Breaking the Language Barrier

For the past weeks during internship, i always end up having to deal with many stakeholders and farmers that owns and work at the field of the palm oil plantations, its not easy because of the language barrier i faced. This is one of the hardships i'm facing, trying to understand what they are saying or asking. But fortunately everyone here already got used to the languages that has been spoken here and so i seek some help from them and soon enough i'm able to understand some of the language and be able to converse with the stakeholders and farmers properly.

On the other hand, i am now given the role of handling the paperwork of the license registration at the counter and the reason being is that my supervisor wants me to converse more with the stakeholders and farmers to learn the language they speak. I learned a lot everyday and i'm thankful for being able to serve in MPOB.

Go The Extra Mile

Hi there!

Its Ramsha reporting in from Integrated Public Relations in Kuala Lumpur. 

So I am very nearing the end of my internship and let me start off this post by saying that it has been an exhausting and exhilarating experience. It made me realize just how different and fast paced the "real world" is. It also taught me another great lesson which is that going the extra mile never hurts. 

I know it sounds super cheesy and all but trust me on this and I am sure most of you have also learned this same lesson in your own experience. 

Going the extra mile ensures that you stand out above your competitors as well as in the view of your targeted audiences. You leave behind a standard to be followed that not many will be able to match and an image of that extra special something that makes the difference between "great" and "outstanding".

I myself saw the impact of doing this when Integrated Public Relations decided to personally reach out to those media outlets I have been talking about in my previous posts. 

So here is the backstory:

Integrated Public Relations was busy organizing the press event for the launch of the Belum Scientific Research Center at the Belum Rainforest Resort in the state of Perak earlier this month. In lieu of this we were planning to drive down to Perak from Kuala Lumpur. In preparation for the event, as is standard practice, we called all relevant media outlets, inviting them to attend the event.

For this event we targeted only Perak and Ipoh media. We have had contact with them before for other events but this time we decided to show our appreciation by visiting their offices in person one day in advance of the event.

So we drove out one day early and proceeded to visit all the offices that had anyone available to see us. At some we got to meet the head journalist, at others the bureau chief. All were pretty friendly and open to meeting us and we got to thank them for always indulging us and sending someone to cover our events, being patient with attending our calls and sending us copies of their articles in print as it might be difficult for us to get our hands on publications printed in a different province. 

We also gave away some goodies as a show of goodwill and appreciation for their efforts on our behalf. 

The impact this excursion around Ipoh made was palpable the next day when we were about to leave for the resort and each and every representative from the media showed up on time, appropriately prepared and in a great mood. 

By showing that we appreciated the media people in Ipoh we strengthened our professional relationship with them and ensured that they would keep attending events organized by Integrated Public Relations in the future as well. It basically put faces to the names and voices on the other end of the phone line. 

This is a great example of how a little extra effort goes a long way in your favor. A lot of the time you will find that you enjoy doing it too because thinking up activities like this and then executing them is pretty fun. In my case, I got to drive around Ipoh, a city I had not really seen before, got to meet interesting people and just get to know my colleagues in a relaxed "road-trip" fun kind of way.

So heed my advice and never be afraid of doing that little extra that will pay you back tenfold later in time. It is definitely worth the effort.

Till my next (and last) post,

Take care and good luck with your internship placements.

Ramsha Zia Siddiqi

Curtin University, Sarawak Campus
Student ID: 7e2b1164

A hindsight perspective on being an intern ....

If only I knew then what I know now...

Hello all,

Having completed my internship, I am beginning to reflect on my experiences and the insights gained during the past few months I spent at the Perth office for Kreab- a consultancy based in strategic communications.

 In doing so, I have been thinking about what I knew before my internship commenced and what I know now and thought- if only I could have looked into the future and known how my internship was going to unfold.

So this is what I would tell myself if I could go back in time to the fresh faced university student who was about to commence as an intern , who would soon have her world open up new opportunities in an instant.

So it’s finally time to get a taste of the real world. Feel what it is like to experience first hand a Public Relations environment, and more specifically, what it is like to intern at a consultancy.

