Reflecting on my internship

www.tourism.wa.gov.au

As my internship comes to a close, I have begun to reflect on the valuable lessons I have learnt from my time at Tourism Western Australia in their Corporate communications department.

www.tourism.wa.gov.au

From being absolutely terrified and intimidated on the first day to feeling so comfortable and confident on the last, I can safely say I have come a long way.

I believe that the most important thing that I have gained from this experience the confidence I feel when completing tasks now.
I used to question everything I was doing and  talk negatively about my work but now I feel proud of what I have achieved and happy for people to read over what I have accomplished.
 I notice that a lot of other people have shared the same or similar experiences, but as cliché as it sounds it’s true.


To be honest I wasn't really looking forward to this unit because I was quite time poor and as I had just comeback from a exchange semester overseas I couldn't start my internship as early as I would have liked. Despite no looking forward to the unit and facing various challenges along the way, overall I had a great time and expanded my knowledge.

www.tourism.wa.gov.au

I'd like to acknowledge the staff at Tourism WA and especially Kelly Eadie my supervisor who went above and beyond to accommodate me in the agency, acted as a support network and encouraged my learning. I would recommend to anyone unsure of where to undertake a placement to consider working within Tourism Western Australia, because it was an utterly rewarding experience.




Thanks for reading my blog. I hope that those who have completed their internships had a great and rewarding experience and to those who haven't started yet- it's not as daunting as you think- good luck.

All the best Caitlyn Rintoul (*insert breakfast club fist pump here).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv1I4q6lOpo

Caitlyn Rintoul

http://www.tourism.wa.gov.au/Pages/welcome_to_tourism_western_australia.aspx

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

Well not really, the title was purely to grab your attention. My internship experience was nothing but fulfilling, challenging (in a good way) and beneficial.

Not only did I experience having my media releases sent out to the West Australian, being apart of a major social event, participating in Perth Fashion Festival alongside a designer. 

I never walked into my internship carrying any expectations, but having a whole lot to learn and give. 

Working in-house is one of the elements I really enjoyed. I definitely think whatever industry I go into that I would want to stay in-house. I liked the idea of collaborating as a team and mapping out what we were aimed to complete in a four month period for Steph Audino. Going forward I think that my strengths lie within in-house PR work. 

After all the work put into my internship, I definitely think this whole experience was worth it. I learnt so many invaluable tools to the trade and I know that I am willing to keep learning as much as I can in the industry. 

Participating in this internship has allowed me to evaluate whether I really wanted to be apart of the PR industry and I know it's an industry I love and want to be apart of. I look forward to seeing how I will be able to use the skills and knowledge that I've learnt from the PR units completed whilst at uni and implementing them into my future endeavours in  PR. 

What environment do you think best suited to you in the future? Consultancy or In-house?

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!