Goodbye

It is the end of my internship at United Way WA. It has been the best 20 days and i have learnt so much along the journey. Like most people i was dreading my internship, the nervous and the time dedicating to it seemed daunting but I am glad that i was forced to do it. I am so grateful for UWWA for allowing me to work there and it gave me such a good insight as to what i will experience in the real world.

Some lessons learnt:
- Always be prepared
- Sometimes it is not what you know but who you know! Start networking
- Proof read everything
- Time is essential

They may be pretty simple lessons but i have found out they are the most important elements to maintain and their importance is often overlooked.

I was able to be involved in quite a few public relations activities and these experiences will help me form my portfolio for future jobs

- Wrote media releases 
- Created media kits
- Designed flyers for event
- Designed logos for an event and campaign
- Created a newletter snapshot on the companies progress
- Created information for a state newsletter
- Attended and set up event

With being involved in all these PR activities i have learnt vital information and techniques that will become valuable and vital for future job prospects. University has provided me with background knowledge on how to tackle all of these activities but you don't notice the importance of them until you are creating them and putting them in place in an actual company. I cant wait to get into the real world.

Since United Way WA is a not for profit organisation they are unable to employ me because of lack on resources, but have offered for me to continue to intern for them for more experience if i like after my exams. I felt very welcome in their office and they made me feel like part of the family. I am forever grateful to them

BYE BYE MUSE

Unfortunately, my internship at Muse Bureau is drawing to a close. I have only three weeks remaining and to be honest I'm frightened to leave! 

My internship at Muse has been amazing! I have met a variety of new faces including: talented artists, entrepreneurs and journalists. I am also happy to announce that my confidence has boosted! ...I would hope so, considering I have been in my placement for over 6 weeks now. 

The last  campaign I have been assigned to is the 10 Year anniversary of Perth hair and beauty salon, Ebony and Ivory. I am loving working in the beauty industry as it has helped me expand my knowledge of media outlets. 

The founder of Ebony and Ivory, Joan DellaValle has quite an incredible story, she moved to Perth from Zambia at the age of 23, fell in love with a Perth boy, got married, studied Management and Marketing at ECU and founded the salon in 2003. I am inspired by her story of hard work and determination, making it easier for me to pitch to media outlets. After I complete the publicity report for the client I will be on my way out into the world of professional public relations... 

Working with Muse Bureau has been an absolute delight. The staff are amazing and the range of clients make it the perfect place to gain experience in the public relations industry.

Its time to say goodbye now! 

Adios.
Sandra.

The icing on the cake

Baking a delicious cake takes time, ingredients and a little bit of TLC. Making a decadent culinary masterpiece is only complete however, when you finish it with a generous application of icing. Thankfully I can consider myself a scrumptious and moist cake WITH great PR knowledge as opposed to a dry and crumbly mess who might fall apart on the plate, or the professional world as it may be, thanks to my internship. It was the icing on my cake. 

There is no substitute for hands-on experience when you are learning any profession, trade or skill. You can spend hours, weeks or even years in a classroom attempting to perfect the talents needed to succeed, but until you truly enter into that world yourself, you will never have a complete grasp of the learning you have undertaken.

Yesterday I finished my professional placement with the beautiful and helpful people at Clubs WA. After just 20 short days my internal PR playbook has become a proverbial encyclopaedia of communicative knowledge and titbits. The real life challenges I faced were invaluable in preparing me for a transition into the work place upon graduation. Yesterday's challenge however was learning to bake cupcakes for the team as a thank you. Nothing in my past Curtin PR units prepared  me for that! Don't be too concerned though, they were delicious.

In the real professional world there are real professional clients, with real expectations. Real money is being spent on strategies, campaigns and events. Real deadlines must be adhered to or there will be real consequences. Having the safety net of university that cushioned my fall with assignment extensions and strategies where we could only make evaluations based on conjecture or guesswork, pulled out from underneath me was the best possible learning experience the tertiary institution could give me.

I was provided the opportunity to employ my learned skills of professional writing, event planning, graphic design, media relations, market research and a whole range of additional professional tasks – including the joys of administrative work like putting sticky labels on envelopes, and for this I am hugely grateful.

Right at the crux of public relations theory is the concept of communicating with people in ways that they find accessible and appealing. The wide variety of people I was able to interact with throughout my internship has illuminated new ways of communicating with others. From fellow co-workers and clients, to outside media or business we hired to assist in strategies, it was the way I communicated with them that was the key to making progress and being successful.

Thank you Curtin and Clubs WA for everything and thank you all for joining me on this learning adventure.

Blair

Au revoir WACOSS

Hello Everyone,

This is my final blog post for this unit. It was also my final week at Western Australian Council of Social Service.

I must say I have really enjoyed my time at WACOSS. I have been able to learn a number of different things. I am also intrigued by the fact that looking back on it all I have not just learnt about Public Relations, I have also been able to learn about communications, internal communications, Not-for-profit industry, stakeholder relationships, members, reputation and much more.

The wonderful team at WACOSS have treated me with such respect and have trusted me to take on tasks that most work experience students do not have the priviledge of. My Director and Membership and Communications Manager have taught me so much in writing skills, communicating with others and the way WACOSS works on a wide range of levels.

