Trainee Account Executive

Role objective

A trainee account executive will work across a number of different accounts, giving them a good introduction to agency life.

A TAE will be expected to take on a number of key tasks, giving them the necessary grounding in PR to progress to a fully-fledged account executive. Not expected to get the job right every time, a TAE should show a willingness to learn and a desire to make PR not just a job but a career.

A TAE will develop a good understanding of the media landscape and acquire the skills to generate positive coverage and place spokespeople as commentators in print and new media.

Key responsibilities

Account responsibilities:

• Monitoring the media, including newspapers, magazines, journals, newswires and blogs, for opportunities for clients
• Liaising on a daily basis with team, clients and the media, via telephone and email
• Relationship building and networking with colleagues, clients and the media
• Preparing weekly status reports/emails, tracking and logging coverage, putting together coverage boards
• Building and keeping media lists up to date
• Attending client meetings and providing event/exhibition support where appropriate
• Researching, writing and distributing press releases and other written collateral to targeted media
• Promoting news stories and features to the media, known as ‘selling in’

Company responsibilities:

• Daily newspapers overview
• Answering incoming calls
• General administration duties
• Regular contributor to the face of Berkeley through social networking (including company blog and Twitter) on- and offline
• Beginning to support and understand the agency values (PIES)
• Develop an initial understanding of Berkeley’s storytelling philosophy and begin to bring elements of storytelling into written work

Skills and experience

Key Skills:

• Confidence, articulate, adaptable, creative
• Self – motivation and a persuasive manner
• Good spoken and written communication skills
• Excellent organisational and time management skills
• Good ‘people skills’, for working with a range of colleagues and clients
• A professional manner
• Good business sense
• Strong presentation and negotiation skills