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Benn Bennett

Communications Trainee
What employment sector do you work in?

NGO

How long have you had a green job for nature?

12 months

Salary Range

£20,000 – £25,000

Please describe the work that you do.

A lot of my role is about coordinating press opportunities so that researchers have a chance to get more eyes on their important work. I liaise with a lot of people to make this happen: journalists, academics, other communications professionals, publishers… It’s a lot of organising! I also write press releases that get sent out to relevant publications.

What do you most like about your job? Any dislikes?

I love that I get to write a lot, it’s nice to be using my skills. I also really enjoy learning about science and environmental topics that I wasn’t aware of before. Sometimes those things can be quite confusing. It took me a long time to get my head around regenerative agriculture, for instance. But I take it one step at a time, and I’m gradually building my knowledge.

What inspired you into this career? 

University wasn’t really for me, and I knew that I didn’t want to continue working in a hospitality job like I had been for the previous 5 years. I didn’t aim particularly to be working in communications, but in retrospect, it’s ended up being a great fit for me.

Have you faced any challenges in progressing your career so far? 

I don’t come from a science background academically, so the majority of challenges I’ve faced have come from the wider science community being pretty inaccessible to those who don’t have PhDs. But by working within the environmental sector, I’ve been trying to increase the level of accessibility by my own means. Sometimes you have to be the change you want to see!

What education/training did you have?

None! I dropped out of university twice, doing courses completely unrelated to science. I’m quite proud of the fact that I’ve made it into a traditional job without a degree. Non-traditional pathways into work definitely need to be shouted about more in the UK.

What advice would you give to someone coming into the profession? 

I would say to just trust your own instinct. It’s usually quite obvious if something isn’t the correct fit for you, so just keep going until you find something that clicks.

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Tags: England, NGO, entry-level, trainee, media and communications, desk-based

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