I am never going to graduate....

A few weeks ago I started my practical placement. Getting here was not an easy task however. Over the summer I kept thinking about my practical placements and where I would like to go. I had already done quite a bit of work experience for PR with the Fremantle Dockers last year and also over December and January working with PR goddess Rosita Stangl at the 2012/2013 Hyundai Hopman Cup Both were absolutely amazing experiences and ones I would never forget but of course both concerned sport and so I thought about doing something a little bit different. And so my journey began…

I probably sent out resumes and cover letters to about 10-15 different public relations consultancies and organisations around Perth. All of the people I spoke to either already had an intern or didn’t have the time for an intern at that stage. It got to the point where I thought to myself: Am I ever going to complete this unit and graduate? I didn’t care where I wanted to go at this point, I was just desperate for a placement and that experience! So I put looking off for a while and decided to let fate handle itself as it was still January and a lot of consultancies were still on holidays.

A couple of weeks passed and I still hadn’t heard anything. So I went on blackboard and saw a few positions posted on there and thought I would give Shine Communications a go.

That following week on the exact same day I heard back from three different placements saying they were interested and wanted me to come in for an interview. One was Shine Communications, and the others were Muse Bureau and Professional Public Relations. I decided to go to all of the interviews and then if successful pick which one suited me best. I did that and ended up being offered a placement at all three! I went from being really desperate and wanting anything to now being faced with having to decide between three! And they were all so different.

Muse Bureau is a real artsy consultancy whose clients mainly revolve around theatre, music, fashion and culture. I thought it would probably be interesting but the arts isn’t really something I want to focus my career on and I personally thought my strengths would be better elsewhere.

Professional Public Relations is a much larger consultancy whose clients range all over Australia and the world. I was really excited to be considered by them seeing as they are based not only in Perth but also in the eastern states, and because that had such a large and broad range of clients ranging from Emirates to Bunnings. They were only offering four weeks full time however and because of university this deemed pretty much impossible so to my regret I had to turn them down also.

This left Shine Communications, which so far has everything I have been looking for. Run by Ruth Simpson and Samantha Mills (who was actually a graduate of this unit just over a year ago), their clients include non-for-profit such as the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation and the Motor Neurone Disease Association of Western Australia, but also more corporate ones such as BHP Billiton and Shell Development Australia. I’m very lucky Ruth took me on because she already had another student from Curtin working with her but said she’d be more than happy to have me on board as well, which was great. Being a very small consultancy Ruth runs things from her home where she has an office for herself and her interns. At first I was a bit scared about this because I wasn’t sure what it would be like to work from home or whether I would struggle as I thought I would be thrown in the deep end straight away.

Since starting a few weeks ago however I have to say that I wouldn’t have it any other way. Working in a smaller consultancy means there is more to do which means more experience, and I have definitely been gaining on experience! The very first week I was off to a meeting with the Motor Neuron Disease Association of WA then back to her house writing up a media release for her pro bono client – the Shenton Park Dogs’ Refuge Home.

Every week I go to the Refuge Home to supervise in a photo shoot and filming for one of the dogs of the home in the hope it gets them adopted. So far the majority of my work has been for the Dogs’ Home and I’ve had to chase up interviews and write media releases for them about three times a week. At first this was daunting but I’ve written so many I am now very used to it and Ruth has been absolutely fantastic and teaches me as I go making sure I’ve got everything down pat.  I’ve also written a few pregnancy blogs for client Mercy Care and think I can safely say I am now prepared for parenthood – though I’m not planning that anytime soon I can tell you!

The other great thing about working from a business from home is that Ruth is very flexible with my practical hours. Some days if I have a lot of study to do Ruth will send me work which I can work on from my own home. I have been doing that for the past two weeks and it’s been different but great – there is just something so satisying about not having to put on business pants or a business skirt to have to go to work, I can just work in my trackies! The hard part however is not getting distracted, but deadlines help me with that and it’s been good so far.

I now can confidently say I am pretty sure I will graduate! My posts from now on will be more about the work I do at Shine Communications but just thought I would share my experience with you about how I went about getting my practical placement and wondering if anyone else experienced difficulty (or frustration) when finding their placements.

For now, adios!