Reflections of a PPR Intern

Hi folks!

Unfortunately, this will be my last blog entry as my internship with Professional Public Relations has now drawn to an end.

As I walked into the office on my last day knowing it would be the final time I would as a PPR intern, it made me reflect on my time here. Did I do enough? Had I immersed myself in the culture of the organisation? Did I leave a meaningful impact on PPR or would I soon become a distant memory meshed in with every other intern who was there?

I knew the one thing I wanted to do was to make myself stand out from other PPR interns. PPR only accepts 12 interns a year and when I was talking to the consultants, they could barely remember who the intern before me was. How was I going to prevent this from happening to me? Obviously, I wanted to be remembered as PPR is definitely an organisation I would like to stay in contact with, not only for potential employment but also networking opportunities. Perth, the market it is, I would likely come across many of these people again sometime in my career so it would be nice to maintain a relationship that I had fostered over the past four weeks which would extend the life of my internship.

Reading the article, Nine Tips for Ending Your Internship on a Positive Note made me realise I had to leave my internship believing I did make a positive impact not only with regards to the work I produced but also with the relationships I has formed. The article goes on to say there are certain things you should do on your last day (which I would definitely recommend doing for those of you still completing your internships). The following tips are slanted towards a consultancy only because that's where I undertook my internship but they are easily transferred to in-house.

My farewell email I sent everyone

Tie Up Loose Ends
I made sure that all the tasks I was given were completed and those that weren't, I made sure I told the consultant who I was doing it for that I was unable to get it done. As I had to brief the next intern, I made sure they were aware of what to do when they got to the office on Monday morning.

Set Up Time To Talk To Your Supervisor
I discussed with the HR manager the positives as well as the negatives I experienced during my internship and also thanked her for the opportunity.

Give A Standout Gift
As you should have read from my farewell email (sorry it's a bit blurry), I came into the office on my last day with donuts, cupcakes and spring rolls. I didn't think it was much but the comments I got back raving about the food was amazing. A little tip for you guys, food is always something that will make people happy so I would definitely suggest bringing something in on your last days. Chatting to one of the senior consultants, she told me it was great that I brought so much food in because as I said before, interns are usually forgotten in a month or so and a scenario to remember me she said: "Oh you don't remember Jamie? He was the intern that brought all that food in." Distinguish yourself and make yourself standout in more ways than just quality work!

Thank Everyone!
I literally thanked everyone at PPR; of course I thanked the HR manager like I said before for giving me the opportunity to complete my internship here but beyond that, I thanked the consultants, account managers, group directors and even the admin staff. I also had a chat with the executive director, personally thanking him and also to talk about what my future endeavours were. It was a great opportunity to pick his brain about what it's like to search for a job in the PR industry in Perth.
In my farewell email, I also thanked everyone again as I didn't want them to think that I took their efforts in providing me with work as unimportant. It took a lot of trust for them to give me work, particularly because they had known me for less than four weeks and that what I would do had real implications on their professional reputations. I was and still am extremely grateful and appreciative of this.

Ask For Feedback
Feedback is such an important part of any internship. How are we to improve if we don't know how our performance actually stood up? It was so important to me to get this feedback so I could work on my professional skills and to see if what I thought my weaknesses were ran parallel with what others thought. This will be discussed further in the second part of this blog post.

Stay In Touch
In the email I sent out (I know I keep referring to this email I wrote but a final email is really a great way to conclude an internship, complemented with personally going up to people) I included my personal mobile, email address as well as LinkedIn account details. As I have already said Perth is a small market and maintaining these connections is instrumental in my career longevity. Talking to the executive director, he told me to stay in contact with the HR manager emailing her once every couple of months saying what I am doing now even if I have already got a job.

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As you know, I asked for feedback if anyone had time in my farewell email. I invited them to my desk or just to send me a brief email about anything regarding my performance. Quality of work, meeting deadlines and communication were things I particularly wanted to know about though. Obviously, this internship meant more to me than just a grade on my transcript; I wanted to know how I would perform in a role within a consultancy because of course, what we're all looking for after graduation is employment. Any feedback I received while at PPR, I would use as constructive and help myself improve for any future employment opportunities be it at PPR or at another organisation.

