My meeting with Hans Vorster, Director of Communications for the Kingston and the Islands Federal Liberal Association

I met with Hans Vorster, the director of communications for the Kingston and the Islands Federal Liberal Association to discuss his role in the riding, and how it relates to marketing and advertising.

He began his career as an engineer, but ended up working at Telemedia in their Research and Corporate Development division. He explained that Communications Directors all likely have a background in Advertising or Publishing. He said that the ability to write clearly and concisely is paramount to the job. He advised that before anyone takes you seriously, you need to have between seven and eight years on the job experience.

He definitely believes that it’s a great career for social, outgoing people. He said that the most challenging part of the position is commitments to time, because things that need to be communicated don’t always happen between 9 am and 5 pm. He also said that bureaucracy can be difficult, as red tape catches you everywhere.

The most rewarding part of the job was the creative process. He also enjoyed crafting well reasoned arguments. He said that taking the time to research, getting all the facts straight, then getting the message out in a way that’s believable, while still truthful was something he always took pride in.

He definitely would take the same path to the position. He began in Media Sales, them moved into Marketing, and if given the time, he could have transitioned into Journalism with the amount of writing experience he had.

The advice he had for anyone looking to get into Communications as a career was to take your lumps when you start. Don’t expect anything but the bottom rung when you begin. Do your job well, even if you don’t like it. Continue to do your job well so you can get to the point where you can pick and choose what you end up doing.

He also stressed that it doesn’t matter how much education you have. An MBA and a college grad all start out in the same place. It’s all about how you approach the job, and how well you do what you do.