What to expect

So, you are new to the job. Take a deep breath, as it is a totally different ball game. When I started working, I sort of got confused. I started asking questions like: is this the right office for me? Did I understand devcom well in college? It was tough. I don’t want the same thing to happen to you, so here are some things that might help you transition from being a university student to becoming a development communication practitioner.

• As I said, take a deep breath as it is a totally different ball game. In the Philippines, there are only very few institutions that practice the fullness of DevCom. PhilRice probably is one of them. The thing is unlike Mass Communication and Communication Arts, which are relatively older disciplines, Development Communication, I think, is not well understood by most institutions. Whilst it is very clear to us what we should be doing, we may not be on the same page with managers of institutions. This has several repercussions—favourable or unfavourable, usually unfavourable for us. 
• Related to my first point, the first repercussion is: it is quite seldom that institutions would have a separate office for development communicators. It is something that had been echoed a long time ago in several books (an example is the Communication for Social Change book by Jan Servaes). The thing with this is that corporate communication, public relations and other communication functions are gathered together in just one office. That is an injustice since what sets development communication apart from others is the brand of communication we are carrying.

• And since we are not understood well, it is quite often that development communicators don’t pay much—although I should say that it is starting to change a bit these days. The thing is companies, NGOs understand communication simply on its image building functions. The ‘paint- the-town-red’ function of communication—painting rosy pictures for projects with no visible impact, damage control if there are organizational crises etc. 

The list of negative repercussions goes on, so let me change gear by talking about other stuff… continuing the what-to-expect topic.

• In college, in UPLB, during my time we had different majors—development journalism, development broadcasting, science communication and educational communication. These majors have very unique identities although there are some overlaps, I should say. My point is when you work, these major streams disappear—entry point for most development communicators is knowing how to write. That’s the first question: Do you know how to write? Actually even though they are looking for videographers, the time will come that a videographer or a graphics artist will write! Writers’ crisis is oftentimes a gruesome phenomenon in most offices. So the lesson is, regardless of your major, practice writing. To some extent, devcom=writing.

• Now, the issue is what you are going to write. We know this; we have a bias on development issues. So, are we just going to write about them? Not quite. You will write everything—from image building articles, press releases, and even technical papers. Quite a lot? That’s how it is! There are pluses and minuses to it. The thing is, read widely so you will not be caught unawares when these things come. I remember my professor before told us that we should be very intelligent—that our IQ should not be lower than our body weight! So, read A LOT!

• While the entry point is writing, that doesn’t mean that you should forget the other important skills. The flip side of the point I earlier raised is that there will come a time when writers will be asked to take videos and lay out publications! In my case, I did not know how to layout when I started working. I was afraid of layouting softwares. InDesign intimidated me in the past. I just accepted it that layouting was not for me, but I knew very well that I should learn how to do it. So when I started working at PhilRice, I needed to do some overtime work to learn Corel, Photoshop and InDesign. Now, I am not a pro, but layouting doesn’t intimidate me anymore. In fact, I’ve laid out some of PhilRice’s publications.

• Communicators are also seen as good emcees. Even if you tell them that you are a devjourn major, they couldn’t care less about that. You are a communicator. So get out of your shell and release the master showman/woman in you! You can help yourself by watching telenovelas, television commercials and loosening up a bit. Back in college watching telenovelas would be the last thing I would ever do. It was like: Mula sa Puso? EWWWW!!!! But when I started working, the challenge was to communicate with your audience. We deal with farmers—they love radio and television drama. To communicate with them, there should be something that we can share in common. So, then I ended up watching Lazos de Amor :D

• Quite odd, but you will also be asked to chair the socials committee. You will plan events (you can use your skills from Doing social campaigns here)— practice some jokes et al. As for me, I already have the contact details of the dancers and standup comedians near PhilRice! I forgot to tell you—you will also do some intermission numbers! I remember I had to choreograph a dance number”Annie Batungbakal”. Sabi ko nga sa mga friends ko, “Ang hindi ko na lang nagagawa ay kumain ng apoy!”

• Also, prepare to become a writing/editing machine! In not one instance you would be asked to edit and/or write something. And oftentimes, they would think that these things are way too easy for you. It’s sort of : You’re-a-communicator?- Prove- it! Phenomenon! And mind you, some will look down on you if you don’t do it well.

Now, this entry is not meant to scare you off in any way. The reason why I am telling you this is for you to prepare yourself for the bigger world outside uni. Master the skills you can, and get some experience while still at uni. You can do this by either serving as student assistants or becoming a full-fledged project staff. Cheers!