Hi everyone!
Congratulations to all of the PR393 students who have finished their internships and finished/finishing their internship reports (nothing like leaving it to the last minute!)
I would like to take this opportunity to reflect on the amazing experience I had whilst working at my placement. The opportunity I was provided with was invaluable and the skills I have learned and the knowledge I have gained will, I am sure, serve me well throughout the entireity of my Public Relations career. I cannot reinforce how lucky I feel to have had this experience.
At Fremantle Press I had responsibilities including, media relations, author management, stakeholder engagement and event management. I was entrusted to some extremely challenging tasks and surpassed even my own expectations of what I could acheive.
The most valuable experience for me was learning how to pitch to the media and also how to coordinate events.
In my time at Fremantle Press I ran (entirely by myself) three book launch events, from these I learned how much I can juggle at one time, how to effectively plan for anything and everything, and also, that no matter how much you have planned for an event, things can still go wrong!
I would like to thank Curtin University, PR393 staff, and Fremantle Press for allowing me this work experience opportunity. I believe it will prove invaluable on my resume and to be honest, I think I have learned more in the last five months at Fremantle Press then I have learned throughout my entire PR degree.
Good luck to all graduating students in your future careers.
Kate
Showing posts with label #14845839. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #14845839. Show all posts
Thursday, November 6, 2014
Tuesday, November 4, 2014
My Learning Curve
Hi everyone!
Considering that this is our last week of semester/internships I thought it was appropriate to share some of the things I have learned from my internship experience.
Check, Double Check, and Triple Check!
If there is one thing I have learned in my internship experience it is that you must triple check all work you produce. If your supervisor doesn't find a mistake in your work, the editor definitely will! It may not be grammar mistakes either, failing to stick to the style guides can also trip you up and it can be incredibly frustrating getting your work back with red lines all through it.
Don't be scared to ask questions!
Although it may be daunting to ask your supervisor questions all the time, it is the only way you will learn. Everyone has been in our position at the start of their career and they got to where they are now by asking questions and learning. Plus, asking your supervisor questions is much better then just guessing how to do something and doing it wrong.
Research all avenues before asking questions!
Although you should ask questions if you need, it is also important that you make sure you check that you haven't already been given the information. It is frustrating for your supervisor and embarrassing for you if you are asking a question that you either already have the information for or should know where to find the answer.
Take notes on anything and everything!
Lastly, make sure to take notes on anything and everything at your internship. This includes when your supervisor is dictating tasks for you to complete (so you can come back to it later), how to complete hard-to-do tasks, and just any interesting points you may need to look at later on. This has proved invaluable to me and saved me from having be taught how to do things more then once.
I hope this helps! Thanks for reading and good luck with your final reports.
Kate
Considering that this is our last week of semester/internships I thought it was appropriate to share some of the things I have learned from my internship experience.
Check, Double Check, and Triple Check!
If there is one thing I have learned in my internship experience it is that you must triple check all work you produce. If your supervisor doesn't find a mistake in your work, the editor definitely will! It may not be grammar mistakes either, failing to stick to the style guides can also trip you up and it can be incredibly frustrating getting your work back with red lines all through it.
Don't be scared to ask questions!
Although it may be daunting to ask your supervisor questions all the time, it is the only way you will learn. Everyone has been in our position at the start of their career and they got to where they are now by asking questions and learning. Plus, asking your supervisor questions is much better then just guessing how to do something and doing it wrong.
Research all avenues before asking questions!
Although you should ask questions if you need, it is also important that you make sure you check that you haven't already been given the information. It is frustrating for your supervisor and embarrassing for you if you are asking a question that you either already have the information for or should know where to find the answer.
Take notes on anything and everything!
Lastly, make sure to take notes on anything and everything at your internship. This includes when your supervisor is dictating tasks for you to complete (so you can come back to it later), how to complete hard-to-do tasks, and just any interesting points you may need to look at later on. This has proved invaluable to me and saved me from having be taught how to do things more then once.
I hope this helps! Thanks for reading and good luck with your final reports.
Kate
Monday, October 20, 2014
Last Minute Luck!
Hi all!
Unfortunately for me this is my last semester at university, so you can imagine my surprise (and horror) when I realised I had little more then a month left before I was out in the 'real world.' Add to this the fact that I still hadn't found a public relations job for when I finished university and you can imagine how I was feeling!
It was in this ever increasing worried state-of-mind that I went to my internship that week. My day was soon turned around, however, when my supervisor offered me a part-time job for next year! I was told that she was extremely impressed with my work and how well I had fit in to their workplace, and they would be very happy to have me work with them next year.
