Editor’s note: The Fix is running the “What’s your media job” series where we look at different job positions and career trajectories in and around the news industry. For this edition, we spoke with Gökşen Çalışkan, Advocacy Director / Head of Business Development (B2B) at Euractiv.

Gökşen Çalışkan runs the business development team at Euractiv, a pan-European media network based in Brussels that focuses on European Union affairs. The organisation has found success with niche advertisers and commercial partners who are working in and around the field of EU policies.

In an interview with The Fix, Çalışkan discussed her role and her department’s work. We also spoke about Çalışkan’s career path, which has spanned from being a reporter in Istanbul to leading a team in Brussels, and what makes a successful business development manager.

Euractiv’s model and the role of its business development leader

Euractiv is an online news outlet specialising in European Union policies. It’s headquartered in Brussels with offices in Paris and Berlin; the organisation consists of around 100 people. Founded in 1999, Euractiv was purchased by major media group Mediahuis in 2023. “Our audience is quite niche: readers coming from EU institutions, private sector organisations, civil society, and academia [who are interested in] the European Union’s legislative development”, Çalışkan says.

Although Euractiv is now developing its subscription business, its revenue predominantly relies on advertising and sponsored events. The company has an EU Advocacy Department that carries out commercial projects, including advertising, events, and content production. Çalışkan leads the team responsible for business development, such as finding new commercial partners and supporting existing partnerships. Another team, which Çalışkan co-leads with her colleague, supports implementation of the projects. (The department’s name and Çalışkan’s role as EU Advocacy Director reflect external positioning of their function – helping achieve the clients’ advocacy goals).

Çalışkan says her team includes up to ten people, most of them business development managers. She is responsible for team management work, such as recruiting and coaching, and is herself involved in business development activities like meeting with existing and prospective clients and attending networking events. Çalışkan reports to Euractiv’s three-person executive committee led by publisher René Moerland.

What does a model for a good commercial partnership look like for Çalışkan? “Let’s say there is a new development on the EU agenda, but [its practical implications aren’t clear yet]. We partner up with an organisation who want to position themselves as the front-runner on this issue. They do an event with us specifically on this topic… We bring stakeholders from EU institutions, private sector, civil society, and academia. They discuss the topic and actually set the agenda and give ideas to both the decision makers, policymakers, but also all the other stakeholders on how the direction of this legislation would go and what different perspectives to think about it”.

Clients include private companies, trade associations, civil society organisations, and think tanks. Among the events held by Euractiv in late 2023 are a hybrid conference on wind power sponsored by Polish state-owned power company PGE, a discussion on patent policy organised by Nokia, a virtual convening on decarbonisation in shipping with international NGO Environmental Defense Fund, and an event on bioeconomy supported by trade association European Bioeconomy Alliance. Overall Euractiv produces around 100 events in a year.

Çalışkan’s career and what makes for a successful business developer

Gökşen Çalışkan was born into a family of public servants with diplomatic roles; her family frequently changed locations in Turkey and abroad. She studied international relations at Ankara University and initially wanted to become a diplomat but later realised that she wasn’t comfortable with the hierarchical world of international diplomacy and switched to studying communications. After a master’s in communications in London she returned to Turkey and started her career as a reporter for Euractiv covering EU-Turkey relations. She then quickly switched to the business side and supported Euractiv’s business development in Turkey for a few years.

In the 2010s Çalışkan started her own communications consultancy business and collaborated with Deutsche Welle as a consultant for the distribution department. After focusing on consultancy full-time for a few years she returned to Euractiv, this time to the Brussels headquarters. She’s been based in Brussels since 2017 and has held her current role as head of business development for close to four years.

“In our market, it is not easy to find business developers because a lot of people come here to Brussels to work in the EU institutions and they don’t even know what business development is about. They never thought about it”. Finding the right people and helping them grow is a big part of Çalışkan’s job, even if that means that sometimes team members leave for other organisations after working at Euractiv.

What does it take to be a successful business development manager in a news organisation? Çalışkan says there are three traits she looks for when recruiting people for her team: curiosity, courage, and compassion. To sell and build partnerships successfully, people need to be open-minded, be able to get out of their comfort zone and face frequent rejection, as well as be kind and considerate towards people of various origins and backgrounds, especially in a multi-cultural place like Brussels.

At the same time, Çalışkan believes it’s a misperception that business development professionals need to be extroverts. “I’m a big introvert myself, and I know I am good at what I’m doing. You can definitely do it without being an extrovert. It’s obvious that there are a lot of social interactions in one day, and we lose energy by that. But if you know how to recharge your battery afterward, then you come back the next day again energised”.

The pandemic has changed the job by making virtual and hybrid meetings much more commonplace but also by making the conversations more efficient. “In the past, our conversations would last at least an hour per meeting, and it would take a lot of energy and time. These days, it’s usually shorter and more precise to the point”. Flexible work has also allowed Euractiv to diversify the team and make job openings more accessible, Çalışkan says, even though they don’t offer fully remote arrangements.

What to read to stay on top what’s happening in the industry

Here’s a list of resources Çalışkan advises for her colleagues to check in order to be up to date with developments related to their day-to-day job.

European Union policy:

EU policy media starting with Euractiv
Websites of EU institutions

European Union policy communications:

Speaking Moylanguage by Tom Moylan
European Campaign Playbook by Sebastian Rodriguez

News media industry:

Source of the cover photo: courtesy of Gökşen Çalışkan

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