Tanya de Grunwald, a careers expert and founder of Graduate Fog says: “Speculative applications always feel like a long shot, but they can be a brilliant method of job hunting, especially when done by email as it’s so quick to do. The ‘hit rate’ isn’t high, but you don’t need it to be. If you send 100 emails and get five back saying ‘Maybe’, that’s still five strong leads that you didn’t have before.”

When sending speculative applications, Tanya suggests: “It pays to make sure you’re emailing the right person. If you’re targeting large companies, avoid emailing HR. Instead, find the name of the person running the department you would like to work in. If you’re approaching smaller companies, use their website to get a feel for who might be the best person to approach.”

To get the tone of your speculative just right, “Make sure you’re clear on exactly how you can help them, this is something graduates often get wrong. They’re not going to give you a job because you need experience. They’ll give you a job because they think you can help them.”, Tanya says.

From this chart, we can see the following trendss:

• The average salary of the four jobs is £19,750, just a few hundred shy of £20,000.
• Events assistant is better paid that an engagement manager position, an entry level post in internal communications

Sources: You can view the four entry level jobs by clicking here, here, here and here.

By continuing to study the codes behind salaries in entry-level PR, vox-popPRcareers helps graduate PRs have the right information they need to apply for the best-paying jobs.

The key trend from this data is that senior PRs are being recruited and looked for. This chart shows that there are less junior PR roles being advertised than there are senior roles.