I am so excited to work with them following the completion of my course, I have really been enjoying my internship, especially the scope of work they allow me to do. Also, I'm sure you all can appreciate how gratifying it is when someone recognises your value and tells you about it.
And so now I am able to relax a little (well as much as you can relax when you have a PR Internship Report to finish) and enjoy my last few weeks at university. Good luck in your last few weeks everyone!
Unfortunately for me this is my last semester at university, so you can imagine my surprise (and horror) when I realised I had little more then a month left before I was out in the 'real world.' Add to this the fact that I still hadn't found a public relations job for when I finished university and you can imagine how I was feeling!
It was in this ever increasing worried state-of-mind that I went to my internship that week. My day was soon turned around, however, when my supervisor offered me a part-time job for next year! I was told that she was extremely impressed with my work and how well I had fit in to their workplace, and they would be very happy to have me work with them next year.
I am so excited to work with them following the completion of my course, I have really been enjoying my internship, especially the scope of work they allow me to do. Also, I'm sure you all can appreciate how gratifying it is when someone recognises your value and tells you about it.
And so now I am able to relax a little (well as much as you can relax when you have a PR Internship Report to finish) and enjoy my last few weeks at university. Good luck in your last few weeks everyone!
Monday, October 6, 2014
Thrown Into The Deep End
Hi all!
I am halfway through my internship and have recently completed the two busiest weeks of my internship career!
My supervisor recently went on a three week holiday and left me in charge. After only a month of working at my internship I was suddenly thrown into the deep-end. No supervisor to check with, no one to answer my never-ending questions, just me, a little bit of training, and a lot of guess work!
To make matters a little more difficult, three events (book launches) had been scheduled during the time that my supervisor was on holidays. This experience gave me a new appreciation for all those looking to work in the events management field. I had never imagined how much running an event can involve, it seemed to be a never ending line of crises waiting to happen, never again will I underestimate the power of a master checklist!
In running these events I learned a number of things, the most interesting for me was having to create speech notes. Speech notes are something I haven't come across much in uni and so it was an entirely new experience when my supervisor asked me to prepare them for each of our key speakers. It was somewhat challenging trying to work the key messages of the company in to the speech notes, the other challenge was making sure our speakers actually stuck to the notes I created for them. This involved a lot of checking and double checking to ensure the speech they eventually came up with was appropriate and in line with the companies messages.
Having completed these three weeks of filling in as communications manager for my company I can definitely say I have had an invaluable experience. I have learnt so much from being thrown into the deep end, primarily the act of juggling a number of important projects at one time. From finding media coverage for the authors our company manages, to running three book launch events, to simply fielding the diverse range of public relations queries each day, this experience has added a page and a half to my resume. It also gave me confidence in myself as a public relations professional, it let me prove to myself that I really can make it in this industry.
Lastly, what I will take away from this is to never underestimate the power of practical experience.
I am halfway through my internship and have recently completed the two busiest weeks of my internship career!
My supervisor recently went on a three week holiday and left me in charge. After only a month of working at my internship I was suddenly thrown into the deep-end. No supervisor to check with, no one to answer my never-ending questions, just me, a little bit of training, and a lot of guess work!
To make matters a little more difficult, three events (book launches) had been scheduled during the time that my supervisor was on holidays. This experience gave me a new appreciation for all those looking to work in the events management field. I had never imagined how much running an event can involve, it seemed to be a never ending line of crises waiting to happen, never again will I underestimate the power of a master checklist!
In running these events I learned a number of things, the most interesting for me was having to create speech notes. Speech notes are something I haven't come across much in uni and so it was an entirely new experience when my supervisor asked me to prepare them for each of our key speakers. It was somewhat challenging trying to work the key messages of the company in to the speech notes, the other challenge was making sure our speakers actually stuck to the notes I created for them. This involved a lot of checking and double checking to ensure the speech they eventually came up with was appropriate and in line with the companies messages.
Having completed these three weeks of filling in as communications manager for my company I can definitely say I have had an invaluable experience. I have learnt so much from being thrown into the deep end, primarily the act of juggling a number of important projects at one time. From finding media coverage for the authors our company manages, to running three book launch events, to simply fielding the diverse range of public relations queries each day, this experience has added a page and a half to my resume. It also gave me confidence in myself as a public relations professional, it let me prove to myself that I really can make it in this industry.
Lastly, what I will take away from this is to never underestimate the power of practical experience.
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