Luber: Hey everyone, Marc Luber here.
Today on JD Careers Out There we’re looking at the alternative legal career of working
in strategic communications – so stick around.
[theme song]
Alright, today’s guest is Jen Gould who left the practice of law - and at the time
of our interview was the Director of Strategic Communications at the RAND Corporation, a
nonprofit institution in Santa Monica, CA.
We actually filmed this video a while ago – and we had some technical issues so a
lot of times you’ll just see a photo of Jen but that doesn’t impact the great info
she shared with us.
Since our recording, Jen has been promoted to the role of Special Assistant to the President
and CEO of RAND.
Good stuff!
As you may already know, at JDCOT we help you find and succeed in fulfilling careers
using a law degree by exploring career paths both in and out of law.
Today Jen’s gonna tell us all about Strategic Communications – so let’s get started.
OK, we’re back, Jen.
Welcome to Careers out there.
Jen: Thank you for having me.
Luber: Definitely.
Thank you for being here.
So, Jen, tell us what you do as a director of strategic communications.
Jen: Sure.
Well, I work at the RAND Corporation.
RAND is a non-profit institution that helps improve policy and decision-making through
research and analysis.
We are a global organization.
So basically, my job is to lead and direct a suite of activities that help our many diverse
audiences which include funders, policy-makers, philanthropists, journalists, to help them
all better all understand who we are, what we do and the resources we can offer.
I would describe it, basically, as a mix of public relations, marketing and business strategy.
Luber: Interesting!
Ok.
So it’s like a hybrid of multiple roles?
Jen: Yeah, definitely.
Luber: And so, RAND is a non-profit.
Would the role be very similar at a for-profit corporation?
Jen: Definitely.
RAND’s a large non-profit and operates, in some ways, from an infrastructure perspective,
like a for-profit entity.
So there are communications departments, a strategic communications division, all of
these exist within the for-profit world.
Luber: Interesting!
Could you give us an example of a specific type of thing you might deal with…
Jen: Sure.
Luber: …in your regular day and then we’ll walk into a whole typical day.
But first, just an in-depth example of something you would do.
Jen: Sure.
On any given day, I could be acting as a spokesperson for RAND, representing the organization at
meetings, at events, speaking with groups of 10 people, perhaps visiting ambassadors
or other sort of significant types of individuals, presenting in front of a room of 200 people,
talking about RAND.
I work with our Web Division very closely, setting and developing social media strategy,
for example.
And I work with the creative team of writers and graphic designers to develop marketing
materials that might help advertise our services in our new office in Abu Dhabi, for example,
or perhaps to develop campaign collateral for a new fundraising campaign we’re launching
out of our graduate school.
All of these things are part of my job, and really, every day.
Luber: That’s great.
OK.
So let’s hear about a typical day, like an overall regular day so we could picture
what life would be like if we had a job like yours.
Jen Gould: I’m working with so many different people, helping really to troubleshoot problems,
develop creative solutions, push the envelope on creativity.
So I would really define a typical day as being incredibly collaborative.
And I would contrast that actually - as a transactional attorney in a law firm, it was
largely sort of a solitary pursuit.
I mean I interacted certainly with partners and other associates and to a degree with
clients, but there was a lot of just me at my desk - and this job is very different.
Luber: Alright!
So that should give you a little taste of what Strategic Communications roles are like.
If this was helpful and you’re on YouTube, please give us the thumbs up!
And to hear more from Jen on Strategic Communications careers, come on over to JDCOT.com.
You can click the link right here!
Jen’s gonna tell us all about how to break in, who fits it best, what’s a typical day
and how to succeed once you’re there.
If you’re already at the site, you could just scroll down to the full video.
Make sure you join our membership so you get access to all the helpful video content and
transcripts.
Thanks again for watching everybody.
I’m Marc Luber and I’ll see you soon.