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Communications Consultant & Speechwriter

"My work isn’t to be read, but heard. I know how to craft presentations that target specific audiences and project onto a crowd the exact emotion I intend to instill. I know how to balance vocabulary, sentence structure, tone and emotion to tell a story and enrapture listeners. I work with politicians, business leaders and other public figures to learn their style of speech and help them to more naturally sway audiences with my words. I am the voice behind the voice."

Salary Range:

$90,000 - $130,000

The Tip

View school as only a small part of your education. While in school, commit to working (or volunteering) at least 20 hours each week with a purpose. Become a bartender to develop interpersonal skills… volunteer doing digital marketing for a non-profit... become a leader in a club. This forces you to get out and apply your education.

Priority Knowledge & Skills
Advanced Communication Skills

  • Formulate and defend positions

  • Sensitivity to how communications is shaped by circumstances, authorship and intended audience

  • Formulate and defend positions

  • Apply written vocabulary to audience

 

Evidence-based Storytelling Skills

  • Ability to use research to develop an evidence-based story

  • Ability to generate story ideas

  • Ability to identify target audiences

  • Ability to create compelling narratives across media

 

Advanced Research & Analysis Skills

  • Formulating research questions

  • Critically analyze literature and research to generate new ideas

  • Ability to develop and execute qualitative research

  • Ability to synthesize key themes from multiple sources

Contextual Knowledge

  • Knowledge of human behaviour

  • Understanding of context and values of audiences

  • Essential understanding of topics and themes as they relate to an audience

 

Additional Skills

  • Excel in defined core transferable skills with a focus on transdisciplinary systems thinking, adaptive thinking, communications and interpersonal skills

  • Systematic knowledge of current events

Building Block Experiences
Education & Learning:

  • Bachelor of Arts (English) with minors in policy studies and speech

  • Master of Arts (political science)

  • Completed speechwriting course at Harvard

  • Listen weekly (normally in the gym) to at least one podcast from Great Speeches in History

  • Dale Carnegie relationship selling course

 

"This career requires a special mix of skills and knowledge. My education reflects this specific goal. I studied English to develop and refine my written communications and storytelling skills. I studied speech to understand the technical aspects of verbal communication. I studied political science to provide me depth in the contextual knowledge of the topics I am tasked with communicating. This enables me to contribute more strategically to the content and issues I am tasked with communicating."

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Employment Experiences:

  • Did a work term in the local office of a federal Member of Parliament. My job was to manage her local schedule and respond to local issues. I found I had a knack for writing speaking notes and ultimately speeches for my MP.

  • Was selected for a 12-month Parliamentary Internship

  • Following my Master’s degree, I was hired by a large government-relations and communications firm as a communications advisor. My specialization has become speechwriting; my clients range from government officials to corporate executives. I recently accepted a transfer to our Washington, D.C., office.

 

"My internship at a local MPs office really set me up. This single decision defined my career. It showed me what I love to do and what I am good at. This positioned me to be selected for a prestigious Parliamentary Internship. Finally, my commitment to my current organization built my personal brand equity; I have an excellent professional reputation."

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Community Experiences:

  • On the board of my local Toastmasters club

  • Volunteer communications consultant for a broad range of non-profit organizations

 

"Communications skills are incredibly valuable to many non-profit and community organizations. I like volunteer project work so I always have a non-profit client through the central volunteer organization in my community."

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Contextual Experiences:

  • International work and travel

 

"The Parliamentary Internship incorporated travel to the U.S. and Europe. This opened up my world beyond my country. It also provided me an opportunity to build an international network of likeminded people."

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Relationships:

  • Me an MP in my first year of university when he came to speak to my class. I asked him form a card and 13 years later he is still an important person in my professional life.

 

"Introducing myself at the end of my class challenged my natural tendency to be quiet. The success of this gave me confidence to become a proactive networker."

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