Last week I had a massive realisation – there are only a few short weeks left til the end of my final semester at uni, which means there are even fewer short weeks left of my internship with Perth Zoo!
This scary thought had me panicking, realising that I have only a matter of days left to finalise and edit my report, and got me thinking about what this means....
My internship with Perth Zoo is drawing to a close and I’m starting to wish that I could freeze time and work on my report for another year, because it doesn’t seem real that I will be handing it in to my supervisor and potentially the CEO next week. But this is the reality of the ‘real world’ and being out of the comfort zone that is uni life.
On the other hand, this week makes me really excited thinking about what I have achieved. I have learnt how to turn something suitable for my uni tutors into something that a real life CEO or manager would want to read, and (hopefully) something that will actually be used by an iconic Perth organisation, how thrilling!
Someone wise once said: “Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back”. This I am afraid is very true. The week ahead of me, leading up to my final report being handed over is I’m sure, going to be a very, very stressful one. I have already had a giant red bull and two cups of coffee today in order to keep my spirits up to the tedious but, alas, necessary task of editing.
Another thing that has me worried is (however pathetic) my executive summary... I think back to all of the assignments I have handed in over my 4 year uni career and still wonder how I ever manage to get through these horrendous executive summaries. The reality of this situation is that they are also extremely important. As we have been told countless times by our lecturers, most executives only read this part of the document. This worries me, in that over the massive amounts of information I have put into my actual report, it is my least favourite and probably my least impressive part that will be read.
Anyway, for those of you who are coming to the end of your placements like I am, I hope you have learnt something valuable as well and I will be sure to update you as to how my report looks when it is finished and just how well my executive summary writing goes!
Elle
4 comments:
Hi Elle
Like you I have struggled with executive summaries in the past. However I feel that it will be a lot easier this time around as the report mainly revolves around what you have been doing and how your organisation works and uses PR.
A handy hint for executive summaries that I use is to pick out 2 main points from each section and write them down in order on a piece of paper. All you have to do is link these points together and you have an executive summary.
Hope your placement has been enjoyable and don’t worry too much about the report I am sure you will have it under control.
What a great quote about time! It is defintely a valuable thing.. I am sure you will use it wisely and that everything will work out in the end.
You'll probably look back on you work experience in a few years time and think I should have done this or that differently but its all a learning process!You'll be smashing out executive summaries like they're the easiest thing.
I have no doubt your report will be great. Goodluck! :)
Hi Elle,
Executive Summaries have never been my forte, but I am sure as Bri says they will get easier with time.
Also, since you have enjoyed your work experience and properly undertaken the tasks handed to you, you will confindently be able to translate that onto paper.
I'm sure your CEO will be very impressed with your executive summary and the rest of your report :)
Suesha
Hey Elle!
I've just had exactly the same realization about my final semester of uni - I can't believe how fast it's gone or how much I still have to do in the little time we have elft. But it is really exciting!
It's great that you've had such a good experience at your work placement. I never would have thought to get experience at the Zoo but that would have been amazing!
Good luck with your final report and especally the executive summary - if you ever work out how to do them let me know because I'm terrble at them :P
Sam :)
Post a Comment