After I sent out that email, it was so humbling to have so many of the consultants come up to me and tell me that I did a great job and that they would definitely recommend me to other organisations, particularly because it was coming from such a credible source as PPR. If any of you had read one of my earlier blogs, I was daunted by the fact that the consultants wouldn't accept me as a valid and reliable intern which turned out to be all in my head. This is my message to all of those who have just started their internships or haven't started as yet: as long as you are 100% committed to producing quality work, you should have no problems being considered as reliable, trustworthy and responsible. If you were in an intern role like mine, I had to generate my own work and it was important to be seen as reliable because the consultants wouldn't have given me any extra work to do, if they saw me as incompetent and unorganised. Looking back on it, I'm glad I had to find my own work because if I was given tasks to do, I may have become complacent and not have taken as much pride in my work. Having to "work for work" made me just that much more motivated to keep deadlines and produce quality work. It has definitely made me more work-ready and now believe that every task done, no matter how menial I think it is, fits into the larger picture of PR and is something to be proud of.

Reflecting back on my entire internship, I now realise how beneficial it actually was. Particularly because this is my last unit, I will be entering the job market as of now. The experience gained at PPR has helped shape my idea of employment as well as the field of public relations. It has allowed me to explore different elements of PR with a wide variety of clients. The one question that still remains is whether I want be employed in a consultancy or as an in-house PR professional. Having never worked in-house before, I cannot answer this question without bias and unfortunately, until I myself figure out which career path I want to head down, I cannot conclusively give you my thoughts on this. I sincerely apologise but as you know, it is not a decision I can make lightly.

As I now look to the future and graduation in February, I now look onwards and upwards with the new found knowledge I have gained through my internship. It will be interesting to see how I apply everything I have learnt here into getting a job in the PR industry. I have had a pleasure reading all of your blog posts and hope you have enjoyed reading mine. Best of luck to you all and hope to see you guys at graduation next year!

Happy Interning!

Jamie :)

Research: The Tool in Every PR Professionals Holster

Can Someone Tell Me Why Organisations Outsource PR Again?

Hi Everyone!

It's me again and instead of boring you all with tasks I've been given at PPR, I thought I would use this blog post to discuss why organisations would outsource PR rather than do it themselves. This is a question that I had pondered since the start of my internship having worked on clients including McDonald's, Emirates, LandCorp and Dymocks. These are all large, established companies where image and how they look in the public eye is incredibly important to their reputation. At uni, James Grunig's Excellence Theory taught us that public relations was fundamental to an organisation and that it was a value-adding activity in terms of both financial and internal communication benefit. Public relations as a function belongs at the top of any organisation. Why would they not want to control their public relations activities themselves then?

It really was quite bazaar to me that they would do this; if PR was as important as I thought it was, why wasn't it an engrained department in these organisations much like how no-one questions the presence of finance, marketing and HR departments in companies of this size?

So that got me thinking, after reading Seven reasons why it makes sense to outsource PR & media relations, it made me believe that in some circumstances, it was beneficial for a company to outsource their PR function.

Cost


Accumulation of Expertise


Focus on Central Business Operations


Ability to Reach PR Objectives Better


All in all though, I believe the main reason why companies outsource the PR function is because it is a cost-effective way to manage the perception of your brand by using an accumulation of PR knowledge and expertise that in-house just can't compete with. A smart decision if you are in a management position within that organisation, however, as an aspiring PR professional, I would think it almost necessary to try and have at least one employee who understands the role of PR within the organisation to handle day-to-day PR needs and liaise with a consultancy to ensure a relationship exists where you can call on them when a larger issue arises such as crisis management or promotion of a large-scale event.

Communication is Key!

Hi Guys!

So I am now a week and a half into my internship at PPR and I can’t believe how fast it’s going. If you’ve read my previous posts, you may know that I’ve come to realise how important internal relationships are in consultancies. Well since then after having chats around the ‘proverbial’ water cooler, I have attended a couple meetings and am being called upon to do more tasks for the consultants. Letting people know who you are and that you’re willing to do whatever is needed and on time is imperative in this industry. Communication really is key.

