A career in public relations is not a like a common 9-5 office
job. As we are providing a service to our clients, we should always endeavour to
deliver on time and sometimes go beyond what is expected of us. And as I learnt
in the past week, sometimes you have to burn the midnight oil when expected.
Going above and beyond what is expected is a trait many
employers seek in an employee. It’s that edge that would put you ahead of the
pack, sometimes even may be the differentiating factor between you and your
competitors! And so goes my experience of how the endless midnight sessions at university
finally came in useful at my internship at Crime Stoppers.
Newsletters are the bread and butter of any organisation
attempting to communicate with their stakeholders. And in any public relations
department, time is a precious commodity. We get paid by time and we give our
time (from a NPO perspective). The idea of content being backlogged is any firm’s
biggest nightmare. Imagine showing old news when everybody is already aware of
what happened weeks ago! As such, punctuality and accuracy is essential when
working in a PR firm/department.
I was ready to hit the bed after an exhausting night of
doing research for feature articles and drafting a media release. Just as I was
about to do the usual social media scanning on my phone (similar to media
monitoring, except I look for the latest funny cat videos on YouTube) right
before I sleep, I receive a text from my supervisor stating that the
stakeholder newsletter is due tomorrow and the previous admin assistant had not
done the subscriber list!
As you could imagine, subscriber lists can be in the
hundreds and be very time consuming. So there I was stuck with the dilemma, sleep
and do it tomorrow? Or spend the next two to three hours punching almost
everyone in the WA Police force into a subscriber list? Well, the title isn’t “The
need for sleep in the world of PR”.
So off I went, with an excel spreadsheet freshly emailed to
me and the task at hand to punch in all the names before morning. Truth be
told, if I learnt more than going beyond what is expected of me from this, it
would be trying to ensure attention to detail while entering a state of
zombie-ness.
Fast forward 4 hours later and accompanied with sore eyes
and borderline carpel tunnel syndrome, I was done! All 83 subscribers were
entered and ready to send tomorrow morning. And of course, the next day,
praises came from my supervisor at the speed and willingness to learn from a
real world environment. Of course what do I say? “No worries mate! You caught
me at a good time! I never sleep late and work better at night.” If only he
knew how hard it was brushing my teeth the next morning with cramped fingers.
Lesson learnt. Go beyond what is expected of you. Don’t
limit yourself to what you’re expected of, but rather show the willingness and
initiative to go that extra mile. It’s a good habit to get into and will surely
impress those around you.
Do share how unexpected things happened at your internship.
I would love to hear about them in the comments!
Friendly neighbourhood office chair-crime-fighter
Jarret
2 comments:
Hi Jarret! It was a pleasure reading your blog post. The same thing happened to me! Albeit on a "smaller scale". I was ready to go home and have a nice long bath when my supervisor asked for my help to compile and print certificates and also to write letters of appreciation that needs to be passed on the very next day. Another thing to expect in this field is the need to act upon a matter rather quickly. "Think on your feet" as they say. And I did my tasks with urgency and tried my best to minimize mistakes in such a short span of time. In a way, I think it's great training for the very hectic future we face in this field.
All the best in your internship! Have a great one!
Sabrina Lim
Jarret, this was an enjoyable read despite the unfortunate and frantic situation you found yourself in!
Although I didn't have a similar experience to this one, I did have an important event strategy I was asked to complete and I found myself thinking about it in my sleep and stressing about potential ideas for consecutive days!
You have identified such an integral aspect of PR- the importance of being able to respond in a potential crisis and complete tasks under intense time restrictions.
I believe your experience of having to work after hours and complete a task which required a thorough amount of research and effort will hold you in good stead for future instances when a similar situation may occur!
All the best for the future,
Maddie
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