Carole Sales
Area of work: Charity administration
Employer: International Continence Society
Qualifications: BA modern languages and European studies, University of the West of England; Chartered Institute of Public Relations advanced certificate
Learning specialist skills
Soon after I started my job I took over responsibility for creating the organisation’s newsletter and arranging its press conferences. Quite a lot of specialist skills were needed, so the charity managers decided to train me rather than employ a consultant. As I’ve trained (I studied the CIPR advanced certificate by distance learning) I’ve been able to apply the skills directly to my job – for example, I’ve expanded our newsletter and set up a campaign to raise awareness of the organisation.
My job
Because I work for a charity with limited funds I need to provide evidence and create budgets for any new work I want to do, so I spend quite a lot of my time putting plans together for the charity’s trustees. For example, if I want to go to a new exhibition I’ll need to show the benefits of attending and work out how much it will cost. Going out to exhibitions is one of the best aspects of the job: it helps promote our work and brings in new members, and it’s satisfying to see all my hard work coming together and to meet people face-to-face.
Working for a small organisation means that some of my work crosses over with that of my colleagues and we all help each other from time to time. It also means that I’ve been able to tailor my role to my own skills and interests. Recently I’ve been working on expanding the charity’s membership as this was an area I identified as needing attention – I’ve already developed our advertising and started working with new media partners.
People power
I work with a range of people, from the organisation’s committee members (some of whom are eminent medical professionals) to potential new members, so it’s important to understand people and how they think. You can never know how people will react so it’s important to keep an open mind. Being proactive and having confidence also helps in this field: my mantra is ‘if you don’t ask, you don’t get’.