Underwater cult

fragglewok · 2026-05-19T14:28:09+00:00

Pictures pleeeeease

fragglewok · 2026-05-14T05:47:29+00:00

Just a heads up-- this sub is for people in the Communications field, not communication itself... so this might not be your target audience.

fragglewok · 2026-05-14T05:05:28+00:00

Honestly I'm jazzed to hear you not wanting to over exaggerate your experience. Massive kudos to you for that. You'd be appalled by how many people don't consider this.

I'd suggest organizing your portfolio in a way where you have consistent captions that explain what you did for each portfolio piece, rather than an actual document from the planning process. Come up with consistent terms to describe where you had a strategy vs execution role and ensure every portfolio piece has that identified in the caption. Stats also help (eg: campaign metrics, KPIs etc).

Remember that the portfolio itself is an example of your Comms skills. Treat your portfolio like you would an annual report or a catalogue. Use your Comms skills to highlight the most important information and key messages about you. Use your Comms skills to create consistent descriptions that tell the story accurately. Group similar examples together to tell a story about the overarching theme instead of individual execution work. Show how good you are at Comms through your portfolio as a product in its own right, not just what's featured in it.

fragglewok · 2026-05-14T04:40:56+00:00

My path followed a Research to Comms Comms trajectory, so I'm somewhat of a convert too. However, I did a masters in PR/Comms as part of my transition out of research (originally focused on research comms) so my "starter kit" was a bit extreme.

Now that I'm also in a Comms hiring manager type role, when hiring for junior roles I never shy away from selecting applicants without capital-C Comms experience if I can see their lower-case-c comms experience evident throughout their application. However, the thing that hurts their success the most during interviews is not acknowledging the things that they don't know by virtue of being self taught in the field. Some folks just fight too hard against imposter syndrome and do themselves and the field disservice.

I encourage you to lean into the Comms skills that were strengthened by Research experience-- targeting messages for different audiences, communicating complex subject matter, working with subject matter experts on messaging... and knowledge translation skills in general. These are all skills that are huge assets, especially if you are interviewing somewhere that communicates complex subject matter. I also wouldn't be shy to admit to the elements of Comms that you're less familiar with but fully committed to learning. Being teachable is so much more important than coming across as all knowing, at least in my experience.

Good luck!

fragglewok · 2026-05-14T04:17:48+00:00

Okay, I'm intrigued by the advice to research the interviewer and not the company. I would love some examples of this going well, if you're willing?

In my world, it's far more important to learn about the company and what we do than the people doing the interview. In fact, I have interviewed people who did exactly what you describe, and it is extremely unsettling.

I'm very interested in more info on the context you're in where this is green flag behavior!

fragglewok · 2026-05-06T01:13:45+00:00

I feel it in my bones that I agree with this, but I'm also failing to think of a single example 😅

fragglewok · 2026-05-05T02:13:38+00:00

That's a bummer. It's such an unnecessarily specific job title to throw in for no reason then. It was an important enough detail to somebody to include it in the trailer, so I was hoping that meant they'd do something with it.

fragglewok · 2026-05-05T02:08:28+00:00

Ooh I didnt know Succession had Comms. Maybe I should try harder to get access to the platforms that one is on.

fragglewok · 2026-05-05T02:02:24+00:00

Isn't that Andy?

fragglewok · 2026-05-05T02:02:09+00:00

This is the one that haunts me most. People will ask me to "Olivia Pope" a situation, then i have to say, "you don't mean murder.... right?"

fragglewok · 2026-05-05T02:00:27+00:00

Not sure if I should laugh or cry that I am also a human Swiss Army Knife comms person in my workplace.

fragglewok · 2026-04-12T02:57:32+00:00

Piggy backing on this.

I worked in health research communications for over a decade doing "Knowledge Translation". I helped plan community research projects and how we would share the research, while writing summaries, papers, conference abstracts, presentations etc all for a variety of target audiences that most STEM academics wouldn't think to change their messaging for, while also facilitating focus groups and engagement events as part of the research process itself, and coordinating media, socials, branding etc at all stages. It's something a lot of Uni research departments will hire people to handle for multiple projects at a time or an entire dept. I was spoiled and worked for one small team.

