Beginning at the Beginning 

I started looking for placements way back in the winter holidays knowing we only had 4 weeks off, I thought I may as well start getting ahead before the pressure starts again in Semester 2. There were many things to look into before applying for placements and I knew I had to be sure about where I was going as I was going to have to write a long and important report at the end of it and if I was not interested in the place I would not do a good job.

The first question was if I wanted to work in a consultancy or in house operations. I had heard of the benefits of both through my three years in the PR degree but I have never actually done any placements so I could not be too sure of what I would prefer.

The second question was if my resume, references and interviewing skills were up to date. I had to go over my CV with a fine tooth comb and got a few proof readers before considering sending it out into the business world to reflect and represent myself.

The third question was how confident I was in the basics of most PR areas. I started re reading notes and lectures and going through the pre requisite information for this unit so I felt confident enough to interview for a PR position.

http://www.scitech.org.au/

After all of this, eight weeks ago I got a call back from my first choice of placements which is Scitech. A general background about the company is that it is a not for profit science education institution which gets almost 60% of its funding from the State Government and public and private sponsors. I was so excited and after a straight forward interview with my Supervisor and the Communications Manager I got the call back for the job! I soon found out that not only was I the Schools Marketing Assistant but also a Communications Assistant so I was going to be put straight to work and would be juggling a few different areas in the office.

I was so nervous for my first day but I was soon put at ease as I was told that I had to go and experience all that Scitech has to offer so I could get a proper feel for the work they do. I got to play with the toddlers in Discoverland, sit in on a puppet show with a school group, watch the Slime demonstrations in the Lotterywest Science Theatre and enjoy a show at the the Horizon Planetarium. After the exciting day I was excited to get into real work twice a week for the next few months.

My next posts will be on the exciting work I have been up to and looking forward to!
Until next time,

Brooke
14275177