Internal Communication Specialist – Career Opportunity and Scope

By Neha Mathur

Internal Communication Specialist – Career Opportunity and Scope

Be it multinational companies, banks, hospitals or non-profits, every large organisation wants to communicate effectively with its employees today. An increasing number of companies are focusing on internal communications so that employees feel engaged with their workplaces; know what is happening in the organisation and what is expected from them.

Internal Communications (comms) can be defined as the direct two-way communication between a company and its employees. Some companies also refer to it as Employee Communications or Employee Relations. Studies suggest that enhanced communication helps employees understand how their role contributes to the overall business objective and that the organisation cares about their views and opinions. A strong internal communication function can lead to increased job satisfaction and also boost employee productivity and commitment.

In order to have a robust communication strategy, almost every organisation has a communications department or team comprising internal communication specialists who essentially oversee and develop relevant content that provides insight and transparency. Think you can pursue a career in internal communications? This article helps you understand what it takes to be a communication specialist.

What does an Internal Communication specialist do?

Essentially, an internal communication specialist executes in-house employee communication programmes and events to help employees effectively communicate with each other and their managers. A specialist is responsible for collaborating with regional/ global internal communications teams on creative messaging and creating innovative content that inspires employees to apply the company’s core values to their daily work. The role also involves driving office branding campaigns and supporting leaders with clear and well-thought out communication plans that helps them deliver key messages.

What are the key responsibilities of an Internal Communication Specialist?

Broadly speaking, these are the core responsibilities of any internal communications professional in a corporate environment:

• Tracking all communication deliverables using an editorial calendar for publishing through targeted campaigns and internal social channels.
• Measuring the success of all internal comms efforts and refining their approach accordingly.
• Working closely with program managers of other departments to align on corporate and department level communication programs to maximize effectiveness.
• Maintaining strong working relationships with all team members and stakeholders.

Which degree/course is necessary for a career in internal communications?

There is strictly no particular stream or field that you need to choose in order to qualify for a career in internal communications. However, a bachelor’s degree in Journalism, Mass Communication, Marketing or any other related field is ideal for an internal comms role. Some employers also prefer candidates with a degree or postgraduate diploma in Public Relations, Advertising, Psychology, Business Administration and English.  

What are the prerequisite skills required?

Apart from having competent knowledge about the company and its business, an internal comms specialist must have excellent interpersonal abilities in order to interact with leaders, senior managers and subject matter experts. As a communication professional in a corporate environment, you must have strong verbal and written skills, excellent program management skills, a creative bent of mind, an eye for detail and be proactive in prioritizing and executing multiple communication deliverables at the same time.    

What are the biggest challenges of this job? 

One has to be self-motivated to keep up with a fast-paced environment and stay aware about the latest organizational developments, news and updates. You have to actively connect and collaborate with colleagues from other departments, which require excellent teamwork and collaboration skills. In addition, you are expected to role model core values to your colleagues in how you do your work every day.

What is a typical day at work like?

An average day is usually choc-a-bloc with meetings/calls with the larger communications team or managers of other departments. These meetings usually involve discussions on status updates of communication materials in progress or the roadmap of campaigns that are in the pipeline. Sometimes you also need to ideate and brainstorm with team members in order to create and build newsletters, email campaigns, cultural videos, brochures, posters, sales decks, banners and execute other enterprise-wide employee engagement programs and events.

Why I joined this field

After I completed my Masters in Journalism & Mass Communication, I joined The Times of India and worked with Times NIE. It was a journalistic role which primarily involved writing, editing, reporting and designing pages for the TOI Student Edition. Post that, I briefly worked at both the National and International News Desk where I worked on news pages for TOI’s Delhi edition. I spent about 4 years with the Times Group as a journalist. After this I decided to make a foray into Corporate Communications. I moved to Bangalore and went on to work with IT organizations like Intel Technology and Accenture Services as part of their employee communications team. I must say my background as a media professional helped me immensely in taking on a completely different role. I managed to transition from journalism to the corporate world only because of the experience I gained in print media. So if you are a media/mass communication/journalism student, you can definitely aim for a career in Communications in any MNC/large organization. 

A large part of the day is also spent on maintaining and updating the intranet, developing corporate messaging and generating interesting content for employees on a regular basis.            

About the Author:

Neha Mathur

Neha Mathur is a journalist turned internal communications professional. A Delhi University graduate, she has completed her Masters in Journalism & Mass Communication from Amity University. Neha has over 12 years of experience across print media, corporate communications and online content writing domains. She has worked with India’s largest media conglomerate, The Times of India Group, as well as corporate giants such as Intel Technology and Accenture.