I am ready, Hello big world!

As my time has come to an end in not only my internship, but my life as a public relations and marketing uni student I look back and see the huge levels of growth I have achieved. This has been academically and as a person. Three years ago I never thought that the end of my university life would have flown past so quickly. The study of public relations has given me a vision on what I want to achieve as a practitioner. During my internship this was just consolidated. These points were as follows:

·      Ethical practice is key. Some situations you are placed in are uncomfortable. The ethical handling of them may not be the easiest, but the long-term benefits outweigh the short run uncomfortable feeling you may have. In three years time will you remember that one Monday morning you were stuck in a sticky situation? You may however remember key ethical situations you handled well, helping your personal development as a public relations officer. Looking back at your career at 50 you would be proud of yourself if you upheld the highest ethical integrity you were able to achieve.

·      Do not write something you would not want your grandmother to read. Yes, as cheesy as this sounds it is a great principle to go by. Every single email you send, media release you write or newsletter publication is out in the public domain for anyone to read. It is stamped with your name on it. With the world becoming ever more tech savvy it is becoming easier for potential employers to find out what you’ve been up to. This goes for the world of social media as well!

·      Pick a career path you will enjoy. This is key to enjoying your job in a public relations role. I have found through my placement that government departments are where I would like my future to be. Health industry would be ideal, but depends what opportunities I am faced with. You will hold a higher level of passion for your work. This ultimately motivates you to put in those few extra hours or write a great strategy or media release.

Overall I feel that doing a public relations internship was the best thing for my future career ahead. It gave my guidance, assertiveness and motivation to what career path I would like to pursue. My confidence levels rose in my ability to implement public relations skills. Before my internship I was nervous to face the “big world”. Now I feel that I am ready for the next stage of my life, including the great career PR will bring.

Good luck to everyone and I hope that your internships were as helpful as mine!

Like Clockwork.

Hi Everyone,

Elliott Telfer Back again for his 4^th and final contribution to the PR Internship blog! Elliott Telfer is currently employed by RugbyWA/Emirates Western Force on a seasonal paid internship in Events. Elliott Telfer is referring to himself in the 3^rd person because he has been required to do so in the last four days of his internship. He has been required to write the run sheets for the remaining five home games (a full timed plan of how each game/event will run, right down to the amount of sausage rolls in the match day photographer’s room). This Saturday night, the Force take on the Reds in what will be one of their toughest, most exciting challenges yet, and the whole event will be running according to Elliott’s plan.

Whilst writing a run sheet, not only does Elliott have to guesstimate how long the 150-odd individual tasks will take over the course of the day, but it has match up to that of the venue and television schedules. Furthermore, he has to assign himself and his fellow staff members (most of whom he hasn’t yet had the pleasure of meeting) mundane tasks that no one wants to do. Each day at the RugbyWA office, he meets with different departments from within the organisation to negotiate how they want the event operating, unfortunately he can’t let everyone get their way.

The typical run sheet has three columns, one for ‘Time’, ‘Activity’ and ‘Responsibility’. The Time column outlines when an activity must occur, not sooner, not later, but dead on the stipulated time. Activity outlines the task to be completed, for example a task Elliott is allocated for every game is “Final Check of Team Line-ups. Changes relayed to Media Manager, Fox Sports and Lloyd Events.” Under the Responsibility column is the duty in which this activity has been assigned to, for example ‘Telfer’ is printed as the responsibility for the activity above. If anything is unclear, or a task doesn’t get completed because it wasn’t stipulated on the run sheet, its Elliott’s head on the chopping block.

So, for all those that are so kind enough to read this, if you do not hear from or see Elliott following this Saturday’s game, and you happen to hear of an error in the game. Elliott Telfer’s has most likely been decapitated by his superiors. However if you do hear about him following this (and he is alive), everything would have run like clockwork and he will live to see another day.

Elliott Telfer extends his greatest gratitude for reading his past four blogs, they have been a lot of fun for him to write and he has thoroughly enjoyed sharing his experiences with you all.

Best of luck to you and your Internship.

Elliott Telfer (in the 3^rd person)

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The End is Just the Beginning

Where has the time gone? I can’t believe I am now going into my last few days as an intern at The Hub Marketing Communications. I feel like this is a good time for me to reflect on the main things I have learnt since starting work in January.

One of the best decisions I made when organizing my internship was choosing to work 1-2 days a week over the course of the holidays and semester, rather than 4 weeks full time. I felt that this has given me the opportunity to learn more and be involved in more. I have done work for several different clients and jobs, and have gained a large perspective on the workings of a consultancy over a four month period.

I have also learnt a great deal of marketing and public relations skills that I have not touched on at uni. A lot of my work has been centered around The Hubs free e-books that they release on Facebook and their website. E-books have not been something I have touched on heavily at uni, however they are such an important and unique education tool I am glad I was given the opportunity to learn about the formats, information to be included etc.

I’m also lucky to have started working at the Hub Marketing Communications during such a dynamic and exciting time. The Hub has recently been undergoing some changes to the structure of the business, as well as redeveloping their website and slogan. This has been very educational and I have enjoyed having an input into the ‘new Hub.’

I’ve also spent lots of time learning about several different social media platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest and LinkedIn. I’ve developed some great skills and my research has helped me understand creative ways for using these different methods of communication in marketing. I’ve learnt some invaluable techniques that I will be able to carry with me through other jobs after I graduate from university.

I have thoroughly enjoyed my time working at The Hub Marketing Communications. All of the girls employed there are fantastic! They were so helpful and such a pleasure to work with. I was given so many different opportunities; dabbling in market research, media relations, social media development, public relations, social media research, client analysis and more. I was given a great deal of responsibility which I thrived off! I enjoyed working alongside the Marketing Communications Coordinator and The Public Relations Coordinator. I felt as though I learnt a great deal and have definitely expanded my knowledge.

Bye for now!

It went NATIONAL!

Hi Everyone!

So I've got some exciting news to post!

Since my last blog, I was asked to write an article for Bowls WA's bi-monthly magazine! The article is about a young up and coming Western Australian female bowler named Kelli Rogalski. 

The article has been published in the August-September issue of Jack-Hi Magazine and can be found via the link below.

http://www.bowlswa.com.au
Issue 89 - Article can be found on page 22

In order to complete an article for the magazine, I had to complete numerous steps. These included:
(1) Background research on Kelli - this need to be completed so that when I was to host an interview, I knew her history and had viable questions to ask for my article.
(2) I then had to write a list of approximately 15 interview questions, then host the interview.
(3) Let the writing begin!
(4) Images were taken/collected for the article.
(5) Editing.
(6) Printing!

But that's not the only exciting news! The day after I completed my article, my supervisor informed me that it was then sent to a NATIONAL ONLINE BOWLS MAGAZINE! Even though I had never heard of this magazine before, I couldn't contain my excitement!

It's days like those that you know all your hard work is definitely paying off!

Hope you have enjoyed all your internships!

Kind regards,


Lauren