Lately, I have helped some of the consultants with the client, PTTEP, an oil and gas company who were responsible for the Montara oil spill in 2009. It’s interesting to see that PPR are still having to manage the issue of this spill 5 years after it actually happened. It really goes to show that issue and crisis management can be a long process that can span many years. PPR also helps PTTEP with other matters as well and I have been lucky enough to be involved in creating a research report outlining what the statistical findings were after the spill. I had to create a glossary of words that were primarily in environmental jargon as well as read and edit over parts of the report.

I have been told that many lobby and special interest groups are constantly attacking PTTEP after the oil spill and Public Positioning Papers (PPPs) which are contingency plans which have been authorised by PTTEP are constantly being created so that they are prepared for any situation. Sitting in on the daily WIP meetings for PTTEP which are “Work In Progress” meetings has really allowed me to immerse myself in how the consultancy operates and the importance of communication again. As PTTEP is the second largest client for PPR, it’s handled by five consultants who each take a different aspect of PTTEP’s public relations. This WIP meetings are important because they all have to know what’s happening as there is often cross over in the work and it also looks better in the clients eye, the more knowledgeable you are. I know I sound like a broken record right now but the biggest realisation I have had is about internal communication.

In other work I have undertaken, I have done work for LandCorp. I spoke about PTTEP being PPR’s second largest client; well, LandCorp are their largest. At any one time, LandCorp can have multiple projects running that need the assistance of PPR which can be confusing if not organised properly. The project I was helping with was one where LandCorp was redeveloping a school that would be used to house young people with a disability. As there are little facilities for young people, many of those disabled live in aged care facilities. My job was to develop a list of media contacts within the industry of assisted living to feature stories regarding this project. What I found interesting was that I had to start from scratch and that PPR did not have a centralised database that had media contacts in it. This meant every time someone needed a media contact, they would have to research it themselves. A couple of the consultants had asked me to look up media contacts for them and I found that on some occasions, I had to find the contacts of the same organisation for more than one person. Luckily, as a Curtin student, I still have access to Margaret Gee’s Media Guide and was able to locate many publications through this but when I asked, PPR didn’t subscribe to this which I think would be extremely beneficial to them considering the amount of times I was asked to find a media contact. Anyway, after doing this, I created a timeline in excel that showed when tasks needed to be completed for this project, much like the ones I have done in PR plans at uni.

After working on such a wide variety of clients at this point, it has really given me an insight into how a consultancy works. Every Friday, PPR has drinks at the end of the day where I was talking with one of the consultants. “How do you manage to stay organised and manage to keep all your clients happy at the same time?” I asked after finding out that each consultant had a portfolio of up to five or more clients. “You have to be really organised and sometimes you just have to prioritise what each client wants the most and give this to each of them first.” Hmm is consulting where I want to go after I graduate if I have to be so organised? I guess, I’ll have to wait and see how the rest of my internship goes first.

Until next time, Jamie ;)

Those Silly Things Called Tasks & Introductions

Hi again everyone! Sorry I have uploaded so many in one day, it is just that I only received blog access today so I’ve been ‘stockpiling’ my blog posts.

I have now finished my fourth day at PPR and boy am I tired. Who knew that sitting in front of a computer all day, which is what I do on most days anyway, would be so tiring. This is definitely not something I had considered; that I would be so mentally fatigued. Not to mention being a little physically fatigued as my muscles are not used to sitting upright all day. Stiff and sore are too things I am no longer a stranger to.

For those of you who haven't started your internship yet, this article really does map out what you're probably going to have to do: What To Expect From Your Internship. It goes on to say that as interns we should expect:

• Gerbil work
• Responsibility
• To be proactive
• Gain insight
• Compensation (not necessarily financial)
• Networking

Gerbil work, as in administrative tasks will most likely be given to you and you know what? We should all be grateful to be given these tasks. Everything we will do fits into a bigger picture and without the more menial tasks being done, the end goal cannot be reached. I know everyone wants to do the exciting stuff like attending events and writing media releases but why would the organisation your working with trust you with that before proving you can handle smaller tasks first?