I have also had the ability to work across the different deparments which has provided me a scope of what WACOSS does for the community sector. It is an organisation that works to ensure our communities are well looked after and given a voice in society.

My most favourtie thing about WACOSS is that I have made friends and connections that I know will benefit me in the future. It has given me the skills and knowledge that I know I will use later on in my career.

My final note is that I have been given the chance to come back to the organisation on a casual basis and perhaps have some opportunities to take advantage of in the coming future.

My 2 pieces of advice is to all of those who are completing this unit and there degrees...

No matter what you do, always do your best, make a good impression, listern to your supervisor, learn from them (even if you do not always agree with them), go out of your way to help the organisation and prove yourself that you can be what they need you to be (make sure you are passionate about what you do as well).

Secondly, it doesn't matter where you start, if you can get your foot in the door then you have pretty much made it. Use your first job regardless if it is not soley in PR or Marketing  and look at the skills you can learn in your position and build them! These skills will help you later on. You can take these to your next job and make you an even better PR practioner or something similar. And hey if you can get a job that is always a little different from the one before then that will keep you interested and give you the ability to overcome challenges and broaden your knowledge. That's what I love about PR nothing is ever the same it is constantly changing and there is so much variety out there!

This picture below was my last day at WACOSS!

It was a sad but great day as we had a morning tea with the rest of the WACOSS team.

Carly, Carla and Bree and WACOSS the wombat! 

It has been wonderful being able to share my experiences with you all and I wish each and everyone of you the best wishes and luck in all your careers! 

Thank you! 

Carla Lo Presti 

14283730

Bentley Campus

Last few days... offered a job!

Super excited about this being my last post, I can now start writing this huge report! I honestly don’t know how in a few thousand words I can describe what I’ve learnt and explain what I’ve done it doesn’t seem to serve the experience justice. To say the least I have done way more than I thought I would or could do and I’m so stocked with the whole time at my prac place Gymnastics WA.

During my time over the semester I have designed and written a sponsorship package, written many media releases and liaised with many local media personal, organised photo shoots and liaised with some well-known journalists and set up a webpage and produced a heap a news bulletins, just to name a bit.

The coolest stuff i've done laterly has been organising media. I've been the Media Officer at GWA since the start of term and have built great contacts, the event I'm involved with is recieving coverage from The West Australian and Not Another Footy Show, and I'm in talks with Foxtel and Channel 7!

What I have learnt has been through doing and its pushed me out of my comfort zone which has challenged me. Working at GWA where they don’t have a public relations person meant I had to jump right into the deep end and apply my knowledge of the skills I had learnt at uni in theory into practice.

The hardest thing for me to overcome was learning through doing and the mistakes I made because I prefer to learn by watching first. This meant I learnt through my failures and by the things that weren’t great, which was a reality check for me, in that in the real world you won’t be told what you’re doing well necessarily only by the things that need improving.

The greatest improvement for me has been my writing, I honestly struggled to write a media release at the beginning of my Prac, now I can write one in 5 minutes no problem. I knew before my work experience that I was well spoken in person but I found this hard to translate into text, this has been something that I’ve defiantly improved with.

I have seen firsthand a well-run organisation that doesn’t utilise the benefits of public relations and have seen how quickly it has benefited from someone implementing public relations techniques. Through my experience I have learnt so much (cliché I know) and have surprised myself. I surprised the event partner too, he offered me a job!

So goodbye blog and good luck to everyone with their reports

Peace out trouts

Reflecting on my time at Devahasdin

After being at Devahasdin for three months my internship has come to an end and I cant believe how quickly it went by!

Throughout my placement I had the opportunity to work on a range of tasks for a very diverse range of clients. This provided me with a great insight in to all the different aspects of PR and also the different needs of clients. Some of the main tasks I completed included:

·      Compiling media databases relevant to the client

·      Client clipping and valuing reports

·      Pitching to the local community newspaper

·      Liaising with various clients

·      Overseeing a client promotion

·      Event preparation – nametags, invite lists etc.

·      Online event listings

·      Preparing material to be used for client’s social media

All the tasks I completed both big and small, even the lengthy and not so exciting ones were beneficial to my own learning. All tasks undertaken in public relations are important for different reasons and without doing them you aren’t able to offer the client the best service and achieve great outcomes. I was always kept busy through my placement ensuring I was making the most of my experience, which meant there was never a dull or boring moment!

Reflecting on my internship I believe I have grown both personally and professionally and I am glad we were ‘pushed’ by university to go out and gain this experience whilst studying. All the ladies in the Devahasdin office were great mentors each providing me with different learning’s about public relations, which I am more than grateful for. One that has really stood out for me is the importance of communication within the office - always ask questions, know your deadline, get your work reviewed and ensure everyone is on the same page so there is no confusion or error!

My placement at Devahasdin was truly invaluable and I now have a much greater understanding of professional public relations and the wider corporate working environment.

It’s great to know that from my placement I will be taking away new skills, new friendships, new professional contacts and it will also be a great addition to my resume. 

I hope everyone else really enjoyed and gained a lot from their placements!

Caitlyn