You've researched the company you will be interning with, but let me assure you, reading about them will teach you nothing until you begin your first assigned task on day one of interning. You will worry about every possible scenario in your head during that first walk from the city train station into the office on your first day.

 Those 15 minutes or so will feel like a lifetime and you will feel like a small fish out of water among a big pond of corporate workers, all strutting along in a hurry with their morning coffees in hand and heels clicking along the footpath as you walk as fast as you can despite being early. After a few weeks, let me assure you, you will fit in perfectly among the masses, you will hold your head up high and have a spring in your step every day until you finish.

You will be welcomed by your super friendly fellow workers and you will learn from day dot to be confident, ask questions and more importantly- attempt every task to the best of your ability. The Perth office you are working for will provide you with the upmost support in both your professional dealings and in terms of making you feel most welcome and a strong part of the team.

They want you to succeed and their knowledge, expertise and positivity will make you believe in yourself more than ever. 

You will be forever grateful for their support, guidance and encouragement and you will recognise this nearing the end of your internship and it will give you the reinforcement to go forth with your abilities and creativity. 

You will sit in on a real meeting with a client and then write many media releases and an event proposal for that client. 

You will become aware of who the company engages with and will become accustomed to what various clients want. It may be challenging at times but you will welcome every task with the same amount of enthusiasm as your previous piece of work. 

You will expand your knowledge of current economic, social and political change and learn that to be a good PR professional you need a firm grasp of the media and political landscape. 

There will be days where you feel as though you have writer’s block or are lacking creative firepower and you will learn that this is perfectly normal and happens to the best of us.

You will attentively listen in during all weekly update meetings and feel bewildered at times with the work to be done in coming weeks, but you will also feel a sense of faith knowing your team always seem to have a positive frame of mind and reassuring outlook on even the most daunting consecutive days of deadlines!

You will sense a feeling of reward after you help out with your first ever event and capture the moments in photos. This event will require you to venture with a colleague to an area you have never and probably will never visit again. An area filled with cattle, horses and farmland.

You will walk into the office one day and be assigned the task of drafting an event strategy and by using techniques learnt from your course, you will complete it and see yourself imagining the event unfold as you go to sleep that night.

You will become more equipped to understanding PR on a national and global scale and all of a sudden you will be constantly curious for information. 

Every article you read you will relate back to the current PR landscape. 

Every representative or government person you see being interviewed on TV you will question if they had media training and are actually comfortable in front of the camera and will wonder what messages they are trying to get across. 

Every sign you see you will wonder how the company wants to be branded and what they represent.

Your hunger for information and answers will grow throughout your internship and your eyes will be that little bit more open to the world by the time you finish.

Don’t take for granted the time or the tasks you have been given. Some tasks you will feel less inspired to complete, but if you keep working hard, the reward will be worth it.

By the time your internship is over you will not feel ready to leave- you have been made to feel part of the Perth Kreab team and you've learnt so much within a short period of time .

However,  you will feel ready to tackle your next mission, all which lies in the unknown realms of post graduation life.

Take all of this into account and don't see your internship as the last hurdle before graduating and starting the next chapter of your life, but rather see it as the first step to your post uni life- and that chapter will come around quicker than you can imagine.

Until next time,

Maddie

Ethics in PR Consultancy

During my time at Go Communications I was exposed to the Vertical Team’s diverse range of corporate clients and the campaigns run on behalf of their clients. One of their clients included the Malaysian Tobacco Industry. Through my regular task of media monitoring and discussions with the Vertical team, I was made aware of the rising issue of the manufacturing and distribution of illegal cigarettes in Malaysia.

