What is it like to work in IC in Denmark? The latest professional communicator to sit in my #questionofcomms hot seat is Laura Fischer Vestergaard, Communication Advisor at Open in Copenhagen.
You can find her on Twitter @fistergaard. She’s revealed the best career advice she’s received, plus what she thinks will happen to internal communication in the future.
Here’s Laura…
1. When did you know internal communication was what you wanted to do?
When I fell into it 🙂 I am actually trained as a journalist, so internal comms wasn’t written in the stars. But it gets under your skin!
2. What do you like most about working in this field?
The people. I constantly meet IC peers who both wow me with their comms skills and whom I can see myself in. Compared to other comms professionals that I come in contact with – be it marketers, PR pros, journalists – my IC peers have the skills and qualities I most value, from being meticulous and having high levels of ‘nerdiness’ and just being plain decent people.
3. What’s the best career advice you’ve been given?
Say out loud what you think and want, and quit thinking people can read your mind.
4. What advice would you give someone thinking about starting a career in comms?
Comms is a ton of different disciplines – so find out where you fit in.
If you’re data-driven by nature, probably marketing communications is a better choice for you than IC, while if you’re a people person with killer persuasion skills, perhaps PR is a good match.
You will quickly find out where you find yourself most comfortable, and that’s where you make the most value.
5. What does a typical day or working week look like for you?
My work week usually starts with me thinking I know how it will pan out, and then halfway I’ve already spent it on a thousand other things.
But that’s one of the strengths at Open – people are always ready to jump into a project, when it’s needed, and we help each other out, even though it may mean shifting gears and focus mid-week to make sure we have right people on the right projects.
6. Name a book you think every communicator must read, and why you’ve chosen it
I personally learned a lot about writing from Roy Peter Clark’s books. And other than that, I’d just say read as much and as varied as possible.
One can learn some things from tabloid magazines, another from classic literature – the real skill is mastering the right communicative styles for different media and people.
7. What’s the one thing you couldn’t do your job without?
A dictionary. I often check up on simple grammar and spelling to stay on my toes.
It’s silly to think we should be able to remember everything we learned in primary school. We should never be too proud to look up “your/you’re”, if it means we can eradicate those horrendous mistakes from the English language.
Further reading on the All Things IC blog: Bust comms jargon with my glossary.
8. What is the future of internal communication?
I’d like to think there is none.
I think IC is already being molded into EC – employee communication. Bottom line is, you need to be communicating to your employees in the channels they use to form their attitudes and opinions, and that goes beyond internal/external boundaries.
9. Where can people find you online?
Find me by my full name on LinkedIn or check out @fistergaard on Twitter.
Thank you Laura.
What do you think of her answers? As ever you’re welcome to comment below, or find me on Twitter @AllthingsIC.
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First published on the All Things IC blog 24 July 2017.
