Open

Options
Open Options Careers in Communications: Event planner and technical writer

Careers in Communications: Event Planners and Technical Writer

Open

Options
Open Options Careers in Communications: Event Planner and Technical Writer

Prepared for: Jenna Jones 25446 Rose Lane Shamburg, IL 60632

Prepared by: Shelly Kasper Career Consultant 23654 Fair Sky Street Naperville, IL 60564

Date: October 20th, 2013

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October 20, 2013

Jenna Jones 128 Cheshire Lane Aurora, IL 60504

Dear Mrs. Jones: This packet is the report you asked for on the tenth of October. In this report you will find two different career options that match the criteria you listed. Event planner and Technical writer are several options of careers you can look into with a degree in communications. In this report you will read about the pros and cons of each career option. You will also be presented with a summary of each option, compensation and the education needed. Lastly I will give you advice as to which one I think will be best for you. I thank you for choosing Open Options and I hope this report will help you become successful in whichever career you select.

Sincerely

Shelly Kasper Open Options Career Consultant

Table of Contents

Introduction .................................................................................................. 6 Everyday Tasks .................................................................................................. 7 Salary ..................................................................................................8 Education .................................................................................................. 9 Recommendation and Analysis ........................................................................... 10 Appendix .................................................................................................. 11 References .................................................................................................. 12

Graphs and Tables

Figure 1: Event Planner Salary .........................................................................8 Figure 2: Technical Writer Salary ......................................................................... 8 Figure 3: Job growth ......................................................................... 10

Communications Career Comparison: Event Planner and Technical Writer

Introduction

The communications industry is one that is rapidly changing and growing. Career options in communications are mainly careers that inform and entertain people. This industry greatly contributes to the economy. It is estimated that the industry of communications has contributed greater than 500 billion dollars to the economy in the previous year. (Gale Encyclopedia of US History). You have decided to pursue a degree in communications which means you will have the opportunity to be part of this growing career field.

You would like to know more about the career options available with this degree, so I would like to explain two of them for you. Based on your interests in working with people being creative and writing two suggested career options are event planner and technical writer. These careers have major differences but are both options for communications majors. I will provide you with information and compare each. Hopefully after reading about both of them you can make a decision. You said that you were most interested in knowing a general overview of what professionals in each career do. You also stated that you wanted to know how much you would make yearly and if it would be enough to support yourself. Lastly you told us that the amount of education was also important because you did not want to further your education beyond a bachelors degree. I will analyze these aspects of each job and in return this should make it more clearly for you which career option will be best. If you are still a little unsure I will recommend what I think is the best fit.

Everyday Tasks

Knowing what you will be doing on the job should be the most important thing in making a career decision. In most cases you have to like what you do because this is what you might be doing until you retire. If you like what you do you are also more likely to perform well on the job or be able to advance. The more you know about a possible career the better you can judge if it is right for you. Event planners do a variety of different tasks such as decided on where a party or meeting will be held, choose the best time, organize transportation, work with catering companies to arrange food, try to decide on the best prices and work with technology. Event planners coordinate every detail of a specific event. They oftentimes attend the events to ensure that everything goes smoothly and that the client is happy with everything. (Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010). This sometimes means working odd or long hours. The first step in planning an event is contacting or meeting with your client to determine the purpose of the event and to estimate attendance and costs. Since most event planners work in offices they sometimes have meetings by using digital technology such as Facetime and Skype. Some examples of events an event planner may arrange are meetings, weddings and conventions (Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010). Another career that is also obtainable with a degree in Communications is technical writer. Technical writers can be seen as a creative career as well, but not in the sense that event planners are. Technical writers create documents or manuals and they translate complex technical writing into something that can be more easily read by the general public (Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010). It is important for these writers to know how specific things work so that they can explain them clearly and effectively. It is also good to know a bit about another subject such as engineering, computer since or web design because they often work with these individuals (Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010). Technical writers must establish what the needs of the user are and what the message they are trying to get across is. They also study product designs and develop images charts and graphs. They also must be willing to revise what they have written if there are any issues (Occupational Outlook Handbook, 2010). Technical writers often work in an office as part of a team.

Salary

Although it is important to choose a career you will enjoy, salary can also be a deciding factor when it comes to choosing the right career. In both cases the compensation can depend on where you live, how much experience you have and who you work for. As shown in figure 1, for event planners the annual wage can be anywhere from $26,560 to $79,270 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). The Industries with the highest compensation are usually ones in big cities (Careers in event planning). The demand for event planners is expected to grow faster than average within the next years, so this is a great time to become an event planner.