 There was a lot of focus in the media on  government authorities and the Tobacco Industry cracking down upon this counterfeit industry and the persons responsible for producing these illegal cigarettes.  Illegal cigarettes are sold at a price considerably less than those sold legally, but have even more serious repercussions on your health than a regularly produced cigarette. The unfortunate reality with this surge in attention and effort to deal with the organized crime groups responsible for producing the cigarettes, are that the authorities generally are more successful in arresting those at the distribution end of the process, (who make only a fraction of what this illegal industry is profiting) whilst the major persons and organisers continued to evade punishment.  One of the Vertical Team’s assignments on behalf of the Malaysian Tobacco industry was to contact and have as many media persons as possible attend a court case dealing with the arrest of a man who was distributing illegal cigarettes. I found this quite an interesting response to the whole situation. In Australia, as a society, I believe we are appropriately anti-smoking and anti the smoking industry. Obviously illegal cigarettes are also a problem, but I am not convinced that the court case would have evoked the same profile reaction in the Australian public, as the Vertical Team were hoping to evoke from the Malaysian public, by maximizing the court case’s media coverage in order to exploit the case in Malaysian Tobacco’s favor.  I found the campaign very confronting and extremely questionable in regards to where it fell ethically. The scenario made me consider my own ethics and the ethics which are supposedly in place to govern PR practitioners. Having no experience in a professional consultancy previous to this internship, I become immediately aware of the importance of ethics within the public relations industry and the potential challenges related to maintaining your own ethical beliefs when employed in a consultancy which predominately deals with large corporate clients.  In reality, I don’t think I would have what it takes to work in a consultancy which had clients such as the Tobacco Industry. I don’t believe I would be capable of compromising on certain situations like the Vertical team was expected to do.

I would be really interested to hear if anyone else experienced similar scenarios during their internships?

First Day

I didn’t really know what to expect for my first day at Go Communications in Kuala Lumpur. Obviously interning is a daunting experience on its own, adding a foreign country to the equation only escalated things. The previous students who had interned with Go Communications had pre warned me about the traffic or “Jam” as they refer to it in Malaysia. I was lucky to be able to hail a taxi easily enough from where I was staying in Bukit Bintang, a suburb located in the city precinct of Kuala Lumpur (similar to North Bridge).

Successfully managing my first task of finding a taxi and correctly navigating my way to the office, I arrived early to Go Communications. I had also been informed before commencing that the office equipment wasn’t the most recent and up to date, which I also discovered extended to the general office décor. I didn’t really appreciate these comments until I actually saw the office and I was quite shocked by just how old the equipment and décor was. I had completed previous internships, one of which was with a government office and they had in place the most up to date software and equipment to make sure work was completed to the highest standard possible. Go Communications office was a cultural eye opener.

The Go Communications head office in which I interned was founded by CEO Michael De Kretser, in 2006. Michael is an ‘out of the box’ thinker and “one of the most recognised, experienced and respected public relations professionals in Asia”.  Go Communications has expanded to have offices in Thailand, Cambodia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Indonesia.

After a brief introduction to the various staff members, who were divided up into various teams, I was placed in the Vertical Team. The staff members in this team were all fairly new to Go Communications and had come over together from another company. My first task as an intern was media monitoring. Media monitoring is a task I had completed before, but not to the same degree that it is completed at Go Communications. The majority of staff are involved in this task. Go Communications staff collect clippings for a range of circumstances, which relate to each particular client - these include press, competition and industry. The scope of articles collected on behalf of clients I initially found to be excessive and extremely time consuming. Being a consultancy each of the teams has a large list of clients. Relative to the client’s size and influence, so the quantity of clippings the consultancy is required to collect for them, sometimes before 12 noon. The media monitoring process is laborious, and as such on occasions could be quite stressful, particularly to complete the task by the allocated deadline.

My first few days Go Communications were completely different to what I had expected, but were also a massive learning opportunity. Interning in a foreign country also allowed me the opportunity to immerse myself in Malaysia’s diverse range of cultures, which before commencing my trip, I knew little about. 

  

Final Days

Hi Everyone,

Today was my final day at Cannings Purple, I thought that I would be excited to have finished my internship but I’m feeling sad to be leaving the welcoming and enthusiastic team that I have been lucky to be a part of for the past two months. 

I baked muffins and brought them in for morning tea but the staff had also organised a morning tea for me and Grace with cakes, slices, party pies and coffee.  We all had morning tea in the board room and the directors welcomed a new staff member Grace and said goodbye to me.  

Throughout the past two months of my internship I have been exposed to and have been a part of a number of different projects with a number of different clients.  

