Experienced the real world!

My final days

As my internship now comes to a close, it’s sad to think I will no longer get to spend my Mondays and Fridays with the people from the office.

I like to think that I have really settled into the work place and become a lot more confortable than my first few days. From the range of jobs and challenges I have been faced with, it has truly given me a real insight into what PR is all about. Although not having to always deal with ‘typical’ public relations work, by doing my placement in a small organisation, it has given me the opportunity to see all things you may have to deal with. Ranging from photocopying, media contact list updates, spreadsheets, editing, photo shoots and agricultural shows, I believe I have been exposed to a lot more areas than you would have to undertake in a larger organisation’s public relations field.

My final day with Bauxite Alumina Joint Venture was just tying up the loose ends, we finished facebook to a manageable level for rest of the staff and I handed over notes about what to do regarding it. We also had a meeting with Clarity Communication to sort out and start planning what social media tools to use. All in all it was a wonderful last day and it’s been fantastic working with BAJV to gain some real world experience!

Here are some photos from the Ag shows and my day as a photographer!

 

Bindoon backlash

 Agricultural show season has officially finished for BAJV, the fourth and final agricultural show was located at Bindoon, located 84km from Perth. Bindoon has always been an interesting area for the organisation, with a lot of activist groups rallying against the business and their future plans in Bindoon. Being told that Bindoon would be on the more interesting side in agricultural shows in comparison to all the other ones, made me a bit uneasy about having to help run the show on Saturday but I was reassured any questions could be directed to those with greater knowledge. Friday came, we drove an hour and a half up to Bindoon to set up the show, this show was different as I was in charge of set up, the tent was larger then the others giving us a lot more room to play around with! Set up was easier and quicker than I thought, as I knew exactly what I was doing, securing everything down we closed up and headed to our accommodation for the night. Saturday morning came and this meant show day! The show was very relaxed and had a good community and country feel about it. Everyone was very nice and was interested in what we did and what we had to offer to the community. The day was filled with questions and kids playing with the diggers in the bauxite pit. This is what I was in charge of for the day, we had a competition running to see who could get the biggest scoop of bauxite into an ice-cream container, I would then weight it and take their details if they wished to compete in the competition to win a family movie pass. Photos of the activity can be seen below. 4.30pm came and we got to pack up and head back to Perth for the final pack up at the warehouse, it was such a long day and I was exhausted after but it goes to show hard work really does pay off, as the day ran smoothly and was a lot of fun!

Although they have recently closed potential operations in Bindoon as it was seem uneconomic for the time, a lot of people were still interested in what the company was doing and where they saw themselves in the future in relation to adding to the economy and providing jobs.

It was a great experience to talk to all the locals and get a bit more of an understanding for what it is all about. And about what consumers and local communities want, they just want the correct information, and to be honest and open.

 

Out of the office - photo shoot

As I’m finding out, my job as an intern is more diverse and very different to what I originally expected. Bauxite Alumina Joint Venture (BAJV), has been very good to me in offering a wide range of activities and jobs you will have to undertake in a public relations field in a small organisation. 

Recently I got to join my supervisor, a photographer and a small team of field workers, set off for Bindoon and Toodyay to take photos of exploration and rehabilitation work.  Unlike my other work throughout this work placement, learning and experiencing what to do with a photo-shoot is nothing that we’ve learnt through the public relations course. I discovered it took a lot of planning and preparation to oraganise occasions like this and you had to be very organized and decisive about what was going to occur. Chantelle, my supervisor knew exactly what she wanted and had drawings and past examples of how it should be situated. Although a busy day, I did find this a great experience, as it was something new and different.  

It was a whole new side to PR and managing the public relations and marketing sector in a small organisation, it was nothing like we have gone through in the course content, as dealing with media but not in depth to dealing with photographers was really covered I found, at least not like what I experienced.  It was really interesting to see how things like that worked out, it was a lot of work by both parties for the photos to end up in advertising materials and on their websites.  

I think this was a great opportunity for me, as we haven’t and don’t do anything like it in the course at uni. It will give me a step up and past experience if and when I have to organise something like this again

The start of the Agricultural shows

Making progressive steps in my internship! Half way through my internship and I’m understanding how the business operates and where I fit in as an intern.  I was a bit lost for a while and didn’t know if what I was doing was right. With the agricultural show season upon us, I didn’t know if events really fitted into the whole public relations area, but handing in my 10 day update I was reassured that it was all apart of the job and to make the most of what I was doing. 

Finally being able to finish the companies facebook page and getting full approval to get that up and running, I was feeling positive about the impact I was having on the business. The facebook page was a lot harder then I thought because BAJV doesn’t have a policy that covers social media. Meaning there needed to be an alternative email created and used for the facebook page, to ensure it didn’t link with personal accounts. So I was pretty excited about it all when it was finally functioning!

I’ve also been able to participate and learn about all the efforts that go into organising events. BAJV participates in a number of agricultural shows and I was able to help set up their stand in Northam. It involved making site maps to show where everything was going to be located within their designated area, as well as a trip to their warehouse to organise and make a stock list for everything that would be needed over the weekend. I really enjoyed the set up as it was efficient and fun. You learn that the maps made are more guidelines then strictly needing to be followed. I very much enjoyed this and cannot wait until I’m able to participate in both the set up and the running of their next agricultural show in Toodyay in October.

So far I’ve very much enjoyed having some freedom to do my own thing but have also been stuck with odd jobs that need to be done. This includes tidying up work sheets, websites and spreadsheets. But it all adds to the job and to the experience!

Stay tuned! Hopefully next blog will update you about the agricultural shows! Or at least the lead up and preparation for them. 

First steps into the real world

Third year, half way through semester one.. The panic set in. I had no placement to complete my Public Relationships Internship in semester two. Luckily Marie-Louise Malkin was willing and able to help me out. Some emails were sent out but sadly no response. Another hope and a bulk email was sent and I started losing hope, until I finally received an email back. Chantelle from Bauxite Alumina Joint Ventures was one of the only ones out of about 20 applications responded and I finally got my interview. The interview consisted of coffee and an explanation of what I would be doing, so I knew I was in.  

My first day arrived, I was nervous and didn’t know what to expect. Bound for Osborne Park, a 45 to 60 minutes drive, depending on traffic, I arrived at my internship. My first day was a bit of a blur, I was very nervous, I didn’t really know how office jobs worked and soon found out it was nothing like school or university. I found you didn’t exactly have to be busy all the time as I was stuck doing odd jobs to keep busy. Meeting everyone in the office I was overloaded with names to remember but I knew that everyone was so nice and welcoming and were all willing to help if and when I lost my way. Not understanding or knowing what to do, Lia and Chantelle are the ones that take care of me. Both are really nice and between the two of them manage to keep me busy. Lia is the communications officer and Chantelle is the managers external and public affairs person, she is my main supervisor, although she seems to be out of the office quite a bit, Lia is there as a back up if needed.

As the weeks go by I’m slowly finding my place and becoming more confortable within the office. I’ve moved from odd jobs like photo copying newspaper articles, to updating their media contact list, editing documents as well as their website and making spread sheets to show the layout for their agriculture shows. My recent activities have included creating, working on and promoting their facebook page as well as helping to organising and understanding what’s required at agriculture shows as well as working on documents that include business goals, objectives and strategies.

I’m really enjoying this as it’s different from anything I’ve done before, I wasn’t sure how I would go, despite the slow start. I’m really looking forward to working on some media releases and talking to journalists about promoting their business as well as participate in their agricultural shows to see different ways they promote their company and deal with local communities they need support from.  

Stay tuned to see how I fair in the real world!