Learnings from Alastair Harris-Cartwright, Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications of Siemens Healthineers, Canada.
Written by Shivika Adhwaryu, an aspiring Public Relations professional from Seneca College.
Alastair Harris-Cartwright arrived in Toronto, Canada in 2008 from London, United Kingdom, with over 8 years of experience in the field of Public Relations by that time. But, his lack of Canadian work experience, posed major challenges in his goal of working as a PR professional in the country. This article will explain how Alastair navigated the Canadian job market and succeeded as a newcomer.
Since 2008, Alastair has led communications at the Ontario Genomics Institute (OGI), the Canadian Stewardship Services Alliance (CSSA), and managed media and marketing communications at the regulator Law Society of Ontario. Currently, he heads the Marketing and Corporate Communications of Siemens Healthiness Canada, and he has over 20 years of experience in the field of Public Relations.
The Journey From London to Toronto
During his time in the UK, Alastair Harris-Cartwright managed corporate communications for General Electric (GE), Visa, British Gas, GlaxoSmithKline, Waste Management, and the Co-operative Group. Additionally, he was responsible for managing campaigns for the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Celebrations.
Alastair’s work for PR agencies in London, provided him with a strong foundation in diverse sectors ranging from pharmaceuticals to finance. With his experience in multiple PR agencies across various sectors, he realized he had “a natural bent for certain sectors such as healthcare.”
Following his passion, during the end of his agency days in London, he started focusing on more healthcare organizations. Further, after moving to Canada, he focused on work related to genomics and now is working for a medical device organization. ” It gives me a warm glow at the end of the day knowing that I am doing something for people’s health,” said Alastair.
Tackling the Canadian Job Market
After moving to Canada, Alastair conducted several interviews with PR agencies and other organizations for in-house roles. Despite having extensive experience in the PR industry in London, he received pushbacks due to the lack of Canadian experience.
To overcome the need for the Canadian experience, Alastair leveraged his agency experience in diverse sectors in London to explain the extremes of different clients he handled, from representing pharmaceutical companies to companies that print lasers on eggs. He used these examples to highlight his experience in various sectors and emphasize that he could handle all challenges based on his strong understanding of PR and his ability to apply his skill set to multiple sectors which he gathered over decades of experience. Leveraging his knowledge and skills, he expressed confidence that he could successfully also handle PR in Canada.
Tips to get into the Industry of PR, Marketing and Communications in Canada
Networking is key! Getting involved in as many organizations as possible, reaching out to people in the industry, and asking about their experience and advice will help you to learn from their experiences and navigate your career better, explained Alastair.
Another piece of advice he shared is to slow down, take a step back to learn as much as possible, and become a sponge of knowledge. For instance, don’t suddenly go into a PR agency and expect to be an account manager within a year. It is important to ” learn to walk before you can run,” said Alastair.
