Meet one of JN Bentley's brilliant people: Charlotte Hobson, communications and media lead
Meet one of our brilliant people: Charlotte Hobson, communications and media lead for JN Bentley. Based in Yorkshire, Charlotte delivers engaging internal and external communications for JN Bentley and Mott MacDonald Bentley.
Charlotte speaks about her role in the communications team, how she delivers excellence for our colleagues and clients, and reflects on her time as Mott MacDonald’s Global Early Career Professionals Communications Lead. She also shares some advice for those preparing to take the next step in their career.
What is your role in JN Bentley?
I’m part of our in-house communications team working as a communications and media lead. In my role I’m responsible for delivering our corporate communications strategy. This involves the production of engaging written, visual and video content, to reach a range of internal and external stakeholders.
Tell us how you deliver excellence in your role
I deliver excellence by making sure communications are clear, engaging and purposeful. Ensuring excellence is all about taking the time to understand the message, audience and desired impact, then working collaboratively with colleagues to shape content that tells the story well. Whether it’s an internal update or external campaign, the communications we produce are created with consistency, quality and the audience in mind.
How does your role support wider operations in JN Bentley?
As part of the communications team, we support wider operations by making sure people across the business are informed, engaged and connected to the work happening around them. Good communication supports everything from safety and recruitment to project delivery and business development. Whether we’re communicating an important learning from a safety incident, sharing best practice or celebrating a project milestone. We identify the best channel and format to make sure messages are delivered with maximum impact to ultimately keep people safe, look after the money and make sure our people are happy.
What advice would you give to someone looking to shape their own story at JN Bentley?
Be curious, ask questions and listen. Understanding more about the business outside of your role or remit can be really valuable in your career. Say yes to opportunities, even if it feels like a challenge or something outside your comfort zone - you never know what they might lead to or what you’ll learn.
How do you strive to create an inclusive, collaborative and supportive environment with your colleagues?
For me, inclusion is all about bringing the right people together at the right time, listening to their opinions and respecting their areas of expertise. In doing that, I think it helps people to feel respected and valued at work and encourages a collaborative approach to day-to-day and project work.
As someone who has played a key role in the Early Career Professionals (ECP) network, what does being an ECP mean to you?
When I think of ‘ECP’ a few words come to mind: creativity, curiosity and collaboration. Being in the early stages of your career is a really exciting time – it’s all about learning, building relationships and developing your skills. The ECP network is a place to help you achieve all those things. It enables you to meet new people, not just those in your immediate or unit/framework teams, learn about other parts of the business – whether it’s projects, the support teams or technical disciplines – and provides the opportunity to collaborate on initiatives and events that help you to develop the skills that support a successful career.
How did you get involved with the Global ECP Committee?
I first got involved in the ECP network in 2020 when I took on the role of communications lead for the MMBC region. Back then our regional network was only just getting established, so it was great to be involved almost from the start.
A couple of years later the then Global ECP communications lead reached out as she was stepping down from the role and suggested I apply, so I did! And I was lucky enough to get it.
What is your favourite memory during your time on the Global ECP Committee?
There’s a lot! Everything I’ve had the opportunity to get involved with through the ECP Network has been memorable. From running the first ever regional ECP Day in Birmingham alongside Ana Garland and the then-regional framework and initiative leads to seeing the days grow in numbers and engagement year-on-year, to taking a trip to London to collaborate with members of the global committee and deliver training on comms practices to the first group of regional engagement leads have been definite highlights.
I’ve met some brilliant people and made some wonderful friends – I’m really grateful for the opportunities the ECP Network has given me.
What advice would you give to someone moving into the next stage of their career?
Stay curious. I’ve always loved studying and learning new things, but I think when you reach a mid-point in your career it’s easy to just focus on the day job and sometimes that can make people feel a bit stuck. But there’s so many ways to keep progressing and developing – industry events, webinars, being part of an industry body and maintaining those connections with people you met in the early stages of your career are all ways I’ve found to stay curious and keep learning and progressing.
What has been your proudest achievement?
Completing my masters in corporate communications is probably my proudest achievement. I was lucky that the business supported me throughout the course and I studied whilst still working full time – my evenings and weekends for two years mostly consisted of research and writing assignments. I finished my dissertation in the middle of the pandemic in 2020 too, so that was an interesting challenge, especially when my role in communications was very demanding at that time.
…that and going to Glastonbury for the first time when I’d never done a festival before or properly camped. My friends thought I’d hate it. But it was honestly one of the best experiences of my life!
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Interested in finding out more about our Early Career Professionals network? Find out more here.
Or check out our current graduate and placement opportunities, with applications closing Friday 13 November.
