important associations–DIRCOM and ADECEC. DIRCOM is Spain’s leading organization of PR professionals, and ADECEC is the Association of Communication and Public Relations Consulting Companies.
DIRCOM provides a free resume posting service that gets your resume in the hands of association partners. Besides infojobs and Monster, Helena says newspaper job ads still are used widely in Spain. She suggests attempting to make personal contacts wherever possible. ADECEC provides agency contacts, but also create and work your own network.
Asked to describe the PR landscape in Spain, Helena said: “We are more and more consultants, client focused in a continuously changing environment. Thus, attitude becomes crucial. Candidates who are engaged, energetic, empathic, adaptive and enterprising will have 70% of what a firm is seeking. The rest, of course, is to be up to date with digital, while having good contacts in media and potential clients. And a postgraduate or master’s degree can help in Spain.”