I finished my placement! Now... What did I learn?
Firstly I feel a lot more confident in my ability to work in public relations. In particular I found the following areas have drastically improved:
- Professional social media management
- Communication skills (especially on the phone and to other professionals)
- Ability to write
- Creativity
But something that I didn't foresee to improve was my ability to identify problems and to create strategic and well thought out recommendations. For example, my placement drastically needs to improve their evaluation procedures. In particular, I recommended that they use tools such as Google Analytics to measure user interactivity with their website and social media platforms (primary Facebook).
Traditionally they would wait to see actual comments to measure how well they have done at an event. But using a free software could really give them a better insight about how to benefit the most from post timing, when users are active and other information.
My placement will also often stick to its strengths and despite desire to engage other stakeholders (e.g. University Students) they only saw a challenge in generating awareness. However, I believe creating a specialised event for University Students such as a quiz night or a collaborative event with local universities would be more effective than simply distributing general flyers or brochures.
Despite my eagerness to contribute towards innovative change I can understand their hesitation to take my suggestions onboard. I am after all just an intern. However, I really do hope that they put aside their resistance to change and implement my recommendations. However, I feel that this experience regardless of the outcome has given me an opportunity to communicate to future employers that I have demonstrated an interest in innovation and strive for better public relations practice. I may help to improve their competitive advantage!
Has anyone else struggled to have their opinions truly recognised due to their position as an unpaid intern? Please comment below
Good luck in the future with all your ambitions!
Jared
3 comments:
Hey Jared,
With reference to your previous blogs, my understanding is you interned at an organisation with limited emphasis place on the use PR efforts. Similar to my internship I was put to work in other fields, providing PR solutions to these fields when I had the chance but could also provide evidence of my PR solutions working equally or better. Furthermore the fact no true PR department existed (just marketing and advertising like yours), communication decisions were often made so quickly by management that I was often unable to provide my PR recommendations. In my case similar to yours, i believe a lack of PR expertise created hesitation when the idea of change was brought forward. Rather persist with strengths, as investing time and funding into the implementation of new "PR" ideas would be seen as risky due to lack of expertise and therefore knowledge of outcomes.
All the best for future Jared, you have been able to consistently provide the class regularly with answers outside of the box. Your ideas and opinions won't go unnoticed within the PR industry.
Ben.
Hi Jared,
Firstly, congratulations on the completion of your internship :)!
I can relate to both yours and Ben's comments in relation to working within an organisation that did not have an established PR department or any real PR based activities. It was definitely a challenge to begin with, but thankfully the management team at my placement were open to new ideas. Saying that I am not 100% certain they will implement my recommendations but they did let me being working on them during my time there so I think that shows they are keen to make improvements.
I think your suggestion for Google analytics sounds great. Once you learn your way around it is reasonably simple to get get basic measurements, and good point its free!
I hope they take your recommendations on board as well and best of luck for the future!
- Sarah Sharp
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