So I'm a couple of hours away from the half-way point of my internship here at Professional Public Relations in Subiaco, meaning it's probably time to start sharing my experiences.
Working full time for the last two weeks has been an interesting experience in itself. Coming from the student and hospitality worker life, adjusting to 7am wake ups (in winter no less) and fighting peak hour traffic twice a day sounds like the last thing I want to do on my Uni break, but I got used to it pretty quickly. The PPR office has fantastic coffee, which certainly doesn't hurt.
After my handover with Dominique, the last PPR intern, I was nervous about the amount and scope of work I'd be doing. She was telling me a lot of things that we haven't learned at Curtin so far, and I was concerned I'd be out of my depth.
As it turns out, most of the time the work is very manageable, but there is a lot of it. I discovered quickly that if I didn't know something or wasn't sure, I could ask my supervisors or someone in the office and they'd be happy to help. This is an important lesson to all interns - don't be afraid to ask for help. You're not expected to be compeltely on top of everything on your first day, and there's absolutely no shame in admitting something (for me, Microsoft Excel) has got the better of you.
On my very first day I was thrown straight in the deep end. Before I even had a chance to do my induction I was working on an urgent task for the digital department, and things haven't slowed down since then. So far my shortest day has been 8.30-5.15, but the environment here and the people I work with make the time fly. Again, the quality coffee helps.
At the half-way point of my time at PPR I'd recommend this program to any PR student without hesitation. The staff are incredibly supportive of the internship program and you feel like one of the team, not an errand boy (or girl). After hearing my classmates' conversations last semester this is a refreshing concept. The work isn't overly challenging on the whole (yet) but I'm gradually getting more involved and creative tasks as well as the many, many media lists I'm checking.
One final plug, I was asked to write a blog for c2030, Landcorp's future-vision initiative. It would be fantastic if you could check it out here and let me know what you think in the comments section. You can have your say on there too, or follow @c2030 on Twitter. No more plugs, I promise!
Well, no more plugs in this post.
Hopefully everyone else is enjoying their internships, or their holidays.
- Morgan Riley
2 comments:
Hi Morgan,
I'm glad you are having a great time there, I told you it would be fun, and that everyone is really nice!
Who have you been working with mostly and what other sort of work have you been doing during your placement? Have you had to source many contact details for media/other contacts?
Or have you been to any events?
While I was there I went to an event with Kaye, for the client SkillHire, who were launching a new workshop in Kewdale, with a presentation about their initiative called LiveWorks.
LiveWorks aims to give young Aboriginal boys skills and knowledge needed for future work, such as brick laying skills, sort of like a pre-apprenticship program.
Going to the event gave me a great insight into the client and was interesting as it was really different to any other PR event I have ever been too.
If you have any spare time, I suggest you flick Kaye a short email, she might be able to give you some interesting work.
Sorry if I made you more nervous than you already were at the beginning! Have a fantastic last two weeks!
Dominique :)
Hey Dominique,
You left me big shoes to fill! Everyone here likes you, especially downstairs where they moved me after week one.
I haven't been to any events, but I'm getting a fair bit of work for PFF and one40, so the creative juices are flowing nicely. The MarComms team are great with supplying interesting things to keep me busy.
I'm doing heaps of media list stuff, I think I'm going to know everyone in every outlet of every type of media off by heart by the end of my internship! It's good though, it's an insight into the real world of PR - it's not all creative strategies and promotional releases!
I'll get in touch with Kaye, thanks for the tip!
Morgan
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