LAST DAY FUN DAY

Hello everyone!

I've been so busy trying to catch up with my assignments right after my internship ended that I didn't have enough time to even update on how it went! So here's me just giving an account of it. 

My last day was honestly the most enjoyable time I've had during the entire span of my internship at Identitywa! Not because it was finally time I packed and leave (I was actually quite sad and almost teared - I'm very emotional, no joke), but because I was involved in the Carer's High Tea event. 

So it was held in celebration for Carer's Week. I've been writing so many articles and media releases regarding this upcoming (at that time) event, but I've never imagined myself attending it. Until my communications officer asked if I would like to help on that day, I was more than pleased. I was quite nervous because I didn't know what sort of task I would be given - or what can I even do for the event. I've been writing media releases this entire time during my internship, and when it came to me getting out there, I felt completely useless. 

So the event was held at the Como Bowling Club, and our task as staffs at Identitywa was to serve the carers tea. I was in charge of taking photographs during the entire event, and engaging with the carers. 

How could I NOT be tempted to stuff my face with these?!

Door gifts and prizes for the raffle.

This event made me realise one reason why I love working in Identitywa so much: they are really warm to be around with because they put in effort to make me feel comfortable. During the event, they not only gave me a lot of encouragement, they also included me in whenever they wanted to secretly gorge down sausage rolls, scones and sandwiches.

I've never believed my photography skills was something to brag about, because to be honest, it's self taught (besides the photography units I took which I never had good grades for) and pretty much mediocre I would say. But during the course of the event, the staffs constantly gave me a lot of encouragement by saying how grateful they are to have me to take photos for them, and how much they liked it. The Engagement Leader, who was in charge of handling the event, even thanked me personally. 

The amount of acknowledgement given to the very small task given to me made me feel important in the organisation. I didn't feel useless because I didn't carry out tasks like hosting the event, etc. And this is definitely something I don't see in organisations a lot, and the staffs at Identitywa are trying their best to practice this. 

Although these things may sound small, it meant the most to me. And I doubt I'll ever forget such an organisation - not because it's my first ever official work experience, but because they're honestly the warmest I've ever known. ☺

Thank you, Identitywa for giving me an amazing learning journey and experience! ♥

Denissa Goh
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Big achievement unlocked!

Hello again!

Work has been extremely tiring especially when we're heading towards the end of semester where all our assignments are starting to pile up. 8 hours of sleep doesn't seem to be enough anymore! There were days when I was just fighting to stay awake in front of the screen. Nevertheless, majority of my days at work were productive ones - no doubt, it involved consuming at least 2 cups of coffee. 

Last week I was occupied with compiling survey results and tabulating the data into pie charts. I also held a mini photography class for my colleagues since Identitywa just bought a new camera. Besides those, it's all writing, writing and writing. I had media releases to do, drafting posts for social media content, and even coming up with taglines for the organisation's proposal for car bumper stickers. That's probably the job of a copyrighter, but my communications officer was nice enough to brainstorm together with me. 

I also came up with a proposal to use Twitter hashtags as a strategy to engage with the community, and since my communications officer did not understand how it worked, I wrote up a strategy/proposal document for her. It basically felt like writing a PR plan, except just the strategy section. She was really impressed because she didn't ask me to write one up for her, but because I've been studying this field for 3 years, I felt the need to put information down neatly into a document. It's also more professional. She really liked the idea as she has always wanted to find a way to get the community to engage and communicate with us, and she said she would forward the document to the CEO. And that was honestly a big achievement for me - not just being there to lend a hand with her work, but to also come up with useful and practical ideas that could contribute to the organisation's growth. ☻

Anyway, next week is finally the last week that I'll be interning at Identitywa. I hope I can learn as much as I can during the last few days, and my sleep deprivation won't get in the way of it! Good luck to everyone else!

Denissa Goh

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Inspiring & embarrassing moments at work!

In my last post, I mentioned about letting my Communications Officer know that I would be working for five days during the tuition free week.

It barely felt like I even a chance to rest during that week! It was hectic and obviously I suffered a lack of sleep, making it almost seem like it was already the end of semester where all students experience sleep deprivation because that's when all major assignments are due. 

Can't say I regretted working for the entire week even though I struggled on Saturday and Sunday to complete three assignments due the coming Monday when the semester continues. There were days when I had to drag my feet to work - not to mention the weather during that week was TERRIBLE - and 4.30pm felt so far away. But honestly without all those, I would probably still be inexperienced... and spoilt.

I can say I've managed to look past those and learn to suck it up. And I probably deserve a clap for that. ☻

Moving on to what I actually did during that week. Of course, there were more articles, considering the deadline to publish the in-house newsletter was getting closer. I was given the task to research, construct articles, and arrange them in Campaign Monitor. I had to also update the organisation's website, Facebook and Twitter page. 

