To continue our support of Elly Hoult’s ‘Choose Housing’ CIH presidential campaign, we’re sharing another blog written by one of our friends and comms contacts from the housing sector.
We want to continue to share how great a career in housing comms can be, as well as offer some tips and insights for anyone considering a role in the sector.
Mike Carhart-Harris, Senior Communications Manager at Magna Housing
I’ll be honest, my entry into social housing came at a difficult time. But it was also just the right time, and place.
A few years ago, I set myself a somewhat vain target of becoming a head of communications by the time I was 40. Quite why the job title and age milestone mattered so much to me, I don’t know. I’ve never been a consciously ambitious person. Older (in my mid-40s) and hopefully a bit wiser, I’ve come to realise that doing meaningful work alongside brilliant people for a purpose you believe in is what really counts.
I spent the first eight years of my career as a music and film journalist. At the end of my 20s, I left the glamour of movie premieres, junkets and overseas press trips behind to get married and settle down in my adopted home county of Dorset. The best decision I ever made!
After nearly 10 years as a local government comms officer, trying unsuccessfully for numerous senior public sector roles, I took a sideways step to join the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI). Working for a big national charity I’d supported since a boy was a dream. It gave me the opportunity to work on some truly rewarding campaigns as well as being part of an awesome comms team that braved a few almighty social media and tabloid storms.
But the itch to move to a more strategic role returned and I finally landed a job as head of comms for a very small charity. Suffice to say, it wasn’t all I’d hoped and, only a few months later, I was left seeking a new opportunity. Which is when Magna Housing came along.
From my interview to now, just over two years on, my experience of joining Magna has been a warm feeling of coming home. Having only ever done comms in the non-profit space, both public sector and charities, social housing feels somewhere in the middle. Colleagues’ belief in the mission of creating safe, secure homes for people to build lives is palpable, even when it feels our sector is in the media crosshairs – often for good reasons.
Having joined as a multi-tasking business partner, since last summer I’ve been proud to lead a small but brilliant comms team of four. The learning curve has been steep – I admit to having been shamefully ignorant of the issues facing our customers, such as damp and mould. I’ve made a conscious effort to educate myself through working with colleagues, reading, and hearing social housing tenants’ lived experiences.
It’s an important, compelling time to work in housing communications. Our opportunity to share stories that can influence long-term change in tackling the dire shortage of decent, affordable homes has never been bigger. I’d recommend a job in the sector to anyone who wants to communicate stories that can change hearts, minds and policy for the better. The simple idea of the fundamental value of having somewhere to live is a driving force, and we need great storytellers to help make it happen.
Mike will be a panelist in the first of our new See Media Masterclasses, ‘Getting Crisis Comms Right in Social Housing’, on 6th March. Sign up for the free webinar here.
