Finding Clarity

Monday, 6^th July 2015

Hello, welcome to my blog! I am Candice Stevens, and this is where I will be reflecting on my experiences throughout my internship at Clarity Communications. First, let’s start off with how I got to where I am today: an intern at Clarity.

When completing the PR Consultancy unit in semester 1, my interest in public relations consultancy was piqued.  Initially, the concept of consultancy was unbeknown to me. I had obviously heard of companies that provides communications services to other companies, however had never really stopped to consider what a career in consulting work could entail. There was a lot of discussion throughout the semester over the pros and cons of in-house vs. consultancy. So, I decided that I wanted to apply for an internship position within a public relations consultancy so that I could decide for myself if consulting work was for me, or whether I would be better suited to working in-house.

Having done some research into the consultancies that were in Perth, I decided to call Clarity Communications. A meeting was organised and not long after that I was preparing for my first day in the Clarity office.

Clarity Communications is a boutique communications agency in Perth offering a full suite of services to organisations such as Mirvac, Celebrate WA, Wesfarmers and City of Armadale. The firm is divided into Strategy, Creative and Digital teams, with consultants working together to deliver public relations, graphic design, and digital and social media expertise to clients. The firm is well known within the industry and services a wide range of clients, so I was excited to have been given the opportunity to learn from their experiences. 

I was feeling a little nervous by the prospect of my first day in a professional office, however I was thrown into it from the moment I arrived so there was no time to get overwhelmed!

I was welcomed into a meeting with the strategy team, who were in discussions over their activities for the coming week. It was in this meeting that I met the public relations consultants I would be working alongside and was given my tasks for the day. 1) To find the Twitter handles for each contact on Clarity’s extensive media list (100s upon 100s of local, national and international journalists and publications) and 2) to compile research to be used in the development of a proposal for a potential client in the property industry.

Finding the Twitter handles was an arduous but necessary task, so although it was eye-straining work, I knew my efforts would be appreciated. While the research I conducted for the strategy proposal was interesting and introduced me to the diversity of work a public relations consultancy is involved in.  So all in all the first day was a valuable learning experience and a sign that I was embarking on an internship that would deliver exciting challenges, opportunities and insights.

To wrap up, I have devised three questions coming into this experience that I will hopefully be able to answer upon completing my internship in a few months time. These are:

1.     Am I suited to consultancy work?

2.     What attributes do I value in a workplace?

3.     What skills and knowledge do I still need to work on?

Now I’ll throw it you: what questions do you hope to have answered by the end of your internship experience? Let me know in the comments below.

Candice