I have written media releases, created contact lists, written questions, conducted interviews, attended corporate meetings and been a part of a big event in Bunbury.  The public relations units that I have completed prepared me for the work that I was given and allowed me to feel like I had some background knowledge that I could apply to the tasks I was given.

I feel like I have developed my written and communication skills to a great extent while working in a friendly, team environment with a talented and committed team.  I feel like the PR393 unit has given me so much valuable experience and has made me feel confident and excited about my first job.

I’m looking forward to completing the rest of my degree and getting out into the ‘real world’!

Sophie McKay 16138667

Intensify 2014

Hi Everyone,

Today I attended a Network Ten seminar called ‘Intensify’ at their studio with the digital design team at Cannings Purple. The Melbourne Sales team had flown over to Perth with the goal of promoting and selling advertising packages to businesses in Western Australia, the special packages included coverage on channel ten over a six month period, advertisement design and a 65% discount. 

We arrived in the foyer at the studios and were greeted by a sales team representative, Brent and were offered a coffee or refreshment.  The 11am seminar had been sold out so the room was quite full.  Brent proceeded to take us to our seats and enquired about our company, clients and goals for advertising or media in the future.

http://www.intensifyrsvp.com.au/index.php

Russell Howcroft was the main speaker at the seminar, he explained his role as Executive General Manager of Network Ten (I recognised him from the Gruen Transfer) and the important role that he believes that advertising plays in the success of businesses.  A short tutorial was shown in the seminar which explained the different packages that were available, the advantages of these and the prices attached to them.

Following the speech and video we were all invited to watch as the Channel Ten News was recorded for the midday update.  I found it incredible to watch from behind the camera as Narelda Jacobs read the news out in two takes. 

Following the seminar, Jamie and Cam decided that these packages and this form of advertising were not suitable to Cannings Purple due to the nature of consultancy and the variation of clients would mean that the need for TV advertising would not be there on a consistent basis. 

I found this experience very interesting as I was able to observe business to business advertising and learn about the possibilities that are being offered in the form of TV advertising for West Australian businesses.  I was able to link this experience back to the Media Relations unit I completed last year due to the relationship between advertising and public relations that I observed at the seminar, I even got to sit behind the news desk!

Sophie McKay 16138667

Bunge Launch Event in Bunbury

Hi Everyone,

Last Friday I was lucky enough to be invited to Bunbury with the Cannings Purple team for an event they had organised for client, Bunge Australia.  The brief had consisted of a day time official opening of the new silos at Bunbury Port, and then a sundowner later in the day. 

Rebecca and I arrived in Bunbury at 11am on Friday morning, we proceeded to meet up with Danika, Renee and Ryan who were the team behind the planning of the day. We were given an information pack containing a running sheet, checklist and contacts for the event and were briefed on our duties for the day. 

I was stationed at the Bunbury BREC centre to coordinate the bus which was picking people up every ten minutes and taking them out the launch event due to the limited parking and tight security at the Port facility, I liaised with the bus driver and the invitees on their way to the launch.

At 1.30 I travelled back to the Port at just caught the end of the speeches and the unveiling of the plaque. I had been given a photo brief for the event so I introduced myself to the official photographer and he helped me with getting some good photos of the Port tour and of the general event.  It was great experience to work with a photographer while being part of a big event and seeing all of the team’s months of hard work paying off.

At 4pm Danika, Rebecca, Ryan and myself drove to the BREC Centre to finish setting up for the sundowner set to start at 5pm.  The design team at Cannings Purple designed seven huge posters that we put up around the function centre.

We raced over to the Mantra at 4.50pm and got ready for the sundowner event, we were back at 5.05pm for the start.  I worked with the photographer again and talked to a number of guests throughout the night. 

 

The client, Bunge Australia were very happy with all aspects of both the Launch at the Port and the Sundowner at the BREC Centre.  The experience of being a part of the planning and then the actual event was incredible, all of the hard work of planning and organising the event down to the last detail resulted in a smooth running, crisis free event. 

I could relate this experience to PR Techniques when I created a running sheet, checklist and contacts list for a hypothetical event with the Rotary Club.

A debrief has been planned with the staff that attended for tomorrow morning in the office. 

