"Your Big Opportunity May Be Right Where You Are Now" - Napoleon Hill

"If opportunity doesn't knock, build a door." - Milton Berle.

The perfect quote to start blogging on the experiences I have gained while working as an intern in Miri City Council (MCC).

                                                           

10th August 2015, marked the beginning of my placement in Miri City Council. Upon receiving feedback from MCC, I was ecstatic because I was able to contribute my skills and gain experiences at the same time.

On the first day of internship, interns were given "Industrial Training Student" tag and were briefed on the rules and regulations enforced in MCC.

Every interns must carry the above tag during working hours.

As the only intern in Public Relation section, I was assigned under "Complaint Department", in charge of receiving complaints from citizens and transcribe the information into "TaliKhidmat". (Talikhidmat is a crucial step in processing complaints from the public as it is one of the system used to record complaints and can be monitor by the higher management in Kuching, Sarawak. )

Leonardo DaVinci once said "The noblest pleasure is the joy of understanding".

Using TaliKhidmat as an example, I was rather confused when I was first introduced to this system but fortunately, my colleagues were patient and kind in sharing knowledge. As I study the system, I have better understanding in the appropriate way of utilizing the system. Besides that, complaints come in various category such as stray animals, landscape, public health, engineering and etc. In order to communicate better with people and being able to assist them with their complaints, it is important to fully understand the categories and connect the suitable department according to the complained matters. 

I used to overlook the importance of media monitoring until I started my placement in MCC. Miri City Council is very much involved with activities and events in Miri, which make media monitoring essential. With the assistance from my colleagues,  I was assigned to monitor three different languages of print news and keep an eye on MCC related section such as solved cases of complaints, successful events and etc. Media monitoring will be compiled and clipped for each month throughout the whole year.

An example of media clipping on road issue which was printed on See Hua Daily news.

Pages of media monitoring for September.

Upon finishing given tasks, I often offer my assistance to my colleagues with their tasks while waiting to wrap up the day. They usually need my help in compiling meeting minutes and other documents while they catch up on the more important job.

Documents that needed to be stapled.

Overall, the first week of interning at MCC had been an interesting internship where I get to adapt to new environment, learning their corporate culture and increase my knowledge on public relation industry.