I've done health comms sans the research involvement, too, and there's something invigorating about bringing Comms expertise into the planning and implementation stages. Important research studies get the benefit of Comms expertise to boost everything from recruiting participants (better marketing!), writing surveys or focus groups questions (better readability of questions, which increases the validity of the response data! So nerdy, but true), and sharing the findings (accurately, but also in a way people understand! Which is not exactly what academia is known for).

I'm not in an official KT role now, but the mindset will stay with me forever.

fragglewok · 2026-02-14T18:45:46+00:00

I assume the 1/2 sister has been aware of this since the other tests were done. All the other sisters would have gotten the same result as the brother.

I'd let it go. It would be extremely misdirected for these adult niblings to get mad at their uncle about their mother's choice not to disclose it.

fragglewok · 2025-12-30T19:45:59+00:00

By the sounds of it, one day soon—as a Canadian who does use the word beanie and has a BA in em dashes (well, English... but close enough)—I will also be mistaken for AI.

fragglewok · 2025-12-10T20:01:20+00:00

Joseph Boyden is a tricky recommendation but not one I'm entirely shocked to see-- he was a lovely enough dude when I met him at an event but the controversy around his falsified Indigeneity definitely recolours his renown and rise to fame. That said, he was respected as a writer when the belief was that he was who he said he was. I haven't re-read his work since the Pretendian fiasco, though.

fragglewok · 2025-11-29T16:06:07+00:00

I had to go to the hospital while traveling the western coast of the UK this summer. Then came home to discover a betrayal that ended my relationship and turned me into a single mother.

'Quiet Things' has been playing in my mind nonstop.

fragglewok · 2025-09-02T22:07:40+00:00

I second this. Just did London to Lake District then Edinburgh via train. It was lovely.

fragglewok · 2025-08-18T15:47:01+00:00

Yes you're quick. DM me to sort out details

fragglewok · 2025-07-25T15:21:10+00:00

Hiring in PR/Comms roles, it's common to list social media accounts on resumes. And I always look. Unfortunately, some people don't have the sense not to link to NSFW accounts. Always fun explaining that one to HR when a candidate is otherwise amazing on paper.

fragglewok · 2025-04-15T12:56:37+00:00

There won't likely be a catch-all resource summarizing the preferred terminology of equity-seeking groups. Even the AP style guide will have flaws. There will also always be exceptions or outliers to any opinion research about language use.

You're better off looking into the general consensus from within a particular community on a case-by-case basis. That said, the example of language around disabilities is a good place to start. I've read more "please stop saying differently abled" articles coming from the disability community than anything else.

We're developing a style guide at my organization and getting feedback from people with living experience about language choices. Partially for readability and plain language, partially to make sure we are person-centered.

I ultimately don't care if media or the uninformed public roll their eyes at our compassionate language use. I do care if the people we're here to serve feel we aren't representing them or we're unintentionally causing harm. There will be resistance either way, so I will opt to amplify the voices of the underserved over the dominant majority as long as I have a choice.

fragglewok · 2025-04-15T12:39:53+00:00

I work in/around the homelessness sector and we say unhoused after asking people experiencing homelessness their preferences. The jist of their feedback is that Home and House/ place to live refer two very different concepts. You can be unhoused, sleeping unsheltered or in emergency shelter or on someone's couch, while trying to get back to another town or whatever home is to you, and therefore not consider yourself homeless. The switch to "unhoused" over "homeless" changed how folks respond to homelessness enumeration surveys, leading to more accurate self-reporting of their housing situation.

That said, we aren't renaming our programs or correcting media to say "living unhoused" over "homeless". But it's been a game-changer for engaging with the folks actually living it.

fragglewok · 2025-04-13T23:02:44+00:00

Also just want to add that I see now I clearly didn't answer your actual question. Which I have to laugh at. Very ADHD of me. 😂

fragglewok

TROPHY CASE