Sophie McKay 16138667

Bunge Australia

Hi Everyone,

During my second week at Cannings Purple I was briefed on client ‘Bunge Australia’ and the three events that Cannings Purple will be organising and managing over the next month for them:

·         Newdegate Field Day (3^rd & 4^th Sep)

·         Dowerin Field Day (27^th & 28^th Aug)

·         Bunbury Launch Event (19^th Sep)

The team at Cannings Purple were already underway with coordinating equipment hire, designing material media, and the general organisation of the two field days and the launch event.  I started my work with Bunge Australia by searching their website and gaining a broad understanding of their work.

http://www.bunge.com/About-Bunge

During the week I have been involved in the Bunge Australia project in a number of ways.  I brainstormed interactive activates that could be set up as part of the field day.  We chose to set up a ‘Guess the Grains’ competition, similar to ‘Guess the Jelly Beans’.  I was in charge of filling three jars with wheat and working out how many grains were in the competition jar (the lucky number was 54, 038). The closest guess on the day will receive a Nosh hamper.

I sorted through emails and results from Campaign Monitor and called recipients that had not yet responded to the email invitation.   I then updated the RSVP spreadsheet for the Bunbury Launch event with the updated status of the guests. 

Yesterday I was involved in a meeting for the Bunbury launch event, we ran through the running sheet, checklist and the possible issues that may arise on the day.  The documents brought back memories from PR Techniques!  

I’ve been asked to attend the event in Bunbury on Friday 19^th September to help with setting up the launch and the general running of the day.

  

My next post will be a summary of my weekend down south in Bunbury at the Port launch event, I am looking forward to participating in an event out of the office and gaining some ‘real life’ public relations experience!

Sophie McKay 16138667 

Heart of Gold

Hi Everyone,

At the beginning of August I started my internship at Cannings Purple, a strategic communication organisation in West Perth. I arrived at the fourth floor office at 8.30am and was given a media package surrounding a campaign called #Heartofgold which had been launched for a client of Cannings Purple, the Gold Resources Response Group.  The positive public awareness campaign had hit the ground running at the Diggers and Dealers conference in Kalgoorlie two days prior. 

http://www.heartofgold.net.au/

At 9am I attended the daily staff meeting in the board room, Executive Assistant Meg Popple runs the meeting which all staff are required to attend either in person or via phone contact.  The purpose of the meeting is for everyone to discuss their planned work for the day and for an issues to be discussed.

www.perthnow.com.au/the-man-who-knows-how-to-handle-a-crisis/story-fn8ou527-1226252640786

Over the next five days I drafted a number of press releases surrounding the #Heartofgoldcampaign and the positive impact of the gold mining industry on Western Australia’s regional communities.  In preparation for the press releases I worked with Danika Ferguson and Karen Brown to establish ideas for contacts and possible story angles. 

I then drafted interview questions, edited these with Danika and proceeded to record and observe as Danika carried out the phone interviews with a number of community members and mining employees. 

I have drafted two media release as a result of the interviews carried out with Danika, these are set to be released to Metropolitan and Regional media outlets in the coming weeks. 

In my few days at Cannings Purple I have been exposed to a number of different situations and have been able to apply the theory I have learnt over the past two years in Media Relations, Public Relations Techniques and Public Relations Principles.

I’m looking forward to the remainder of my internship.

Sophie McKay 16138667 

Beginnings

Hi Everyone,

My name is Sophie McKay and I’m currently in my final semester of a Bachelor of Commerce, majoring in Public Relations at Curtin University.  Upon arriving back in Perth following a semester in England I was faced with the task of finding a suitable placement for my PR393 Internship. 

I researched options in Perth, emailed my resume to a number of organisations and heard back from Cannings Purple.  I attended an interview with the Managing Director Warrick Hazeldine and National Director Karen Brown in late July and was offered a part time intern position to fulfill the requirements of my PR393 Internship.

