Hi everyone!
I'm Nicolette Stewart from the Curtin Campus. I see that most of you are almost done with your placements. At our campus, we've just managed to get access to the blog so please bear with me while I fill you all in on the beginning bits of my placement.
I've managed to secure my placement at a small communications company that I've worked for before as a manpower co-coordinator. I was informed by my director that these months are kind of a slow period for them but he would be glad to have me on the team so I could see what building up projects from scratch was really like. (But more about that in later entries)
Today, I'll be blogging about the 1st mistake that I made while on internship. Looking back at it now, it was such an obvious thing to do, we've been taught it in school, its pretty much common sense but yet I still made it.
This is what happened. I was given the task of sourcing for venues for a client who wanted to hold a series of roadshows in various shopping malls. Obviously I made a list of all the malls and contacted the relevant departments, I then noted down when and which venues were available.
Has anyone spotted my mistake yet? I'll tell you.
While I did manage to speak to the relevant people, this often occurred only after several internal transfers from general lines to marketing departments. The first person I communicated with was often not the person that could help me out and ultimately, I completely forgot to get the names of the people that gave me the answers I needed!
Fortunately, my director was really nice about it and told me to remember in the future. I'm pleased to say that since then I have never forgot to ask for the name of the person I'm speaking to. As you all know, these names will come in very useful if you ever need to contact them again, helps you create a contact list that will save your time in the future and helps assure clients that you have actually done your work and are not just lying about it.
This instance really made me think about how sometimes we feel like we've learnt all these skills and knowledge in school that we are rearing to use in the real world and oops! we forget the most obvious ones. This really made it obvious to me that work experience is sometimes really the best teacher and that you learn best when you get your feet wet.
What was your first mistake as an intern, was it silly like mine? Did you think it was the kind of mistake you'd make or did it catch you by surprise like mine did?
8 comments:
Hey Nicolette!
Erica here. I am absolutely sure that there are people who have done exactly what you did, no matter whether they have decades of experience or not.
It's pretty good that your job scope involves you to source for event venues available. It definitely gives you a chance to communicate with other people, and how the whole operation works, for example, what goes on after the event venue have been selected. Perhaps since you have done a good job in getting a good venue, they'll probably give you more tasks to do, like helping them call in sponsors and such?
Anyway, it's all part and parcel of the PR work that we all have to do. And of course we cannot be keeping track of every person who we have a conversation with.
What I used to do is to write down their names on a piece of paper, and when they transfer me to another person, i cancel the first name and write the second. So at the end of it, I know who was the one who gave me the final answer.
Hi! Nicolette, what you are saying might seem unreal but you are definitely telling the true,it is the little mistakes that often cost the organisation. Getting the names correctly in terms of pronunciation and writing is a similar case as that of forgetting to get initials of the person on the line. I remember i had difficulties in writing and understanding Chinese names. In the real world you can never assume, be sure to ask the person on the line to spell for you just to be 100% sure.
Hi! Nicolette, what you are saying might seem unreal but you are definitely telling the true,it is the little mistakes that often cost the organisation. Getting the names correctly in terms of pronunciation and writing is a similar case as that of forgetting to get initials of the person on the line. I remember i had difficulties in writing and understanding Chinese names. In the real world you can never assume, be sure to ask the person on the line to spell for you just to be 100% sure.
Hi! Nicolette, what you are saying might seem unreal but you are definitely telling the true,it is the little mistakes that often cost the organisation. Getting the names correctly in terms of pronunciation and writing is a similar case as that of forgetting to get initials of the person on the line. I remember i had difficulties in writing and understanding Chinese names. In the real world you can never assume, be sure to ask the person on the line to spell for you just to be 100% sure.
Hi! Nicolette, what you are saying might seem unreal but you are definitely telling the true,it is the little mistakes that often cost the organisation. Getting the names correctly in terms of pronunciation and writing is a similar case as that of forgetting to get initials of the person on the line. I remember i had difficulties in writing and understanding Chinese names. In the real world you can never assume, be sure to ask the person on the line to spell for you just to be 100% sure.
Hi! Nicolette, what you are saying might seem unreal but you are definitely telling the true,it is the little mistakes that often cost the organisation. Getting the names correctly in terms of pronunciation and writing is a similar case as that of forgetting to get initials of the person on the line. I remember i had difficulties in writing and understanding Chinese names. In the real world you can never assume, be sure to ask the person on the line to spell for you just to be 100% sure.
Hi! Nicolette, what you are saying might seem unreal but you are definitely telling the true,it is the little mistakes that often cost the organisation. Getting the names correctly in terms of pronunciation and writing is a similar case as that of forgetting to get initials of the person on the line. I remember i had difficulties in writing and understanding Chinese names. In the real world you can never assume, be sure to ask the person on the line to spell for you just to be 100% sure.
I agree with what you said Nicolette.
I know that in Public Relations, it is essential to know and maintain good relationship with huge range of people - remembering the names are important but hard too, so I tend to have the same 'practice' which I often could not recognise or remember the names.
So usually I will try to write down the names in a paper, notes, sometimes ask others, or try to re-ask the person politely (reintroduce yourself is a good start). Another trick is if I'm writing down the number or contact details, I will ask the person how to spell their name just to make sure (and to confirm the name). :)
Cheers.
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