PR Placement – The Entrance of My Career Journey

They say all things have a tough start. Hunting for a suitable public relations (PR) placement was such a challenging task of the year. Time was going by fast, I had only got two weeks to submit the Placement Approval Form in order to continue the unit. I went through all the available resources – BlackBoard, Seek, Grad-Connection, Career One and more searching for job vacancies; spend all my spare times sending out resumes to employee seekers, and even to organisations that were not hiring just to approach for an intern position. 

It was a great learning opportunity. Through this process I have reviewed how to write effective cover letters, resume and follow-up emails. I researched every oganisation carefully before I approach to them, sent out relevant documents outlining strengths and what I can contribute to help to achieve their organization goals. Although the un-replied and rejected emails have brought me down; I was fear that I might not be able graduate in June, but I kept trying.

The good news have finally came. Two non-for-profit organizations have scheduled me for an interview to further review my qualifications. There were no words could describe how excited I was.

Momentum Forum Events is a non-for-profit organization, providing corporate and social networking through its signature annual charity events include International Woman’s Day in support of women’s rights; Men in Black Ball in support of men’s mental health; and Pink Ribbon Ball supporting breast cancer. The founder Barbara McNaught is such an admirable woman who was a former Polish actress with a law degree and ability of speaking five languages.

Western Australian Water Polo Inc (WAWPI) on the other hand is the peak body for the sport in Western Australia. It runs professional water polo competitions and supports the teams and clubs. The Chief Executive Officer, Dale Ballantyne, is a very nice and enthusiastic leader. 

Although Momentum was more appealing I decided to go for two, so I will have a back-up. Due to I have very limited experience working in the field (the only relevant experience I had was volunteering as an event assistant for ‘Unwrapped Marketplace’ last Christmas) I brought along my recent assignments into the interviews; after considering the relevance I decided to take the Media Placement Strategy, Media Release and Public Relations Plan that I have conducted for the previous PR units. Both interviewers were extremely impressed by my assignments and offered me an intern position, they also offered an immediate start and asked me to produced similar documents for their projects.

Initially I was going to take both placements offers but after carefully consideration, it was not a good idea to stretch myself too thin, I had to withdraw my offer with WAWPI – what a pity. 

That was how I began my PR internship journey. Success key is to be confident and honest; know your interviewers and their organization; and most importantly show them all your capabilities that are suited for their expectations. I treasure this opportunity and felt valued, now the door has opened for me and I am ready to work hard for the coming challenges.