Cannings Purple is a rapidly growing strategic communication consultancy based in Perth.  Specialising in corporate affairs and investor relations, they boast an extensive range of clients including Landcorp, Bunge Australia and The Gold Resources Response Group and operate successfully across a number of sectors.

www.canningspurple.com.au

I’m looking forward to starting my internship at Cannings Purple and operating out of their West Perth office for the next two months.  This will be my first opportunity since commencing my degree that I will be able to apply the theory learnt over the past two years and be involved in a ‘real life’ public relations organisation!

Sophie McKay 16138667 

Throwing myself into a consultancy

Hi everyone,

I thought it was a good idea that some students had posted a general/introduction blog and so I thought I would follow this trend before writing posts specifically related to my internship.

My name is Rebecca Keating and I am in my final semester studying a Bachelor of Commerce with a double major in Public Relations and Marketing at Curtin's Bentley campus.

I am doing my internship at a wonderful consultancy called Platform Communications.

After I had finished my exams for Semester one I started to become quite stressed at the thought of applying for and finding a suitable internship to complete for the Professional Placement unit in Semester two.

I really didn't know how to apply, who to apply to and most of all- what to do about my full time job. I put if off for a while and then decided I had worked so hard during my studies and wanted to get out of the world of retail so I decided that I needed to put graduating university at the top of my list, and for this- I needed an internship!

A wonderful friend of mine gave me a list of some great consultancies and organisations who use in-house consultants to apply to. She gave me the advice of applying off my own back and if this went no where she could then step in and help me.

So off I went and applied for a whole load of places. Most were great and got back to me within a couple of days letting me know they had filled their intern positions. A couple of directors even personally responded with a list of other places to try. So I did this and sent out some more applications.

I sent an application to Platform Communications (a firm I was recommended to try) and the next day I had a phone call with an interview lined up for two days later where I was then offered the position on the spot.

On this particular Friday I went straight to my retail job after my interview, handed in my notice and started at Platform the following week ready to be briefed about the in-kind project I am working on.

Platform Communications is a small consultancy who provide many aspects of communications, marketing and design to their clients, specialising in the energy and resource sector.

Within Platform I am predominantly working on an in-kind project; the Toodyay Picnic Race Day to increase exposure of the event, gain sponsorship and showcase the town of Toodyay to local community members and visitors from Perth. I also help with any other work that comes up and assist the director and seniors in making sure that their work life is running smoothly- often the biggest challenge of all!

I am learning a huge amount of things every day and I will be sure to share some tips and tricks in my upcoming blog posts.

I hope everyone has had success in finding a great internship opportunity.

Until next time-

Rebecca.

Benefits of interning at an agency: Putting a finger in every pie

Go Communications is an agency with clients ranging from restaurants and hotels, to oil and gas producers to fashion labels.  Interning at the agency I was exposed to public relations work within a variety of different industries.   One day I was brainstorming ideas for the corporate newsletter of a property developer and the next dropping a Nikon camera to a magazine office to be reviewed.

It also enabled me to get a handle on the culture in Malaysia.  Just living in Malaysia as a foreigner posed its own challenges, let alone working.  But having a grasp of the issues going on in various industries and a good understanding of the local media (as a result of each mornings media monitoring) helped me in my everyday life: in fitting into a culturally different lifestyle and in my interactions with the locals.

I am aware of inevitable disadvantages for an intern within the agency context.  With so many clients and only a limited amount of time at the agency, it is difficult to gather a full understanding of each client, their needs and to develop an all over view of the public relations services delivered to each client.  With more time to focus on a single client at a time a better understanding may have been achievable.

However, as an intern what I am looking for in my experience is a taste of what the public relations occupation is like.  Through an agency, I feel I have been able to achieve this in a variety of different industries within a short amount of time.  Through these various ‘tasters’ I have been able to decipher which industries I have an interest in and which one I may like to work for in the future and which industries I wouldn’t be so keen to work in.  It has also given me insight into consultancy as an industry in itself.  Through my own experience I have found agencies and consultancies beneficial place to intern if you are unsure of which direction you would like to take in the public relations field.

Georgia
15560340

Being a PR Consultant: Would I?

My final two weeks at Clarity were both hectic and saddening; I truly couldn’t imagine leaving the team and clearly, they hadn’t thought about it either. In fact, no-one realised it was my last day so I left the office on a Friday as per normal, with no more fanfare then is typically exerted during the afternoon wind up.

