Alice Murray
Area of work: Charity administration
Eemployer: Barrow Cadbury Trust
Qualifications: BA American studies, University of East Anglia
I’m responsible for communications for a charity: I manage the organisation’s PR, run its website, co-ordinate publications and look after a media library. The charity funds small grassroots organisations working in socially disadvantaged areas; for example, groups who help young people to stay away from gangs. My job is all about giving these people a voice so that they can communicate their expertise, experiences, problems and good practice to politicians, the media and the general public.
9.00 am
Our office hours are 9.30 am to 5.30 pm and we’re based in London, so I often check my emails on my PDA on my way into work. After drawing up a ‘to do’ list for the day I normally scour the newspapers online and then touch base with my team and our PR agency to see what media opportunities there might be for us.
If there’s a story on which we may want to comment I will check that my chief executive is available for any media interviews, and will then work with my manager (the charity’s policy adviser) to establish our line. Once our comment has been sent out, we then wait and see whether any of the media are interested. Sometimes, this can mean the whole day is taken up with briefing the chief executive and arranging interviews. Other days, there’s not much of a response so I can carry on with other work.
1.00 pm
Lunch, sadly, is often at my desk. I try to check my personal emails to get a break. I sometimes go to the gym at lunchtime to gather some more energy for the afternoon.
2.00 pm
If I don’t have meetings, I get most of my work done in the afternoon. I will often add things such as news stories or new publications to our website. I also provide my chief executive with recent changes in policy relevant to our work. I will scour the news, as well as the websites of Government departments, think tanks and charities to find out what’s been going on.
5.30 pm
Our working day finishes at 5.30 pm. Now I have my PDA I don’t feel I have to hang around waiting for an important email to come in, so I normally leave by 6.00 pm unless we’ve got a big project going on.