So onto things I have done so far, on Tuesday, my first task was to deliver letters to the residents and businesses of Cockburn Central. A colleague and I went down to this area and placed letter after letter into each of the letterboxes. We then had to go to the surrounding businesses and explain what was going to happen. What was happening was that LandCorp, PPR’s biggest client were planning on doing road works in the area and needed to communicate this to the community so that it would not come as a shock to them. This was the first grass-roots community relations task I was given and it was interesting to see this tactic in action. It’s funny because before this point, writing in a PR plan at uni, a tactic for community relations would be communication in the form of letters. It was almost an automatic response and I didn’t really give it much actual thought. Being involved in that tactic gave me a completely new outlook on suggesting tactics now. What you say as a tactic needs to be completed by someone so no matter how effective you think it may be, if it seems almost impossible to do, it may not be realistic to suggest.

When I got back to the office later that day, I had to validate a contact list for one of the consultants. It was for McHappy Day which is held in November. I was a little bit shocked that they were planning for this so far away but then thought that a lot of effort must go into generating awareness especially for a nationwide event such as this one. What I had to do was update the list of Perth celebrities or "Perth-onalities" as some liked to call it and make sure that anyone who was no longer in the media in Perth was off the list. I had to call a lot of places up verifying data and asking if people were still present in the organisation. These "Perth-onalities" ranged from radio and television presenters to sportspeople and politicians. I worked on this on and off for the next three days and only finished it today. Believe me when I say it was a massive task! The feeling of finishing a piece of work that you know will make an impact on not only the deliverables of the consultancy but also will affect how the event goes is one of relief while also being very rewarding at the same time.

On Wednesday, I decided I needed to introduce myself to everyone. Unfortunately on my first day when I went around the office, not everyone was there. Meetings happen at every time of the day and there was never going to be a time when I would have met everyone. I decided to send out a group email to all the staff at PPR just to formally introduce myself. From here, I went around the office and introduced myself in person to people I had not yet met. It was after this point that I received more and more tasks to do. It became very apparent to me that relationships were very important even within the organisation. People needed to know I existed and that I was willing to do what was necessary. I identified the things I wanted to be involved in and people were more than happy to include me in their projects. I really just have to prove that I am reliable by taking on the smaller tasks before getting more responsible tasks from the consultants.

I am now looking forward to working on all the new tasks I have and will be given and can’t wait to sit in on a few meetings and help out wherever possible. I will keep you guys posted on how it all goes in a couple days. Until next time...

Happy Blogging!

Jamie.

First Day Jitters

(Written Monday 29th July 2013)

Hello again everyone! It’s that time again… Blog time! As you should know by reading the title of this blog, it’s all about my first day at Professional Public Relations or PPR for short. I must admit many nerves were held by me before I arrived for my first day. The anticipation was horrible. I didn’t know what to expect having never worked in an office environment before and being a little intimidated by how much more experience everyone at PPR had on me. The worst thing that could happen would be that everyone thought I was an idiot for not knowing simple things that came easily to them. Shallow as it may be, deep down most people want to be accepted and I think this is where most of my nervousness and anxiety stemmed from. Of course I wanted to be accepted at PPR to start building my reputation as well as just making the work environment more pleasant not just for me but everyone at PPR.

So the first thing I did when I got too PPR, which has very recently moved from it’s Subiaco location to West Perth was park on the street. I went to the ticket machine… $4 an hour! My heart nearly dropped to the floor. I’m a university student who can barely afford a cup of coffee let alone pay for parking at a rate of $4 an hour. Anyhow, I paid for just one hour and went up to the office. Here, I asked if there was possibly a staff parking bay. There was, however, it was reserved for senior members of PPR which was completely understandable although I did get some tips on places to park where I could avoid paying for a ticket. Please keep this on the down low though! All jokes aside, parking was one thing I didn’t think I would encounter. Now I know why so many business people take public transport and this may be a suitable option for me in the future.

