My Career: ‘No two days are the same in my role'

Name: Fiona Corcoran

Age: 45

Lives: Bishopstown

Job title: Client Manager with Healy Communications

Salary bracket: €40,000 - €60,000

Education background: I went to school in St Bricin’s College in Belturbet, Co. Cavan. I studied English and Archaeology in NUI, Galway and graduated with a BA Degree in 1999, but by that stage my ambition to be a female Indiana Jones had dissipated and I opted for a career in journalism instead.

When I hit my 40s, I knew I wanted a change and PR and Communications seemed like the obvious option. But while I had a lot of transferable skills, I thought a course would help my chances of career progression so I enrolled in the Diploma in PR run by the PRII. After nine months of intense study and weekly online tutorials, I graduated with a First Class Honours in January, 2024.

Hobbies: I need to get out for a walk every day to clear my head and I’m really lucky to have the beautiful Murphy’s Farm walkway nearby. I took up sauna and sea swimming last year and I love to get down to Garrettstown Beach whenever I can. I try to get to a reformer pilates class at least once a week and I love to read and catch up with friends whenever I can.

Describe your job in five words: Busy, creative, social, varied, and flexible.

Describe yourself in five words: Friendly, organised, efficient, caring and fun.

Personality needed for this kind of work? You need to be extremely organised, dynamic and driven. At Healy Communications, each client manager has their own group of clients, some ongoing and some for a one-off campaign. The clients are from a wide range of industries including finance, hospitality, health, sport, events and the charity sector. They come to us because they have a story to tell and they want us to help them get that message out to the public through various means, whether that be through mainstream media or social media.

Someone might want to raise awareness of their business or they could be opening a new premises or launching a new product. We need to be clear about their objective and put forward the message that we believe will be most appealing to their target audience.

How long are you doing this job? A little over two years.

How did you get this job? I did my Leaving Cert when I was 17 and had absolutely no idea what I wanted to do. When I graduated from college, I was still none-the-wiser and I ended up getting a maternity cover post in a primary school where I was teaching children in First and Second class.

At the time, I didn’t feel it was the right job for me and I thought about going back to college to do journalism. However, a junior reporter job came up with the Athlone Topic newspaper and it was here that I started an extremely fulfilling and satisfying 20-year career in journalism. We had no social media to make connections so it was very much a case of attending everything and talking to everyone. It was a great training ground as I learned so much during my time there.

Through my work with the Athlone Topic newspaper, I got to know the team in Midlands 103 radio and a vacancy came up in the newsroom there. I had always wanted to work in broadcasting but didn’t have the confidence to pursue it, so when the opportunity arose, I jumped at the chance. Again, I learned a huge amount from my year at Midlands 103, which consisted of a mix of reporting and news reading.

After that, I was headhunted by Cork’s RedFM and I moved to Cork to start a job as an on-street news reporter. I had no previous knowledge of Cork and didn’t know anyone here at all, but the team at Red were fantastic and I made some really good friends there.

After 10-years and the birth of my first baby, an opportunity for a senior news reporter role with Cork’s 96FM and C103 arose and I was delighted to take on this new challenge. It was a really busy, fast-paced job and the daily schedule could change in a matter of seconds. I went the length and breadth of Cork reporting on so many different stories. It presented amazing opportunities and I met some really incredible people who shared their stories with me. I worked with a great team and we went on to win a number of accolades for our coverage of events, including the flooding of Cork city in 2019.

I worked with the news team for six years but I wanted a job with a bit more routine as it was getting more difficult to juggle work and home life. I joined the Opinion Line with PJ Coogan as Editor and Senior Producer and was given the chance to present the show when PJ was off, which I absolutely loved!

A new opportunity arose two and a half years ago when Healy Communications were looking for a Client Manager and I was looking for a new challenge. When I started, it was a shock to the system as I was so used to working in news, but with the support of my phenomenal colleagues, I quickly settled in and there was no looking back.

Do you need particular qualifications or experience? Experience is crucial! A good, strong knowledge of the media is an essential part of what we do. Everyone at Healy Communications comes from a background in media so we have a good understanding of what journalists want and how to put forward the best story for our clients.

Describe a day at work: No two days are the same. Some days I might have to go out to a photoshoot or an event or I might be meeting with a client in-person. Some days I could have lots of online meetings and other days I might have no meetings at all, but those days I am usually very busy going through emails, writing press releases, putting plans together, and pitching to journalists for interviews for clients.

How many hours do you work a week? 40 hours a week

What do you wear to work? I work from home most of the time so I’m usually in leggings, but I love when I have to go out and I get an opportunity to change into something a bit smarter. And put make-up on!

Is your industry male or female dominated? Female

Does this affect you in any particular way? Not at all.

Is your job stressful? How? Rate it on a scale of 1-10: Most of the time it’s not very stressful but it can get a bit overwhelming on really busy days.

Do you work with others or on your own? My colleagues and I all work remotely so I’m on my own a lot, but we have an extremely active WhatsApp group and we try to get together as much as we can, which is always very enjoyable.

When do you plan to retire or give up working? I love the idea of retiring early but I actually think I’d get bored very quickly, so who knows!

Best bits: Seeing a client get coverage in the media is always a positive.

Worst bits: Working from home full-time offers fantastic flexibility but it can feel a bit isolating at times.

Advice to those who want your job? Lists are your friend! There’s a lot happening on any given day and it’s important to keep track of everything you’re doing. And check and double check that everything is correct before you press send. Jonathan Healy gave me great advice when I started - measure twice, cut once - and it’s advice I live by now.

Any other comments? Don’t be afraid to take chances if it’s a job you really want.

If you would like to feature in My Career in our Women on Wednesday supplement please email mary.corcoran@theecho.ie