The Truth Behind An Internship

You could be a great asset to a company. But you're still young and anxious to commence an internship. In the scheme of things, you're not a priority. You're a newbie. But the main question is...will someone employ you?

The mixed banter going on in my own mind is troublesome. Am I ready to venture out into the real world? It seems like such an odd thing to say, but I feel as if all the grooming in the #Public #Relations field is to prepare me for something bigger and better. 

But could this be true? Could the #learning and #development of my skills alongside my passion to #communicate...could it all be applied in the workforce? And would it enable the career I've been envisioning more thoroughly in my three years at Curtin University?

I name this phase of potential internship prospects as well as the initial panic and terror of realising what lies ahead...

STAGE ONE: Nothing but anxiety! Enjoy.

Luckily, things start to take a positive change after improvements and updates to your resume as well distribution to pretty much every organisation you can think of that could be interested in employing you.

Now, it's just a waiting game...and maybe a gentle reminder to potential employers of your interest in working for them through a lot and I mean a lot of telephone calls and emails. Posing the question about the status of your application - Have they received it? Are they reviewing it? etc.

It's all about making your name known, even if it means getting sued for harassment! (p.s. that's a joke, you really shouldn't do that).

This is also known as...

STAGE TWO: Just keep waiting...Just keep waiting...Just keep waiting...I'VE BEEN WAITING FOREVER!

If it's any consolation to fellow intern applicants...it really does feel like forever.

But I digress, as stage three makes up for the prior misconceptions of commencing an internship.

What felt like the life-changing moment for me was reading 'the email'.

I was fortunate to receive an almost immediate response from Skye Gilligan Consultancy - who asked for an interview and upon arrival realised our interests and career aspirations were alike.

From the initial meet, I was introduced into the idyllic world of Skye Gilligan. Her charisma, energy and love for her job was infectious and I found myself in admiration of my future employer.

Skye's consultancy focuses on marketing and communication, investor relations, brand development, corporate social responsibility, websites and social media and events. It's everything I could hope to learn more about and pursue career-wise!

I was particularly impressed by the consultancy's ability to establish numerous clients in oil and gas, logistics, two-way radio and more in only its first-year anniversary.

Skye's willingness to teach me the reins to her business - to take me under her wing - and provide me with opportunities such as developing campaigns for clients, meetings, monitoring social media and developing websites, etc. These were just some of the tasks we covered in a few days and were real eye-openers into the life of a communicator.

Already, I believe I have put my skills into practice and learnt new ones in terms of building stronger relations with clients, writing, budgeting, organisation and more.

In my experience as a Public Relations intern, I realise the industry draws on a lot of teachings I've learnt at university (such as the areas listed above) and with some much needed faith in myself, I feel ready to conquer PR and help expand Skye's business and client prospects.

I name this stage...

STAGE THREE: Life is good.

So that wraps up my first blog! But stay tuned for my next one which will discuss in more detail the tasks I have carried out so far.