How could this happen you may ask? Well after completing my required 20 days, I continued to come into Clarity as per normal on Thursday and Friday’s. Why? Mostly because I wanted to continue learning; but also because being annoying perfectionist that I am, the thought of leaving a number of projects unfinished really irked me. Ergo, I continued to intern until the very last week possible (last Friday) when I realised that my final week of university was soon here and with it the ugly deadline for about 80% of my potential pass marks across all 3 of my units.

Image Courtesy of  Clarity Communications.

Despite my farewell being a little anti-climactic, missing out on it didn’t particularly bother me; I'd already offered to come back and present a short review of my internship to the  Clarity team, so I knew  I’d see them all again; and I’d also promised to making a special Swedish salad for the PR Team’s ‘Summer Salad Club’ so really, there was no way they’d avoid another visit.

Sitting in the City of Subiaco carpark across from office, I let everything I’d just learnt over the past three months settle in; I felt like I’d made genuine connections with these people, and learnt so much about PR, myself and the working world.  I came into Clarity not knowing if I’d be ready for that level of professionalism and work standard. I left not being that much more reassured, but definitely feeling a lot more confident that I’d be able to figure things out.

The other thing I left with was a job offer; with Clarity, in a yet to be establish role but under full-time conditions and commencing next year. I haven't discussed with my supervisor anything further regarding the offer, but I'm pretty sure I will accept it regardless. 

I truly can't thank all the teaching staff at Curtin enough for helping me become the PR practitioner that I am today. And I look forward to engaging with those in the future who will continue to aid my development. Best of luck to all my peers in their own journeys, I've thoroughly enjoyed reading these blogs and am confident you will all go far in the career path you choose.

Internship Golden Rule No. 4 – Give it your all; remain optimistic in times of stress; and never forget, that your next opportunity may be just around the corner.

Being a PR Consultant: Should I?

Having just past the half way mark of my internship, it started to occur to me that whilst both challenging and fast paced, consultancy work can lack the familiarity of an in-house PR department. Having worked in such a capacity previously, I had some idea of what to benchmark it against – yet I couldn't quiet decide which I enjoyed better.

It’s an old argument when it comes to choosing between in-house or external (i.e. agency) when building your PR career. There are definite pros and cons for each; check out this article from Ragan PR which explores the “5 Major differences between Agency and inhouse PR” http://bit.ly/UW9Jmj – is a worthwhile read. In my mind however, I looked to see which type of PR helped me grow more as a practitioner.

In this regard, consultancy was the clear winner  you’re surrounded by a team of experienced workers, most of whom are willing and able to share with you insights based on their own working history. You really can’t beat that type of on-the-job education.

However.

Consultancy means that you’ll often need to work with clients who’s products or industries are far removed from your own interests, knowledge or even care-factor; I am by no means suggesting that these companies are not worthy of your consideration, however they would unlikely be your first pick (when it came to looking for an internal PR role).

Choosing a career in the PR department of an organisation generally means you have the ability to select any industry or business in which you enjoy work or have a significant level of interest. If you are someone who benefits from a constant working environment, a tired and tested set of processes and a more in-depth knowledge of ‘the client,’ then I wager a guess that consultancy is not your best pick.

When pondering these options, I realised that part of the beauty of consultancy work in dealing with the unkown; whilst I may not be an expert oin dust, dirt or debris, if the client required me to be one – I’d soon find a way. Plus I’d likely leave the project more aware and educated them when I first started. 

Internship Golden Rule No. 3 – Don't turn a job down just because you're not interested in the subject matter. You never know until you've tried it!

Being a PR Consultant: How do I?

Following the first 3 weeks of my strenuous work placement, things soon became easier to juggle. Names were matching the right faces, my Apple iMac was becoming less frustrating (I’m a PC girl through & through) and the Friday afternoon office ‘wind-down’ was not nearly as intimidating as it first seemed.

