Meeting and interacting with new people allowed me to develop excellent interpersonal skills

Chevening Networking Essay

Chevening is looking for individuals with strong professional relationship building skills, who will engage with the Chevening community and influence and lead others in their chosen profession. Please explain how you build and maintain relationships in a professional capacity, using clear examples of how you currently do this, and outline how you hope to use these skills in the future.

Your feedback and criticism would be much appreciated!
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During university and my few years of work experience I had the opportunity to travel to many places in Europe, Africa and the GCC. Travelling has had a great hand in developing my character. Meeting and interacting with new people and seeing different cultures allowed me to develop excellent interpersonal skills and have given me a great deal of adaptability and adjustment potential. My high school years had also helped me develop my social skills and positioned me outside my comfort zone, moving from Sudan to the UAE, a country known for its cultural biodiversity has taught me a lot and allowed me to meet people from different backgrounds.

Pursuing a career in public relations requires strong networking and communication skills. The position itself revolves around building relations in the media industry. By nature, I like to consider myself as a social and outgoing individual, and my profession presents me with the perfect opportunity to widen my expertise in the media network.

An example worth mentioning is the opening of Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi; the newly opened theme park is a client I handle that debuted in Abu Dhabi this July. The park is considered the first Warner Bros. branded indoor theme park in the world, and as part of planning the grand opening event I was required to invite media personnel from all of the UAE, UK, Germany, Russia, China, India, KSA and Kuwait. This was a lengthy process of confirming RSVP's and liaising with journalists to organise interviews with spokespeople, flights and hotel bookings, however it was a great networking exercise.

Confirming media attendance in the UAE was an easy task, due to the strong relationship I've built with them through pitching features, sending press releases, organising interviews, working on CSR campaigns or inviting them to coffee. By the end of the event, my team and I were able to confirm a total of 200+ journalists from print, online and broadcast outlets including Sky News Arabia, CNN, CNBC Arabia, Forbes and The Sun, amongst other top tier publications.

The success of this project and the strong relations I've built in the UAE media were extremely rewarding, however I believe by building similar relations in Sudan I will be able to raise awareness and help place small companies on the map. There is a lot of great potential and talent in Sudan that is in need for the right exposure through the right advertising, marketing and PR. From the knowledge and skills I gain through the Chevening programme I wish to start an PR and Advertising agency that will serve as a consulting firm for start ups to help them develop clear strategies and actions plans that will look both at the traditional and creative aspects of their businesses.

Rowan, the focus of this essay is your professional capacity to create, maintain, and use a network geared towards use in your professional career either through problem solving or career advancement opportunities. That said, you need to take out the story about your childhood and moving around and the reference to your high school life. This is not an autobiography, this is supposed to be a professional networking essay.

For your new draft you can use paragraphs 2-4. These are the most notable networking references you can use as a response. However, you will need to develop your networking skills further by showing it in action. As part of the liaison team between the park and the international media, what sort of contacts did you have to use? The idea is that you were able to do this job because you already had a pre organized network that was applicable to this task. Discuss how you formed the network that you eventually used for this task. Explain how you utilized the network by depicting the role it played in the success of your duties and responsibilities.

Your final paragraph should close by highlighting the importance of your network to the Chevening alumna who work in a related field. Reiterate the uniqueness of your network and explain how your addition can help better not only Chevening as a community, as Chevening as a scholarship foundation as well.

Hi Holt, thanks for the feedback. Below is my revised essay. Thanks.

Pursuing a career in public relations requires strong networking and communication skills. The position itself revolves around building relations in the media industry. By nature, I like to consider myself as a social and outgoing individual, and my profession presents me with the perfect opportunity to widen my expertise in the media network.

During my first public relations position, my understanding of media relations was only theoretical but was never applied in real life. I had moved to Dubai, a thriving city known for its skyscrapers and diversity. I was eager to adapt and expand my social network. Seeing my co-workers acquire strong relations with journalists in fashion and lifestyle publications such as TimeOut Dubai, Emirates Woman and Esquire, motivated me to build and hone my own networking skills. I handled various fashion clients including Ted Baker, PUMA, and BCBGMAXAZRIA, all of which required me to research and reach out to bloggers in the fashion scene via email or social media for photo shoots, product reviews and fashion show invites. Maintaining relationships with bloggers was fairly easy, considering they enjoy the sponsorship so it was a mutually beneficial opportunity for both the client and the blogger.

An example worth mentioning during my second job is the opening of Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi; the newly opened theme park is a client I handle that debuted in Abu Dhabi this past July. The park is considered the first Warner Bros. branded indoor theme park in the world, and as part of planning the grand opening event I was required to invite media personnel from all of the UAE, UK, Germany, Russia, China, India, KSA and Kuwait. This was a lengthy process of confirming RSVP's and liaising with journalists to organize interviews with spokespeople, flights and hotel bookings, but was a great networking exercise.

Reaching out to journalists in the target markets was part of a great team effort. I coordinated with the company's offices in London, Moscow, Beijing, Delhi, Riyadh and Kuwait City to connect with journalists, and this in turn allowed me to strengthen my relationship with colleagues in the wider network. Their knowledge of the different markets guided my media relations and presented valuable insights.

Confirming media attendance in the UAE was an easy task, due to the strong relationships I've built through pitching features, sending press releases, organizing interviews, working on CSR campaigns or even inviting them to coffee. By the end of the event, my team and I were able to confirm a total of 200+ journalists from print, online and broadcast outlets including Sky News Arabia, CNN, CNBC Arabia, Forbes and The Sun, amongst other top tier publications.

I found the success of this project highly rewarding, working with media personnel from various markets taught me the uniqueness of each market, and how operations on one side of the world are carried out differently elsewhere. The knowledge and skills I've gained, specifically handling a project as immense as Warner Bros. World Abu Dhabi taught me a plethora of skills in relationship building. Other than that, I have well-established relationships within the UAE and GCC media, and I will be delighted to provide Chevening scholars and alumna with insights on PR and media relations in the Middle East, as well as organize brainstorming sessions to discuss the changing trends in PR including creative growth, integrated communication, digital presence and personal branding.