Shine Communications

Hi everyone,

So it was really a stroke of luck that I managed to find my placement in two days! The university term was fast approaching, and I was panicking as I had not begun my search yet. (Procrastination much?) I e-mailed Karen Kelin and she very kindly sent me some internship opportunities. I sent in my resume to one of the placements I really liked and was very fortunate to be called in for an interview the next day!

I began my internship at Shine Communications three weeks ago and I have been working two days a week. So far, I have been really enjoying my job and I feel I have learnt so much already. The firm is solely run by my boss, Ruth Simpson, who is originally from England. She has nearly 20 years of experience in both the UK and Australia, so I am really lucky and glad I have her as a mentor.

She is a very helpful and warm person, basically she owns her own company and works from her home office - she does public relations, media relations, events and promotions for companies and not for profit organisations through out Western Australia. I find that pretty impressive for someone to be single-handedly juggling so many things at once!

Since starting my placement, I have been given the opportunity to hone my writing skills - I write a lot of media releases and feature articles for Ruth for companies ranging from YMCA to United Church Homes. I really enjoy writing them as it gives me a chance to get creative and play around with words. Furthermore, Ruth gives me feedback and advice on how to improve my writing skills, which I really appreciate. In my first week at work I wrote a media bulletin for YMCA to be sent out to the media, and as a result of that, a half-page photo was published in in the second page of the Sunday Times. I was pretty pleased with that!

I have also been taking part in more technical stuff, such as proof-reading mining newsletters (Ruth does PR for BHP Billiton). Mining is an industry out of my comfort zone, but I am familiarising myself with their terms and style of writing so I am able to write stories for their next issue. It is not easy to write stories when given so little information about an industry you are clueless about, but it is a challenge I find exciting. I have also compiled a media contact list - not particularly fun but incredibly helpful in educating myself about WA's media.

I can't believe it would soon mark my first month at Shine Communications. It's been great so far and I can't wait to see what else is in store!

- Paige (Curtin Bentley)