Hello I am Visha and I am currently doing an internship at PILS. Prévention Information Lutte contre le Sida (PILS) is a non-governmental organisation that works mostly in the field of prevention and sensitization about HIV/AIDS as well as care of patients suffering of HIV/AIDS. The communication department of this organisation is solid and I can happily say that I have been learning a lot since I started my internship two weeks ago.
This is actually my first time in an office and at first I was pretty sure that office work always meant boredom and routine. But I guess that is the exact reason why I chose to work in the Public Relations field. Since I am here, I have learnt about office etiquette and the importance of a PR person to grasp the organisation’s internal culture as soon as possible. I had to know how to deal with externals, how to give the same image of the organisation as the other employees when I talk and express myself.
Last week, PILS had a press conference to launch a book on sexual education and I had to call journalists to confirm their presence at the press conference. I already knew from my PR classes that it is essential to show to the journalists that you are serious about your work by sending them reminders about the invites. It is also important to know when to call them, because sometimes it depends on the chief editor who has to assign the articles to be covered.
Well, I think that would be all for now. I am just trying to say yes to every task I am offered to do bearing in mind that this is real life. As an intern I get to ask many questions so that is why for the next post, I will be interviewing someone from PILS and write about CSR in Mauritius and how this affects the funding of NGOs.
6 comments:
Yeah, I did the same thing for another event organised by Amnesty. Journalists are very and sometimes it seems that you bother them. For example, they say I don't know yet, phone me tomorrow...I found it sometimes frustrating, but I understand that they have other things to do. Besides maintaining a good relationship with Journalists is crucial in the Public relation sphere. When doing this work, it is really necessary to have diplomacy skills, so to have good relationship with the different stakeholders.
Hello Visha,
I am currently working at Clarity Communications and have also learnt a lot about office etiquette. I'm always surprised at the availability of tea and coffee, and how much everyone drinks it! Im glad the work is interesting because being in an office all day certainly isn't!
I have also had to contact journalists on many occasions during my internship. I find the experience I have gained from it to be very valuable. Learning how to converse with a journalist is seemingly very important in the PR industry.
Post a Comment