Marcel Klebba and I are creating a virtual school to share our expertise in communications. We hope you’ll join us.

There’s a gap between what students are taught at college or university and what you need to know to get ahead at work. Mentoring, work placements, and initiatives such as Richard Bailey’s #PRstudent blogging community all help.

I’ve recently landed at Metia, the digital marketing agency as managing director. Among my new colleagues is Marcel Klebba, the Westminster University graduate that captured industry attention in 2016 thanks to his relentless approach to blogging and networking.

I’ve known Marcel since he approached me for advice on blogging, and then sought help with his dissertation on personal branding. We don’t talk about the fact that he beat me to PR Blogger of the Year in 2017.

What we have been discussing is how we could help people that are looking to get ahead in their career, as well as create a talent pipeline for our agency.

We’ve both run workshops and speaking events, but neither are scalable, and they’re only accessible to people that can attend in person.

In March we’re launching Comms School. It’s a community for anyone that’s keen to learn practical communication skills to get ahead in their job.

During the initial 12-week semester we’ll cover the basic skills you need to land a job and get ahead. These including blogging, social media and networking.

The course will be entirely free. It will consist of a series of six fortnightly webinars and community discussions. We hope to add guest lectures along the way.

1. Blogging 101: How to start a blog, how to find your niche, what platform to use;

2. Blogging 102: Finding inspiration for content, how to make writing a habit, distribution and finding your community;

3. Social presence and personal branding online: Tips on how to make a standout social profiles that will help landing a top role;

4. Finding your community: Tapping into your niche, creating lists, joining conversations, and exploring the benefits of a community;

5. Content creation: Finding your purpose, why creating content and getting out and about matters, where to begin and how to keep getting inspired;

6. Finding a job and getting ahead: Summary of top lessons from the series, how to find the right role and how to succeed in it; Q&A.

We’re building a virtual classroom on Facebook. There will be homework. Please come and join us. Lessons start on 5 March.