So when I finally got shown to my desk, I familiarised myself with PPR’s body of work by reading up on their past projects in a book given to me. I was then shown how to navigate through the computer system and then taken around the office to be introduced to the staff. At this point I was so overwhelmed. As I mentioned before, these people were so much more experienced and knowledgeable then me and I didn’t know what to do or what to say. You know what they say that it’s all about that first impression so I tried to be as professional as possible but somehow I don’t think I left a great impression. I was told I had to generate my own work and that tasks would not be handed to me so it was important to build a relationship with each and every one who worked there to make sure I would be consistently getting tasks to do, while also building my reputation as a reliable person.

I asked around and my tasks on the first day were all pretty administrative. I had to contact organisations in order to validate their contact information for an event that was coming up. I also had to research advertising data for online websites which included finding specific sites’ unique browsers per month and the advertising rates for them. This would be used to identify how much PPR would have saved clients on advertising when they received publicity online. I then had to create a list of corporate advisory firms for each state in Australia and include relevant contact information for each. All in all, a very stimulating and challenging day and I look forward to what awaits me in the next four weeks!

Jamie.

The Impending Internship

(Written on Saturday 27th July 2013)

Hello there fellow PR 393’ers!

Firstly, I think an introduction is in order. My name is Jamie Kho, I’m studying a Bachelor of Commerce (Marketing & Public Relations) and this semester, I only have this unit to complete before I graduate. University has just flown by, which I am sure a lot of you would agree with. I hope you guys enjoy reading my blog and I hope to gain many insights into how your internship experiences went as well.

That's me on the left there - if you ever see me around campus, please come and say hi. I'm a very nice person once you get to know me!

As I have yet to start my internship, this blog post is going to be dedicated to the “journey” I took in securing a placement. When I first decided to search for internship options, I asked myself: “what do I want to do after I graduate?” Many things came to mind; media relations, event management, attending business meetings and crisis management were all things that I wanted to at least experience once.

There were so many options that I really didn’t know where to start. I ended up creating a list of about fifteen possible organisations. From there, I called them one by one. Some said they were not currently looking for interns, others told me to call back at a closer date. The one thing that infuriated me the most was there was one organisation which shall remain nameless as I don’t wish to tarnish anyone’s reputation in this blog, said they were interested and would call me back soon. After a week of waiting, I called back. “Oh yes, we are still interested. We’ll call you soon.” One more week past. “Yes, we will call you back as soon as we can confirm dates.” Another two weeks past and still no response. I called back and once again received the same reply. This made me question, as I had exhausted all other possible organisations on the list, I had hedged all my bets on this one company. Should I have continued looking elsewhere instead of hoping for acceptance here? Or was the organisation to blame for giving me “false hope?”

It soon dawned on me though that they were not going to call me back and after wasting weeks on waiting for this company, I knew I had to continue my search for a placement elsewhere. I know at university we’re taught to maintain a certain level of professionalism in the workplace, especially with external stakeholders and yet, I know that this doesn’t always stand true as I had just experienced. This experience only made me step back and re-evaluate how I wanted to behave in the workplace. Professionalism, honesty and dedication are my three cornerstones that I decided would be the backbone of my work ethic and this is all thanks to a failed internship request. Who knew?! There is always a silver lining!

So as you guys now know, I had to continue my internship search. Stressed for time now, as I really didn’t know what career path I wanted to pursue, much like an epiphany, it came to me. Consultancy! Of course, it was right in front of me the whole time. Rather than attempt to work at a specialised organisation, a consultancy would allow me to experience most, if not all aspects of public relations and put all the theoretical knowledge I had leant at uni into practice. First organisation on my list: PPR. Who could go past it? Being the largest PR firm in WA, I had to at least try to get a placement here. I knew it would be competitive but as they say: you have to be in it to win it! As luck would have it, I secured my internship here and could not be happier. I am going to be able to experience many
different aspects of public relations and hope to gain as much knowledge as I can from the accumulation of years and years of experience withheld by the consultants at PPR. I can’t wait and I will keep you guys posted on how it all goes!

Happy Blogging!

Jamie ;)