My first week as a PR professional

Good morning fellow PR interns,

I trust your internships are treating you well and you are gaining valuable experience and enjoyment from them. My name is Rebecca and I am completing my internship at the WA Farmers Federation. I am working for them two half days per week and to date, I have completed one full day. WA Farmers is a non-profit organisation that represents the voice of West Australian farmers; lobbying to create a more sustainable future for the agricultural sector.

I was very pleased to be able to complete my internship with a non-profit organisation, as I feel the work of many of these organisations is overlooked and also feel like my time would be much more valuable to a non-profit organisation as opposed to a for-profit company. Originally from a rural area, I was also very excited to be offered this opportunity with WA Farmers, and felt that I would be able to draw from my knowledge and experience of the agricultural sector to help me with my assigned tasks. In my first week, I feel as though my background has helped to a small extent; but the knowledge I have gained during my university degree is what has helped me the most.

While this may not seem like a surprise, I am in my final year of a Marketing and PR degree, so you would expect that I would have gained enough knowledge to help me complete an internship in a PR role; going into this internship, I felt unprepared and a little nervous that I would not be able to complete the tasks given to me. I surprised myself with the first task assigned to me, I was asked to create a social media plan for an upcoming event, drawing ideas from both my own knowledge and experiences and other successful social media campaigns for events. After doing some research and finding some social media campaigns that have worked in the past, I set about creating a timeline of posts for WA Farmers' existing Facebook and Twitter accounts; and also suggested creating an Instagram page to allow users to share their photos. I also suggested partnering with some influential bloggers; creating some videos of guest speakers to post on social media and arranging interviews with guest speakers from the event on talk back radio stations such as ABC 720. My work was well received by my fellow marketing and public relations colleagues, and my supervisor was impressed with my work. I felt relieved to say the least, but also far more confident in my abilities as a PR professional.

In my first week, I have also learnt some valuable lessons about working for a non-profit organisation. I have previously completed an internship with BHP Billiton, in their petroleum marketing team. I thought this experience with WA Farmers would be very similar; but I was mistaken. On my first day, I was introduced to a planned event 'Foodalicious'. The event was set to be held at Langley Park in September, and would show case the best of WA produce and also help to educate people, particularly children, on where their food originates and the importance of supporting WA growers wherever possible. When I arrived for my second shift on Thursday, I was informed that for reasons beyond their control, the event was 'up in the air' and may not be proceeding. I was given some information about an event that was definitely proceeding, and set about working on the social media campaign for the new event. In contrast to BHP, where there is no issue with funding, and once an event is approved by the powers that be, it goes ahead; I learned that there are many more uncontrollable factors for a non-profit organisation and even the best laid plans may not go ahead.

Secondly, I have learnt there is a clear difference in organisational culture between a large for-profit mining corporation and a medium sized non-profit organisation. Please don't mistake this as me saying I didn't enjoy my time at BHP, because I did; I am merely commenting on the differences between the two. At BHP, the dress code was 'corporate casual' and the norm was a dress suit. At WA Farmers, I felt over dressed on my first day and have since adjusted to a more casual look. While there is still a level of professionalism required and I wouldn't be showing up wearing jeans and a tee shirt, it is far more relaxed. Also, at BHP, I was fortunate enough to meet the President of Petroleum Marketing, who was in Perth from Houston for a two day event; but only makes it to Perth about twice per year. At WA Farmers, I met the President and CEO on my first day, and can hear the CEO's booming laugh from where I sit around the corner from his office. I suppose my point here is the atmosphere is more relaxed and the organisational structure is flatter at WA Farmers. Both have their positives and negatives, it will be up to me to decide which fits better for me when I start looking for a graduate position; I do think that having experience in both will definitely assist me in making my choice.

To close this post, I will conclude by saying that I have thoroughly enjoyed my experience in the first week of my internship, and look forward to continuing my internship and gaining more valuable knowledge and insight into the world of a PR professional.

Until next time.

Best regards,
Rebecca