Started From the Bottom Now We're Here!

Heading into my internship I had high hopes I would be deeply involved in real, riveting public relations work. To an extent I have been, but for the most part the work has been fairly surface level. Generally this is to be expected and honestly, I don’t suppose I would trust an unqualified intern with work that could jeopardies my client-consultancy relationships either.

On my first day I walked into the office thinking, ‘please don’t give me a spreadsheet, please don’t give me a spreadsheet.’ Five minutes later I was given a spreadsheet. I sat at my desk editing it for hours and, for a moment, I honestly believed time was going backwards.

The spreadsheet I was working on was a media contact database. It’s an essential tool for PR practitioners because it enables them to reach editors or writers instantly to pitch a story and generate interest in a client. Without an updated media database, pitching becomes a lengthy and clumsy process. So, although the task I was doing wasn't intensely fascinating it was still real, necessary PR work.

Over the next few days, in between the meatier PR work, I was given other menial tasks to do such as fetch stationary, draft travel plans for client trips, take client work to be packaged and, on one particular day, I was given three hours to find one hundred small green luggage locks that needed to be delivered that day. No small task for those who know anything about retail stock management and the chance of someone stocking one hundred locks specifically in green. But moving swiftly on...

Even though the tasks weren’t particularly stimulating they still provided opportunity; an opportunity to show work ethic, efficiency and attention to detail. So, each time I was given a small task I did it to the best of my ability. I did it quickly, thoroughly and with pride.

The way you approach small tasks may very well define how an employer perceives you. All those small tasks are essential for the completion of larger, more important tasks. If you do them incorrectly you risk laying a weak foundation for your team. So, the next time someone asks you to go and fetch some envelopes, fetch them with enthusiasm. Know the size of the envelope, how many are needed and the specific colour and then proudly update your LinkedIn profile with 'professional stationary buyer, because it may very we'll be the difference between getting a job and going back to retail.

 

Time to say goodbye

Hi everyone,

I have been extremely busy the last few weeks preparing MSWA's social media launch which was today. MSWA is now present on Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and Blogger. To launch Facebook, I had to come up with an interesting way to get people to like the Facebook page, and what better way then a give-a-way. Taryn (my supervisor) allowed me to design a competition with the prize of an iPad mini! People must share, like and comment on their experience of MS.

Today was an interesting day, as we were not sure on the response we would receive on the first day of launching the social media platforms. The first few hours we had 3 likes, all within the organisation. This was really starting to worry me as I didn't want the launch to be a fail. More hours had passed and amazingly, people were liking and sharing the page, and posting their story of MS! The response was great. Every time I pressed refresh a new notification would come up. By close of business we had received 250 likes, which was beyond our expectations. 

I thought it would be a good idea to track all the likes and posts for the whole month of April, and then once it has settled down, keep track 1-2 times a week. This will allow MSWA to see what people are responding to, and if the numbers will continue to increase. I also thought it would be beneficial to create a spreadsheet with a year plan on potential ideas for FB posts. This is only to give a rough guide, but there is nothing worse than having presence for one month and then nothing, or overloading people's news feed that they eventually unlike you!

This was the last day of my 20 day internship at MSWA and was the most exciting. I am glad to say that I will not be saying goodbye to MSWA. I have been offered a position in the Communications Department which I start in a few weeks. I am so grateful to be offered this position, as I was definitely not ready to leave. This 20 day internship has been such an amazing growth opportunity for me in PR and I wish everyone good luck for the rest of their placement!

Thanks for reading my blogs!

Gabby