Hi Everyone,
I'm going to fill you in with one email disaster that i have truly learnt from while working in my placement job.
I'm working for a Web Design Firm company in Perth and have been (hopefully) fulfilling all of their PR requirements.
I felt as though everything was running smoothly and all the activities they had allocated for me were going as planned... that is until my boss and I were on our lunch break discussing ideas for the promotion of a new product he had launched.
I came up with an idea of sending a media release to a radio station who we believed would be interested in this particular product. My Boss and his fellow employees thought it sounded like a great idea and he told me to get right on it!
Skipping back to the office, i was filled with joy that my idea had been so fully accepted by the director of the company i was working for, and so as soon as i sat back at the table, i did what he had ordered, and got right on it. I thought about how i would write to this particular radio station and in what style or tone. Would i be professional, and formal? Or bubbly and fun, like the presenters.
I chose to write the media release/email in a friendly, bubbly manner and without thinking, i sent the email.
BIG MISTAKE!!!
When the boss entered the office after his afternoon meeting, i rather confidently exclaimed how i had done as he had asked and sent the email/media release, to which he replied- "WHAT!"
My legs were shaking and i bit my bottom lip. "I sent the email," I repeated again.
"Without my approval?"
"Yes."
He asked me to send him what i had sent at once and after he read the email, he was red with anger.
I had sent an email, without his approval or his review and on top of that, it was the most unprofessional email in which i had practically bribed the station to mention the product.
I felt so humiliated and the boss was NOT happy.
I have learnt my lesson completely now. 1) Never just send an email without the bosses approval or review; 2) Never bribe anyone with anything and 3) communicated clearly with the boss.
I will NEVER do this again. I hope that you may learn from my mistakes too!
4 comments:
Hey Holly,
I'm Kyanne Tan from Limkokwing University. I've read through your entry and sorry to hear what you mentioned. I can understand how u feel as i did some mistakes too and made my colleagues unhappy with it. What i did was misunderstand with my colleague's word and i collected the wrong document from particular department. but well, just try not to make the same mistakes because in the PR industry, whatever we do must be confirmed and full with confident! so, wish you good luck and bare in mind we're only a trainee, we're there to learn and not to make the decision. see you around =)
Cheers,
Kyanne
Hey Holly,
I am glad you could take something away from the mistake!
I hope you are going okay and not beating yourself up too much - what is done it done, I deleted an enitre file during my placement and all I could do was apologise and work twice as hard to fix the problem.
My old boss uses the "MAC" Strategy - Maximum Arse Coverage.
She is a senior manager in a state goovernment department, and always gets someone else to sign off on something so she is not entirely responsible. Probably not a great example of leadership in the government sector, but as a junior practitioner I think MAC is a good acronym to work with.
I also see getting other people to proof my work as a way to make it better, and learn new ways to strengthen my writing skills.
Good luck with the rest of your placement!
Amanda :)
Hi Holly,
I have read through your post, and I hope you do not feel bad about it. I understand it is difficult to work with people, especially for a fresh student like us. Without much experience and knowledge of how the real world is running.
Like me, sometime I was confused with my superiors, because they always thought that we are fully understand by what they say without any further explanation, because for them it is common thing. But they forget that for us who are new to the company, we have to work twice as hard and put more effort than anyone else in the company.
No one is perfect, everyone will have a chance to make mistakes, so just learn from it, and remember, failure is the best teacher. Like kyanne said, we are only a trainee and we are there to learn. So, do not give up. Good luck and have a nice day.
Best Regards,
Sherly Tan
Curtin, Miri
Hi Holly,
I am Ritchie from Mauritius and I have read what you mentioned. I do understand your feelings as me too I had done some mistakes. I have been sending files to the incorrect department and I my boss were a little bit unhappy abou that. However as Kyanne said we are just trainee and we are here to learn. Now before doing something I do make someone double check just in case.
Come on don't give up.
Cheers Ritchie
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