Third year, half way through semester one..
The panic set in. I had no placement to complete my Public Relationships
Internship in semester two. Luckily Marie-Louise Malkin was willing and able to
help me out. Some emails were sent out but sadly no response. Another hope and
a bulk email was sent and I started losing hope, until I finally received an
email back. Chantelle from Bauxite Alumina Joint Ventures was one of the only
ones out of about 20 applications responded and I finally got my interview. The
interview consisted of coffee and an explanation of what I would be doing, so I
knew I was in.
My first day arrived, I was nervous and didn’t know what to expect. Bound for Osborne Park, a 45 to 60 minutes drive, depending on traffic, I arrived at my internship. My first day was a bit of a blur, I was very nervous, I didn’t really know how office jobs worked and soon found out it was nothing like school or university. I found you didn’t exactly have to be busy all the time as I was stuck doing odd jobs to keep busy. Meeting everyone in the office I was overloaded with names to remember but I knew that everyone was so nice and welcoming and were all willing to help if and when I lost my way. Not understanding or knowing what to do, Lia and Chantelle are the ones that take care of me. Both are really nice and between the two of them manage to keep me busy. Lia is the communications officer and Chantelle is the managers external and public affairs person, she is my main supervisor, although she seems to be out of the office quite a bit, Lia is there as a back up if needed.
As the weeks go by I’m slowly finding my
place and becoming more confortable within the office. I’ve moved from odd jobs
like photo copying newspaper articles, to updating their media contact list,
editing documents as well as their website and making spread sheets to show the
layout for their agriculture shows. My recent activities have included creating,
working on and promoting their facebook page as well as helping to organising and
understanding what’s required at agriculture shows as well as working on
documents that include business goals, objectives and strategies.
I’m really enjoying this as it’s different
from anything I’ve done before, I wasn’t sure how I would go, despite the slow
start. I’m really looking forward to working on some media releases and talking
to journalists about promoting their business as well as participate in their
agricultural shows to see different ways they promote their company and deal
with local communities they need support from.
Stay tuned to see how I fair in the real
world!
