Although Buckingham Palace Communications Assistant has a great reputation, it is actually an "entry-level position" with zero qualifications and a low threshold.
▲资料图：凯特王妃及家人。 图/新华社文 | 陶短房
According to reference news on March 21, citing foreign media reports, the British Princess Kate still has not appeared in public, and in this whirlpool, Buckingham Palace is looking for a communication assistant with a salary of 25,642.50 pounds and a total of 37.5 hours from Monday to Friday. Buckingham Palace posted the April job posting on its website earlier this week, and it was quickly picked up by a lot of media.
According to the job posting, the company was Royal Communications, working in the Private Secretary's Office, based at Buckingham Palace in London, "but may travel to various parts of the UK to support visits and other activities", and the nature of the job is full-time.
Because they work full-time, communication assistants are entitled to a "non-contributory pension scheme" (i.e. employers contribute the equivalent of 15% of their annual salary, with individuals contributing more if they wish), free lunches on weekdays, annual leave of not less than 25 days and no more than 30 days per year, and "a range of leave options to support your life priorities, such as parental leave and volunteering days, as well as benefits to support your physical and mental health". There is also a 20% discount at the Royal Collection Trust stores across the country, free admission to all royal public open areas, "and many more exclusive staff discounts".
The main duties of a Communications Assistant are to "assist senior colleagues in active and passive communication", "facilitate and supervise media knowledge of royal activities at the Royal Residence and other locations", "produce content for various platforms, including media consultations, social media updates and feature articles", "respond to daily media inquiries on a range of royal related topics, including inquiries about the work of members of the royal family".
Not just dealing with "Kate's jokes"
The British royal family's various fierce materials have always been the traditional fodder for Britain's vibrant "tabloids" and all kinds of gossip media, old and new, and have been increasing since the current King Charles III took the throne. Charles's health problems, various gossip between the king and Queen Camilla, rumors of the rivalry between Prince William and Prince Harry, and the various "lace" of Prince Harry and his wife......
The latest hot topic is the various almost "conspiracy theory" jokes surrounding the crown princess Kate.
Last Christmas, Kate made a public appearance at Sandringham Manor and was "officially announced", which was her last public appearance so far. As speculation and discussion grew in the media and online, the royal family belatedly announced at the end of January that Kate was temporarily "recuperating" and suspending her royal public obligations "due to health reasons", and then announced that she had undergone "simple abdominal surgery" on January 17, and then there was a long silence.
The British media, the Internet and the public are obviously not comfortable with this kind of public relations posture that is very unusual in terms of royal habits, so they have "opened their minds" about Kate's whereabouts and fate.
On February 29, Kensington Palace, where William lives, issued an announcement saying that "there will be no continuous commentary on Kate's recovery", causing the "Kate joke" to spread even more frantically.
To add insult to injury, on March 10, Buckingham Palace released a photo of "Kate and her children" in honor of Mother's Day, which sparked even more wild speculation and associations, forcing the royal family to apologize in Kate's name the next day for the "mess caused by the photo processing", and explained that "like many amateur photographers, I occasionally try to edit", and then the photo was deleted, but the bad effects have already been done.
Fox News TV, which is not afraid of big things, also aired a documentary called "Where is Kate Middleton?" at 21:08 on March 21.
You know, according to the official statement, Kate will not return to the public eye until at least Easter, and before that the PR team will be busy and thankless. From the official announcement of the recruitment enlightenment, it can be seen that common office software such as Excel must be proficient, but it is okay for the time being if the P chart software is not played.
Many people familiar with the rules of the British royal family have pointed out that the recruiter is Buckingham Palace, where King Charles and his wife live, not Kensington Palace, where William and his wife live, which means that the applicant will have to deal with almost all kinds of royal jokes at any time in his future career.
▲On May 6, 2023, in London, England, King Charles III and Queen Camilla waved to the public on the balcony of Buckingham Palace after their coronation. Photo/Xinhua News Agency
The British royal family is not easy to do
One analyst bitterly pointed out that a Buckingham Palace communications assistant who may still be a rookie in the workplace has to worry about big things all day long with a shoestring salary.
It is no exaggeration to say that "the treatment is meager". This full-time job earns £25,642.50 (about $32,500) a year, which is only slightly higher than the national minimum wage in the UK. According to the latest data, the median annual income in the UK in 2023 is £34,963, and the London area is as high as £45,000.
Some people dug up the report published by the former Queen Elizabeth II in the Daily Mail in 2015 that "Her Majesty wants to ensure that all employees receive decent pay" and "Your Majesty is aware of the role model effect of the royal family", satirizing "Is this decent pay and the example effect", and some people ridiculed "It's really good, not much lower than grocery store cashiers".
A public relations expert in Virginia said that "these are not things that rookies in the workplace can do, only crisis communication experts who can deal with complex situations and sensitive information are competent, but this money can't afford to hire them."
To use a Chinese proverb, this is really "both the horse running and the horse not grazing". However, according to a number of media reports, at least 100 people have signed up for the job, and it seems that there are really "horses that don't eat grass".
Of course, job seekers who think this way are not destined to last long. According to the latest cost-of-living report from ECA International, London is the fourth most expensive city in the world to live in.
Buckingham Palace's recruitment revelation went to great lengths to exaggerate the "spiritual quality" of the position, saying that "I would be extremely proud to be part of the core team of a world-renowned institution" and that "this is the extraordinary thing about working for the royal family".
However, more analysis believes that although Buckingham Palace Communications Assistant has a good reputation, it is actually an "entry-level position" with zero qualifications and low threshold, which is an attractive career springboard for new graduates and rookies who have just stepped into the workplace and are eager to accumulate and enrich their job search resumes.
But it is conceivable that it will not be easy for the British royal family, which is exposed every year and has a lot of news this year, to do media-related work.
Written by Tao Short Room (Columnist)
Editor / Chi Daohua
Proofreading / Diyan Chen
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