Wrapping up my internship and stepping into the new role that lies ahead

It has been a busy few weeks wrapping up my internship at Platform Communications and transitioning to my role as a Communications Consultant and Office Manager. The role entails communications activities as well as managing Platform’s office and assisting the Director. I decided to take on this role as I believe it will continue to provide me with the stepping-stones in my communications career and allow me to gain a great insight into the experience of Platform’s Director.  Whilst working closely with Platform’s Director I will be able to gain a better understanding of the mining and resources industry and the varied clients of Platform.

After completing my internship I can reaffirm my understanding that gaining experience in a corporate environment is essential to put into practise the knowledge I have gained whilst studying at Curtin.

Whilst researching and writing my report I have come across many sources that illustrate the importance for students to gain experience in a professional environment in order to gain the skills necessary to begin a career in communications. Harrison (2008) states  “the theoretical framework of public relations is based on the realities of the workforce.”  This reflects how I look back on my internship. By completing an internship I have been able to experience first hand the types of tasks I will be required to complete throughout my career.

I also came across an interesting article on BBC News (United Kingdom) that describes the importance of experience for students and the opinions of employers. The article (found here) might be useful to piece together some final thoughts on your internship in reflecting back on your experiences. 

Whilst my internship proved to be invaluable in helping me to understand the tasks I would be required to perform as a communications consultant, it was not without challenges.

With every day I was faced with new tasks, most of which I had never performed before and were very different to the assignments I had completed at University. A consultancy is such a fast paced, dynamic environment whereby you learn very quickly and either sink or swim when thrown in to the deep end.

Throughout my internship I have worked on briefing notes and backgrounders for Senior Consultants, media contact lists, VIP lists, sponsorship proposals, letters and briefing notes to be sent to Ministers, website content and social media plans and content, design briefs to liaise between the client and graphic design team and many administration tasks.

I have learnt a lot through my internship. The following points are some important lessons I have learnt:

• Go back to the start- if a senior consultant asks you to perform a task, ask yourself ‘why?’ It is important to understand why you have been asked to do something and how it will benefit the person receiving your work. 
• Plan ahead- the clique quote “if you fail to plan you are planning to fail” is accurate in a corporate environment. Whether it be planning an agenda for a meeting, your workload for the day and week ahead or how you are going to tackle a task it is very important to plan.
• Time management and organisational skills are essential to manage the workload and competing deadlines apparent at a busy consultancy.
• Be proactive- don’t wait to be asked to do things.
• Look at the details- it is important to take the time to read emails and instructions. When I made mistakes it was often because I had failed to understand the instructions I was given or had acted to quickly to perform a task.
  
• Always proofread your work whether it is an email, job brief, backgrounder notes, fact sheet or procedures and manuals.
• Meeting deadlines is critical to maintain a good reputation
• Use your initiative and aim to be ahead of your supervisor, director and clients.

A key challenge I faced was time management in regards to my internship in relation to other aspects of my life. Trying to manage an internship, part time work, university work and my personal/family life was often very difficult. In this respect I would highly recommend considering to take an internship over summer of winter holidays to avoid having to manage many conflicting issues.

My experiences at Platform Communications have been invaluable. Without this internship I would not have been able to fully understand the scope of work I would be required to undertake in my career. I have gained a long list of skills that I believe have greatly benefited me in taking the first steps to building my career as an upcoming graduate.

I hope everyone gained as much as I did whilst completing their placement.

Good luck for the final report,

Rebecca

Reference: Harrison, Kim. 2008. Strategic Public Relations: a practical guide to success. Perth, Australia: Century Consulting Group.