Gender Power

In the final days of my placement, the projects I worked on started to test my knowledge and abilities in the PR industry. I was able to put the theory and skills I learnt into practice. What I found quite difficult with my placement was the expectation of knowing what to do already, I was never briefed or shown certain ways of compiling documents etc. The opportunity to learn was priceless. From the first days of my studies, most projects required group work, this prepared me for the industry. Working with other students, prepared us to work in a team, collaborate, research and write PR strategies. The feedback we gained from our tutors increased our knowledge and ability to improve. Whilst working in my placement, projects I worked on were shared between 3 other consultants, this allowed for the work to be reviewed, edited and improved with other creative ideas. All projects were then approved by either a senior or the Director. The process itself can take a few days and the work needed to be absolute professional and ready for print when being sent to a senior, if the seniors were not happy they would send the documents back until they were corrected. High standards are expected at all time in PR and as I develop my abilities and skills in the profession I will begin to grow in my career. So far the highlight of my placement was the projects and understanding how a strategy is developed and implemented from meetings to completion. A difficulty was the balance between gender in the office, the women outnumbered the men and at sometimes I found a lack of respect shown, the director would speak down to the males and not show them a lot of respect. I was not sure if this was to do with proving herself as a leader amongst the team, being threatened or if this was her way of managing, but some days it was difficult to approach the Director out of fear of being sworn or yelled out, however overall it was a lesson learnt. The placement helped me get stronger, build more knowledge and learn to work with a variety of people.