I was in the Clarity office every Thursday & Friday, working cross-department; Thursday was spent in Digital and Friday on the PR team. I slowly developed a routine of arriving at the office by 8.30am and checking my emails, before asking the relevant supervisor about my projects for the day. On weeks when a deadline loomed, I often found jobs to keep myself busy –  ticking the box next to ‘using my initiative’ on my mental checklist.

My role in digital was heavily focused on online development, content creation and website maintenance; whilst not strictly ‘PR’ these are jobs I found extremely informative. Creating content calendars for Clarity and client Celebrate WA, has consumed approximately 15% of my time over the duration of my placement. For those unfamiliar with it, a ‘content calendar’ is essentially a document that social media strategists use to map out posts for a period of time (typically on a month by month schedule). Whilst it might seem like an easy concept, coming up with 25 targeted posts that pertain to the client and their audience is no mean feat. Here is an example of the document I created for Celebrate WA.

As for the PR side of things, Clarity maintains a standout record. Handling the media relations for big names around Perth means they know their way around a press release. Within those first few weeks, I was asked to write a first draft release for an exciting partnership expansion to be announce in a few months time – it was a project I would be able to see through from start to finish during my placement. As for the processes of the PR team, every Friday morning starts with a brief 15 minute team huddle, where the week’s progress is reviewed and next weeks’ direction determined. As an intern I was asked to partake, to summarize what work I needed to carry on from digital and what jobs had already been scheduled for my day in the PR department.

Image Courtesy of  Cornerstone Advisory Partners.

This post is intended to highlight the accountability/productivity that is expected at consultancy level. As an intern I had it fairly easy, but even I stressed out about being timely in my work ethic. When your clients are paying a fair penny for your services (per hour!) you need to make sure you're giving them the most bang for their buck.

Internship Golden Rule No. 2 – just because you’re an intern, doesn't mean your work will be any less appreciated by the client; make sure you do their investment justice.

Being a PR Consultant: Could I?

PR393 Internship is a unit I've spent most of my time at university looking forward to doing. Feedback from past students has always suggested it to be the most beneficial unit a PR student will undertake during their degree.

I knew my PR393 placement had to take place at a Consultancy - as the only ‘genre’ of PR work that I hadn’t previously experimented with (as opposed to internal, project-based and freelance) consultancy both intrigued and scared me. The thought of having multiple clients and never-ending deadlines made me question “would I be capable?” Quite different from the laissez faire workload that we enjoy as students, consultancy work requires high accountability, full transparency & well documented working days - along with a vivacious ability to tackle new challenges. As one who has never been deterred by the prospect of hard work, I couldn’t wait to throw myself into the world of PR consulting.

As it were, I was fortunate enough to have previously dealt with a leading Perth consultancy who agreed to take me on as an intern. Before I knew it, I was rocking up to Rokeby Rd in Subiaco, ready for my first day as a Digital/PR intern at Clarity Communications.  

Not too sure who I’m talking about? Even if you’re not familiar with Clarity, chances are you’ll know their work, with clients including BHP Billiton, Woodside, Grant Thorton, CBH and the Shire of Broome… the list goes on.

All Images Courtesy of Clarity Communications.

My first few weeks at Clarity were a blur. Those two days a week I spent in the office were insightful, educational and demoralizing – I quickly came to the conclusion that I wasn’t even close to the standard of these professionals (even the office juniors!). This reality check was beneficial in two respects, first by forcing me to accept that my skill set is still that of an undergraduate (meaning I have a lot to learn) and secondly motivating me to continually aspire for more.

After the first two turbulent weeks, I began to find my feet. Drawing on my strengths (being social media and creative thinking), I tackled daily tasks to the best of my ability. When a situation arose were I couldn’t complete a particular job as well as I thought it needed to be done, I asked for the help. My supervisors Christie and Andrew were extremely helpful in this regard. 

When reflecting on those first three weeks, I returned to my original question of capability. Could I actually make it as a PR consultant? At that stage my answer was an optimistic 'no'. Why optimistic? Because in recognising that my existing skills don't meet the demands of such a position, I can comprehend areas I'd need to improve in order to realise this 'ideal'.

Internship Golden Rule No. 1 – think smart, work harder and when in doubt, ask for assistance; this helps develop our skills further.