Well, getting a start would be ideal for most graduates or school leavers.

It is not easy to get a career; it is not easy to get a job at the moment, and a sought after career: forget it.

Even in good times things are not easy, so what do you do if you want to get started in marketing or PR in such a discouraging market?

Here are a few tips that I hope helps:

Social media – If you want to get into marketing or PR and you do not know about social media then you are letting yourself down.

You are not taking the opportunity of building relationships with professionals that could help you.  You are not noting opportunities as they come up.  You are not showing that you have the skills and intellectual curiosity to succeed.

Flexibility – It is tempting to wait for the right job.  But the right position rarely comes along.

Make a start, if you get offered an opportunity – a placement or junior role – think seriously about taking it even if it is not perfect, you can still look for your dream job in the meantime.  You might find the role you get offered turned out to be what you wanted or was much better than you imagined.

CV and applications – I have received CVs with grammatical errors!!  Really, do I have to say more?

Cultivate opportunities where none present themselves – I have received speculative CVs and reply and get no word of thanks when I offer advice.  I understand that if you want a job you have no time to dwell and you move on as quickly as you can.

But if only they called me or asked for leads or pointers, I would be happy to reward a little bit of initiative, so would many other people.  Yet my efforts to reply are never rewarded – if I was recruiting I would not employ such individuals although this might be unfair.  This one example where initiating a quick conversation might really help reduce that job hunt’s length.

Networking – following on, look for people that can help you.

Do not be afraid to ask: it is not cheating to ask contacts to get introductions that can lead to work experience or even, dare I say it, work.

Have a real think who might be able to help, ask those who you do not think could help, you might be surprised who they know.

Determination – it is a difficult road for many and one that I do not want to travel again.  But if you really want it, you are most likely going to get you dream job.  So have courage and keep at it even though it is a miserable process.