My biggest nightmare was to contact the house seniors of the organisation's respite houses to get interesting stories for the in-house newsletter and the annual report. I get REALLY uncomfortable and tend to stutter whenever I was given that task. I managed to pull through, of course, after making a fool out of myself... several times in fact. 

Phone conversation example: 

Receiver: Hi, this is <respite house name>. Who's on the line? 

Me: Hi, it's Identitywa, and I'd like to find out if there's anything particularly interesting that the residents are doing so I could include it in the Identikite.  

Receiver: Sorry, who's on the line?  

Me: Identitywa... 

Receiver: I meant your name, the houses are under Identitywa, so obviously you have to be from Identitywa to be calling.

That was one of the most embarrassing one for me. But there's a saying that goes, "you have to fall in order to learn". 

The most insightful experience while working there so far, was on Friday where my Communications Officer brought me along to the airport to interview a man with intellectual disability. She told me instead of her conducting the interview and me taking pictures, she wanted the roles to be reversed. 

She gave me a brief background information of the man; he has a deep passion and thorough understanding in aviation, and is striving to get a job at the airport where he once used to work at. She was also kind enough to brief me on what questions she wanted me to ask and what information she planned to get out of the interview for the article. 

When we met him and his friend (a support worker), and considering how it was my first time doing a face-to-face interview with a person with disability, I just went blank. My Communications Officer saved me, and took over the role of interviewing. I felt so lost for the first half an hour because I found it really difficult to understand what the man was saying as he had a mild speech impediment. But after a while, I started to get the flow of the way he spoke and learned to interpret it in my own understanding much faster, I managed to do a few questionings. 

My Communications Officer said told me she had a bit of trouble trying to understand him at first, but managed to pick it up. I believe it comes with experience. 

We spent a fair bit of time walking around the airport, taking pictures of him looking at the planes, and just talking to him - which I found very enjoyable. It was a great way to end the week, and it left us feeling very inspired by the man's strong passion to pursue his dream. 

I managed to take down a lot of notes for my Communications Officer to write the article, and just maybe I'd offer to write the article instead. ☻

More work coming up next week! Hopefully they don't consist of me having to make phone calls again!! Is anyone else experiencing embarrassing things at work, or is it only me?!

Denissa Goh
15652315

Getting the job & my first week.

Hello! 

This is me, blogging about my first week of internship, which also happens to be my first ever official job. It's all still very new to me, and so is blogging in an academic manner - so please forgive me if I sound too casual. 

First off, since the beginning of the semester, for three consecutive weeks I have been so anxious about getting a placement. I made at least 30 over calls to all kinds of organisations, in hopes they would get back to me before Week 4 comes - which is the deadline for placement approvals as according to the unit outline. 

During the first three weeks, I had never hated the weekend so much in my entire life because that is when companies are not working, which means I cannot make any contact with them at all. Every week I made full use of the weekdays from 8am to 5pm, just making calls, and on the weekends I would mope about not getting a call back. 

I communicated with Lydia, our course coordinator, during the entire time and she was just the kindest soul to help me out with all of my incessant queries - which I am extremely grateful for. I eventually managed to get a few calls back, and finally chose the organisation of my choice - Identitywa. 

The Communications Officer in Identitywa provided me a space right outside her office where she regularly visits and asks how I am coping with the work I've been given. She's nice enough to make sure I am not overloaded with stress, but at the same time makes sure I have been given enough work. She's also very keen with the idea of brainstorming together, and this makes me feel comfortable that I can ask her for help whenever I struggle with a task - whether minor or major.  

My first task at work was to design three flyers in Microsoft Publisher, where one of it needed to be printed out in the next half an hour. It was manageable as I can still recall the in-class practices with the software during PR Techniques, and managed to also apply my experience with digital design from the other units I have taken. 

Besides that, I was also given the task to write several articles. One article was for the in-house newsletter called Identikite, and another for Emmanuel Catholic College's newsletter - regarding a recent event that took place. I also had to write an article on the NDIS and WA NDIS My Way in relation to their latest media release of the Fourth Quarterly Report. I applied my understanding and experience of writing media releases and articles from all the Public Relations units that I have taken in the past semesters. I also applied my knowledge of writing to cater to specific audiences, which is something that the previous PR units and my current Magazine Feature Writing unit taught me. 

I've also been given minor tasks like calling up the house seniors of Identitywa houses (where people with disability under the care of Identitywa are taken care of) to take note of any interesting things the residents are doing, so that I could write an article about it to be included in the monthly in-house newsletter. Those are the things that I have been taught in the previous PR units that I have taken and I am extremely glad that I didn't find any of the tasks a problem. 

And since next week is a tuition free week, I have decided to let my Communications Officer know that I will be coming in on Monday to Friday for work! Hoping everyone is enjoying their internship as well! ☻

Denissa Goh 
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