The First Day of My Internship

Hello all,

My internship experience was at Professional Public Relations (PPR) Singapore.

As PPR is a well-known consultancy in Australia and Asia, I was really excited to be given an opportunity to learn from them.

Locating the company was tough. There wasn't proper signage bearing the company's name, except for the letterbox. Otherwise, there weren't any banners, nothing. I was worried about getting to the wrong door or company even after I knocked on the door.

The first day was a day of adaptation for me due to cultural shock. Due to PPR's huge name in Australia, I was expecting big teams and comfy office.

However, I was shocked when the team comprises of only four people (inclusive of me). I was expecting close to eight people since I was told that there were two teams in the company. Never did I expect each team to only have two people.

Initially, I found it hard to accept the fact. This is due to me working in big organisations prior to this internship. Nevertheless, I managed to convince myself that small has its good too. I will get to learn more since work couldn't be distributed among many people.

As the company is small, conversations were kept to a minimum as everyone was seated together. Nobody wants to risk disturbing others, plus some are not as tolerant towards noise as compared to others. Hence, aside from lunch, there were little interactions between staff. This is yet another cultural difference for me as previous jobs enable their staff to communicate and have fun together, even while working.

Putting culture aside, my first task for the day was to run through the entire email inbox and sent box of the previous intern. This was to familiarise myself with the work as I will be picking up the project from where she left it.

Lots of readings were required due to three months' worth of emails. Besides, I did some research on the client and products involved. This is because, no proper briefings were given regarding the client and products. Thus, I was very much left on my own.

My second task was to do up a media list. It was tough as the media list must include Medias from Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia and Singapore. As I wasn't familiar with overseas Medias, I had to do a lot of researching and translating to get to my sources. Thank you Google for the search engine and Google Translate!

However, the tough part came when I was instructed to track down freelance writers or journalists for the targeted countries. I had no idea how to go about doing it and Google doesn't provide much help.

Eventually, my superior taught me the proper way to source for freelance writers. Things sail faster and better from then on.

Overall, my first day went by with a blur as I was busy immersing myself in the work given. Plus, I still didn't know much of the organisation and its structure as no proper introduction was given. What I know of the organisation is what I managed to google.

Nevertheless, the first day opened my eyes and doors to doing PR. PR in reality is so different from theory and project works. It is a whole new experience and challenge that I need to tackle and conquer, and I hope I will be able to achieve that.

Best Regards,
Yiwen