From Little Things Big Things Grow

Looking back to where it all started I remember dreading starting my internship, where do I begin, where do I want to go, can I really do this, were all questions circling in my mind.
I think I speak for a lot of students when I say I was not looking forward to working for free and that some of the intern adverts looked a little dry, not quite as exciting as Samantha's office from the Sex and the City. But could I really be picky? I'm just a university student, and I'm definitely not the only one looking for a placement, so I should just be happy with anything I can get, right? Wrong!
If you start early enough and do your research you can find somewhere that fits you as well.

Fortunately for myself whilst social butterflying around Perth I began talking to someone who worked for Rugby WA and the Western Force. This organisation was the dream for me as an internship, because of all the rugby players walking around the office? Maybe, but mostly because I had always taken extra interest in sport. Throughout school I was always the sport captain and that didn't change when I arrived at Curtin becoming their sports captain in 2014. All my work experience and volunteer work had been with sporting events so Rugby WA just seemed like the next step up for me.
Networking is a handy tool for any students toolbox and thankfully that is how I found out that they were looking for interns for the upcoming season and eagerly asked for a direct contact that I could submit my interest to. After handing in my resume and acquiring an interview I received an email congratulating me on my new role in the partnerships team at Rugby WA and Western Force.

For a moment I had a sigh of relief, the hard part was over, or so I thought. Day one rolled around and I began to doubt my ability to 'PR', the 'what ifs began to appear in my mind, what if I have to write a press release on my fist day, what if I end up sitting alone at lunch, what if I forget how to send an email, what if I make a mistake. But day one interns don't stress, most tasks are simple, like spread sheets and data entry and all my tasks always came with a set of instructions to help me along the way. I also quickly learnt that the ability to ask questions was my greatest ally, no matter how silly I thought my question might have been, my manger was never frustrated at me and never thought my question was stupid. Asking the question helped to get the job done quicker and ensured it was done to the best of my ability.

As my internship continued my confidence built and the more tasks I was given. Towards the end I was able to walk into the office, sit down at my desk and continue working without any instruction from my manager. My what if's had faded away and I realised that every mistake I made throughout my time at Rugby WA had built me up to be a better intern, learning how to fix things myself and how to avoid making future errors.

Now at the end of my internship I realise that I was never working for free. Hands on experience teaches you things that you could never pick up in a classroom and I am so grateful to Rugby WA and Western Force for giving me this opportunity to grow and develop as a PR student. I now have the confidence I needed to take me into the next stage of life beyond university and I owe it to my internship.

'The Interns' and ladies from commercial services, celebrating our final Western Force home game together

Emails and realising mistakes

Part of my role within the Western Force media team is covering and writing about the PINDAN Premier Grade, the top tier of senior rugby in Western Australia. To put it into perspective, if you compared it to Australian football, it would be like the WAFL is to the AFL. With that in mind, it is important when writing about these teams that you keep their brand in mind, and ensure the articles, reviews and press releases you write accurately reflect the brands the clubs are intending to promote. 

When writing these pieces, we attempt to communicate and relate to the club rugby community by occasionally referring to clubs by the nicknames they have coined over the years, for example Wests Scarborough = 'Wests' or 'The Boars', Cottesloe could be called 'Cott' or 'The Gulls' and Perth Bayswater could be referred to as 'Baysie' or 'The Numbats'. 

To my surprise, I logged into my work emails, the standard email address for every media intern that has ever been through RugbyWA to find an email from a person high up in the Palmyra Ruby Club. It read; 

"Hi there,

Just a small thing. When writing about Palmyra can you refer to us as “Pally” not “Paly” as this is a brand we are trying to promote.

Thanks very much

Best regards,

Steve (not his real name)."

I was originally worried when I first saw this, thinking I had made a big mistake, but soon realised that not all mistakes are bad ones. I had never previously been warned about this, and after re-reading the email I realised that the person sending it was not actually upset or angry about the mistake, he was simply giving me a heads up for next time. 

I since took the advice on board, and have continuously referred to Palmyra as 'Pally', not 'Paly' in all forms of Premier Grade stakeholder communication. 

Luke.