Although the demand for technical writers will only be about as fast as average, they do earn significantly more on average than event planners do. This may be because more education could be involved, but I will explain this later. The annual wage for technical writers shown in figure 2 can range anywhere from $38,700-$101,660 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012). Again there is such a difference in how much they make because it depends on factors such as where you live and experience.

Figure 1
Percentile Hourly Wage 10% $12.77 25% $16.79 50% (Median) $22.02 75% $28.98 90% $38.11

Annual Wage (2) $26,560 $34,930 $45,810 $60,280 $79,270

Figure 2
Percentile Hourly Wage 10% $18.61 25% $24.00 50% (Median) $31.49 75% $40.00 90% $48.87

Annual Wage (2) $38,700 $49,910 $65,500 $83,190 $101,660

Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2012.

Education
In both career fields education will be necessary to get the position. Both require a degree of some sort, but with both a degree in communications could help get your foot in the door. I would like you to keep in mind that these are two extremely different careers although you can get into both of them by studying communications. As stated in the Occupational Outlook Handbook event planners can come from many different academic disciplines. For example: public relations, communications, and marketing, business and hospitality management. It is always a good thing to try to have some experience or internship before deciding if this is the write career choice for you. You should ask your school counselor about the various places that you can gain experience through internships. Another option would be to gain experience by starting small and planning your own events to get your name around. Look into the possibility of planning a smaller event such as a wedding. Most of the stills you will gain will be through experience (Occupational Handbook, 2012). The Occupational Handbook also explains the necessary measures one must take in order to become a technical writer. Technical writers sometimes begin as research assistants in fields such as engineering, web design or medicine (Occupational Handbook, 2012). They do this to gain experience in another subject other than what they are studying. Some technical writers have degrees in communications, English or Journalism (Occupational Handbook, 2012). To gain more experience new technical writers are sometimes asked to observe more experienced technical writers. Some technical writers also do freelance work and it is part of their job to train the new people.

Recommendation and Analysis

This report explained two diverse career choices in the field of communications and presented information on the job duties, salary and education needed for each. Event planner and technical writer are very different jobs, but both require good communication skills. Event planner is more of a fast paced job where you will interact with many people while planning the event, whereas technical writer is more of a laid back job and although you must interact with people most of the time is spent writing documents. Both careers also require creativity, organizational skills and computer skills (careers in event planning). Based on the information you provided me about yourself, I suggest you consider becoming an event planner. You said that you wanted a career where you get to interact with people and be creative. You also told me that you were pretty organized and that you were currently taking a computers class. Based on the fact that you would rather work with people more I would suggest event planning. As stated earlier the demand for event planners has been growing and is expected to grow even more in the next few years (careers in event planning). Figure 4 shows the differences in growth for each career over the next few years. According to the graph, this would be an excellent time to take advantage of pursuing a career as an event planner. Although technical writers do get paid more on average you said that money was not as important as doing something you will enjoy. As for education event planning will require a bachelors degree and technical writing will as well, but there may be more education involved with technical writing because you also need experience with a technical subject such as engineering or web design. I do not think you wanted to spend time studying a technical subject. With event planning you can interact with people more as well as use your other skills you have. This is what I recommend you peruse a career in.
50 40 30 20 10 0 Event Technical Planner writer

Figure3. Adapted from Bureau of Labor Statistics [Occuplational Handbook], 2012.

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Appendix: Additional Resources

1. The Event Planning Industry http://www.entrepreneur.com/downloads/guides/1313_Event_Planning_ch1.pdf

2. Chicago Illinois Meeting Planning Overview http://www.cvent.com/rfp/chicago-il-guide/meeting-event-planningcdf451ce69fe42ee8260a234aeb97aeb.aspx 3. Independent Writers of Chicago http://www.iwoc.org/ 4. Technical Writer's Handbook: Writing With Style and Clarity [Paperback]

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References

Careers in Event Planning a Beginners Guide to Everything Events.(2007).Event Planning Job Description. Retrieved from http://www.careers-in-event-planning.com/event-planning-jobdescription.html

Bureau of Labor Statistics. ( 2012, July 11).Occupational Handbook [Meeting, Convention and Event Planners].Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/ooh/business-and-financial/meetingconvention-and-event-planners.htm Bureau of Labor Statistics. ( 2012, March 29). Occupational Handbook [Technical Writers]. Retrieved from http://www.bls.gov/ooh/media-and-communication/technical-writers.htm US New.(2013). Meeting, Convention and Event Planers. Retrieved from http://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/meeting-convention-and-event-planner

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