Rebecca Jackson; Definition Agency Guest Blog

Hi I'm Rebecca and I'm an Enterprise Adviser and I also work at Definition Agency.

Why did you become an Enterprise Adviser?

As an agency, Definition has always been committed to providing employment advice and opportunities for young people looking for a career in communications, and as our head of people and culture, I wanted to make sure we were supporting our local community in a way that was proactive and useful. After having such a positive experience with the Leeds LEP previously, we reached out to explore the opportunities to provide this kind of career guidance. We want people from all backgrounds to know about how to get into comms, and the wide variety of careers the industry can offer and that includes working with schools and other education institutions, not just Universities.

What does your company do and how does being an Enterprise Adviser benefit the business?

Definition is a specialist B2B (business to business) reputation management agency, working with clients across the UK, and increasingly, globally to develop strategic communications campaigns which includes activity incorporating media relations, SEO (search engine optimisation) and social media. We are headquartered in Leeds with offices in London and South Africa, and are part of the wider Definition Group, a group of communications agencies offering everything from animation to design, internal communications and tone of voice. We work with clients in a range of sectors, from finance, technology and professional services to health, charity and education. We employ around 30 people and are often looking to recruit – and as part of our commitment to ED&I, want to ensure we are reaching potential candidates from a range of backgrounds and with a range of education experience. We approached the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, to explore becoming an Enterprise Adviser to support our wider recruitment, corporate social responsibility and community activity and in turn get to hear about the skills students are learning at school and what this may mean for communications in the future.

What would you recommend to people looking to become an Enterprise Adviser?

Absolutely do it – you get some amazing opportunities (I never thought I’d be doing a podcast!) and get to expand your network – for us, we wanted to give something back to the community but it will also help boost our talent pipeline and open up potential partnerships with lots of new organisations. You need to commit time to it but if you are backed by a company who will support you, you can make a real difference to young people looking for their next step.