Communication Career Uplift: the skills new comms professionals need now

The communications profession is changing faster than ever, and for people starting out, that can feel daunting. At this week's IABC Asia Pacific webinar, Communication Career Uplift, three experienced voices from across the region unpacked what's really shifting in the industry, and what emerging professionals can do about it.

The panel brought together Ritzi Villarico-Ronquillo APR, IABC Fellow (Adjunct Faculty, Asian Institute of Management, Philippines, and a communications professional of 46 years), Michelle Low (Talent Acquisition Consultant, Singapore, who moved from a 20-year comms and PR career into recruitment and HR), and Mahir Munot (journalism student at UTS Sydney, Channel Nine, and IABC New South Wales board member). Here are the key takeaways from their conversation.

Be a comms "Swiss Army knife" — with an AI edge

Employers now expect communicators to write across every format and tie that work back to hard business outcomes like sales growth. As Michelle Low explained: "You've got to be able to write for different types of mediums, whether it's socials, storyboards, video, or a long speech for your CEO." AI literacy is also now a baseline skill. "It's not just about the prompting," she said, "but how you're using AI to make your processes more efficient."

Your volunteer experience is real career capital

Board positions, student ambassador roles and community volunteering all count as genuine professional experience, particularly for students and new graduates. Mahir Munot credits much of his own career progress to it: "One of the things that's landed me some of my favourite career opportunities has been talking about my volunteer experience, and relating that experience, whether or not it's paid, to the values, job and skills required."

Build a personal brand that matches your industry

A strong personal brand can open doors before you ever walk into the room. "I made an impression before the first impression through my personal brand," Mahir said. The panel's advice: choose the platform that matches your industry (LinkedIn for corporate comms, a personal website or video for journalism), then show your skills consistently rather than just talking about them.

Know your core

With so much changing, the panel agreed that self-awareness is what lasts. Ritzi Villarico-Ronquillo put it simply: "Are you valued because of your position, your resources, your network, your influence, which is finite, or are you valued for who you are? And that is infinite." Understanding your own strengths and "adversity quotient" gives you a stable base through the pivots ahead.

Showing up still matters

Employers across the region are increasingly asking staff back on site, and "proximity bias" is real. As Michelle Low put it: "If you're not there, people forget you, and if there's a project that needs to be done, they may forget to give it to you."

Thank you to our panellists for such a generous and practical conversation.