Daring to dream is a scary exercise. The mental gymnastics that occur post-graduation when choosing a career and entering the corporate world of work is enough to send anyone into a tailspin.
But, Shruti Gupta, account executive at Harvard was not shaky on the dismount. And her landing? You can read on and see for yourself.
Having secured a degree in journalism from Delhi University in 2022, Gupta had realised that the PR modules in her course were most appealing to her.
“When I reached the PR modules, I really liked it,” says Gupta, who undertook two PR internships while still in India with Edelman and Deloitte, as she still “wasn’t sure” whether public relations was definitely for her.
But, after gaining six months of experience in the sector, Gupta felt so certain about PR that she packed up her bags and moved to Cardiff to study a masters degree in international PR and global communications management.
“I've had tunnel vision towards the communications industry. I've been told that, especially here [in the UK] that people don't plan on being in PR. They somehow end up in it [from studying degrees like] English literature or history.”
She’s leaving home
Gupta explains that, culturally, her decision to move away from her family to study PR in the UK was a controversial one. She says that as a result, it “took a lot of time” to convince herself, and her family, that it was the right thing to do.
“It took a lot of strength and self courage,” explains Gupta, who had to navigate making new friends, and understanding university life in a new country, all while trying to get into the communications field — with English as her second language.
Gupta has grafted to get here. The process to enter the UK is famously not easy, and as legislation continues to change, the competition to secure a role above a UK-native has only grown.
When asked what she thinks made her stand out above other applicants, she explains: “What worked for me was having got enough [writing and PR-based] internships to have hands-on experience working in comms in general. I think that’s a transferable skill that travels across continents.
“Having a good working knowledge of the media landscape, and having those transferable written and communication skills were all a big help to me.
“It’s not easy to find a job in another country. You do have a tougher battle to begin with so you just have to put in the leg work, as you’ll have less of a chance than most people.
“If you build a strong profile [with experience and internships] then you’ll get a better chance. I know a lot of PR agencies in the UK do that, and Harvard gave me a chance and I’m grateful for that.
“In terms of daily struggles, having to worry about your visa or when it expires, getting a sponsored job or paying for it yourself, it's always tougher. It’s not easy and it’s always changing and there’s uncertainty of what immigration rule might change next.
She completed her masters in September 2023, and was interviewing for her first job in PR at Harvard by early October.
“I’m still here two years later,” she laughs. “It’s my first proper PR job and I’m glad I chose Harvard because it has given me a good support system that I needed to understand what I was doing.”
Getting it covered
Gupta tells me that her proudest, and biggest learning moment since joining Harvard revolved around coverage.
“The first bit of coverage I got; I submitted some quotes to the journalist and saw the coverage appear,” she says.
“Now I do that on a daily basis with nationals and trades, it’s what's expected of me, but the first one was a moment of [realising] this is happening, I think I’m understanding what I’m supposed to do.
“Over time it has become my responsibility to know what the media wants and what my clients want.”
The reason this moment was, perhaps slightly more influential for Gupta than your average junior PR is simple.
“I work in my second language,” she reminds. “Even if I'm fluent, it also comes with challenges with cultural translation.
“The background I grew up with has very direct language so [for example,] if I have a friend or colleague sitting by me and I need a pen, I can just nudge them and say ‘pass me the pen’, but apparently British language is about being polite and adding words like ‘please’ and ‘can you’.
“I had to do a lot of conditioning in my head to add the filler words in, as even though I may not mean to be rude, it can come across that way. I’m still learning.
“Talking in general with clients, colleagues, or senior management does take a lot of composure and preparation. It doesn’t come naturally to anyone and I still think of myself as a newbie in the UK three years in.”
Gupta mentions in her interview that she suffered with imposter syndrome during her first year at Harvard, and in the UK. She says that this was caused by a combination of things in her personal and professional life, but that talking to colleagues helped the clouds of doubt to dissipate.
When I asked how imposter syndrome struck her in that first year, Gupta says: “Even though I’ve studied PR, comms and journalism, I don’t think anything prepares you to implement what you learned at university in daily life, especially on the agency side.
“We weren’t taught how to deal with client pressures, building relationships or handling multiple deadlines for multiple clients, alongside reporting, writing content and general things like being involved in agency life or bonding with colleagues.
“That wasn’t something I was prepared for, it took me a good few months to understand how to manage my time and resourcing, trying to fathom and understand so many clients messaging at the same time.
“That was definitely something that had to take time. It was more about me entering corporate life, and it could have happened anywhere.
“I had to understand time management, what I should prioritise when every task given to me was supposedly urgent. Time management is definitely something I struggled with in the first few months.”
Life lessons
Alongside the pressures of working in an agency, and working in the B2B tech PR sector, which has a lot of “jargon” to decipher and understand, Gupta says that media relations was initially something she found daunting.
“When I started in PR, I would always hear about people having a black book of journalists that they are really good friends with, and I didn’t know how soon that needed to happen.
“How soon should I be doing that? How soon should I have a circle of journalists that I have good connections with?
“That was something that took practice. I had a chat with the strategic media team at Harvard about how to bag those journalist relationships. It doesn’t happen on emails, no relationship happens on emails so you have to go out for coffee or attend professional networking events.
“I have been working tremendously hard on that this year and building my network.”
Thinking of the former version of herself, the Gupta that had just arrived in the UK to take a rather large bite out of the PR sector, she muses: “I [wish I had] started being more of myself quicker, rather than a timid version of me. Then I might have felt better, sooner.
“I would tell myself that I know you feel like an imposter and this is imposter syndrome telling you that you don’t belong, you don’t know enough, or that you don’t understand PR even after two degrees and multiple editorial and PR internships before you ever got your first job.”
What helped? Getting involved in agency life and putting her voice behind a cause she is passionate about.
“What helps me is being engaged in advocating for diversity for PR in the UK, as it is very white and finding spaces for [diverse PR professionals] can be hard. Harvard just partnered with People Like Us and we do a lot of work with Taylor Bennett Foundation so I am connected with those initiatives.
“Agency life can be tough but I think bringing that diversity and personality, and advocating for it, wherever you go is really important.”
Shruti Gupta is due to appear as a guest on PRmoment’s The Career Edit Podcast to discuss her experience with imposter syndrome later this month.
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