I recently finished my placement at gt media and firstly I have to thank all of the girls for their consistant help and encouragement throughtout my time there. I was able to understand a lot of elements of PR that cannot be taught to you in a classroom and thus the work experience component of the degree is a fundumental and important part that should be compulsary for all business degrees.
gt taught me that work, play and fun can all combine within the workplace as all of the girls are great friends within the relms of gt and further afield. Whilst PR can smetimes be a stressful job, all of the girls managed to contain their stress levels, even when the Red Bull Plane crashed into the Swan River, who was one of their clients.
In order to be successful in PR you have to be a competent communicator, both verbally and written. Gemma only employs people who have had some form of past journalism experience to ensure that their media releases are written from a journalist POV. This proved true when many of their articles, particually in the real estate section which were word for word. Speaking of real estate, I managed to publish my first media release on my 18th day for the Saturday West Australian in the Real Estate section. This was a highlight for me and showcased my PR (techniques & media), although with a few little tweeks from Lauren.
I learnt so much at gt, however I have realised that PR is not for me. It is not until you step out of the classroom and into a PR consultancy that you fully understand what PR entails. I knew that PR focused heavily on the construction and circulation of media releases, however I wasn't aware of the extent. Creative writing is not my strong point and I don't feel that PR is a good career match for me at this stage, however the skills that PR has taught me has helped to develop my marketing and business development expertise. I now have a job at a mining consultancy, Orelogy where I am slowly being trained to become the Business Development Administrator, which is a much better fit for me.
I enjoyed this unit greatly and although at times it is difficult to fit in around uni, work and other commitments and it has helped me establish what career path is right for me.
Thanks again to Gemma, Lauren, Dorothy, Jess and Amber for your encouragement and support, as pictured left with interns Imogen and I.
Good Luck everyone with their interns and farewell,
Jane
x
2 comments:
Hi Jane! Your internship sounds like fun. Congratulations on having your first media release published! Must have been a really proud moment for you.
I agree that this internship is really useful - not only will each one of us come out of it more confident but also, like in your case, allows you to find out if you're really suited for this industry. That's also what I've been told when I asked my colleagues if I should continue postgraduate studies or work first. I was told that work experience is really important.
But all that aside, I'm glad for you that you've found a job that leads you on your ideal path. Good luck on that! :)
Hey Jane,
I just read your blog.
Oh my, I am feeling rather the same!
I have spent a lot, and I mean a lot of my time writing media releases at my placement with the City of Swan, and I have to say, writing media releases was never my favourite part of PR! I don’t mind writing them , don’t get me wrong, but I have written at least 10 during my 20 days and while I still don’t enjoy it and I still struggle to find a really newsworthy exciting angle for ‘food’ in the Swan Valley, although I am starting to feel more comfortable.
Having said all of this, I am determined to try and stick with PR, but to find my way into different areas of the field that wouldn’t be so highly concentrated on media releases. For a while I have been really interested in community relations and the tasks that come with that. Today I’m going today to a lecture from a girl, who works for Woodside for their community relations and Indigenous affairs area, and I am rather excited about that; and hopefully this will allow me to talk to her and find out is this would perhaps be an area that I could move into.
What I am trying to say is that if you think that giving PR up is the best way forward, I wish you so much luck (and I am rather envious that you have already found a job that you can move on with), but perhaps don’t forget about the other areas within PR that allow for more people interaction and aren’t all about writing the perfect media release. So never forget that you have a degree that offers you a range of options in a range of different fields (I’m sure someone should be paying me to promote PR like this...!).
Well, I hope that you enjoy Orelogy, and maybe I will see you around.
Much love,
Robyn
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