The End of being a Socialite, but with a New Chapter

May 9, 2013 

 

( Dwyer, It's about progress not perfection)

You know the feeling you get when the final day of work is not really the final day of your work? When I showed up for work, I wasn’t as keen to work on my roles and responsibilities like I always do, because I knew this would be the last task I would work on.

However, towards the end of my internship, I’ve pondered of what I’ve learned throughout the internship and thought about my new chapter of my career. The quote above “It’s about progress not perfection” says it all and sums of what I’ve learned throughout the internship.  

When I first walked in, I thought I knew everything of what I learned from the past three years and thought I could do everything in my knowledge and power to add the value for Socialite Media and their clients that I’ve worked with.

 However, I had to learn the hard way from my mistakes. The only ways to learn knowledge is from your mistakes and also learn from campaign manager’s success and failures.  Also, it’s all about progress and improvements.

Furthermore, throughout the day it consisted of me writing a monthly report for two clients comparing the month of April to the month of March.  I had to provide recommendations for brand awareness, demographics growth, and provide recommendations of strategies they can improve and add for the next month.  The content and date needed be to be analyzed to understand any trends or large differences between those two months. It was interesting for me to compare and look at the evidence of what segments of the contents for Facebook and Twitter made it work and what didn’t. 

To sum it up, all the internship is all focused of Public Relations and Social Media. I hope you guys learned something from my blog. Also, if anyone is looking for an opportunity to work in Social Media and use your knowledge of Public Relations in social media agencies, I highly recommend Socialite media and other social media agencies that are available depending on what type of social media agencies you are after.

Blog Refrences:

• Dwyer, S. (Photographer). (2012, December 9). It's about progress not perfection [Print Photo]. Retrieved from http://www.five-words.com.au/page/8

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

The last day

I have sadly reached the end of my four weeks in the Professional Public Relations office, but not without learning a huge amount. Continuing on from my previous post, I'll be discussing one of the fundamental lessons I've learned recently in this blog.

Before I do that, I just want to take another chance to recommend a PPR placement to anyone thinking of doing work experience, but remember it is a month full time, so be prepared to work hard for four weeks.

I've been challenged, I've had a lot of laughs, and I've learned a lot. The last month has absolutely flown by and while it's a scary thought to be finishing up my time at Curtin in three months, I feel like after my PPR internship I'm a lot more ready (though not totally ready) to take on the big bad world.

Moving on!

In my last post I talked about attention to detail, and in this post I'll be reinforcing that age-old lesson of time management.

As a Uni student, and a male, my time management skills are inherently terrible (sorry lads, but we all know it's true). I really had to hit the ground running every day for a month and good time management is not something you can teach, it's something you have to develop. Lucky for me I'm also an adaptable creature and I was able to juggle everything just right to not only get all my work done to a high standard but, arguably almost as important, make contact with the powers that be in the office so they remember me (more on this later)

Time management is, like attention to detailed, drilled in to us students from day one - probably even day one of high school. It's essential to be able to manage your time in a consultancy if you have any hope of surviving, especially as an intern trying to complete more work than you should to please and impress everybody.

To illustrate the importance of time management, here is a picture of you as an intern without good time management:

And here is calm, collected you after managing your time well:

From personal experience I can offer you a couple of tips on how not to get overloaded and stressed:

1. Don't take on more than you can handle - If you don't have capacity, say so. No one will be offended or upset if you explain that you won't be able to get the work they want done in time, so don't be afraid to say "no."
2. Be sure of your deadlines so you know how long you have to complete something - if you've got four things due in an hour but capacity after that, ask if it can wait. Usually, it can.
3. Take regular breaks so you don't start making careless mistakes and having to re-do things. Not long breaks every 15 minutes, but stretch, go and get a drink of water, wander around the office looking busy with papers - everyone does it to stay sharp.
4. Practice as much as you can. I know you're probably wondering how you practice something like time management, but there are ways:

• Plan your future projects/tasks and set goals in a realistic time, then achieve those goals.
• List all the things you have to do tomorrow then do them today, before lunchtime. That's the pace PR consultants work at, but they're never (unduly) stressed.
• Write down work as you get it, and when the deadlines are. That way you have a physical list of everything you need to do and you won't forget to do anything.

This post is starting to get a bit lengthy and I have some things to tie off before my last Friday drinks at the office. I will be posting one more blog next week once I've got myself together with Uni etc, but as a teaser I've had a very positive conversation with some important people here, to be followed up next week.

Thanks to everyone at PPR for having me for the last month, it really has been a great experience.

Good luck to Sandrine who will take the reins for August, it's going to be a very busy month with PFF and c2030 events creeping ever closer. Don't stress, you'll do fine!

Check back next Thursday/Friday for (hopefully) some very good news.

- Morgan Riley

Last Days at BERJAYA UCH

After 64 days of interning with BERJAYA University College of Hospitality's (BERJAYA UCH) Public Relations, Communications and Events Department (PR, Comm and Events), my internship has come to an end. Before that happens though, I have one last event to take care of - well along with many others (around 30 other staffs I think and some student volunteers) who were wither assigned or volunteered to help out. That was the BERJAYA Foundation Day 2011!!!

The people I'm photographed with above are only three of the many celebrities that attended and performed at the charitable celebration on the 26th of February, 2011 (Saturday) at BERJAYA Times Square Mall. In the third photograph is Harith Iskandar, a famous comedian in Malaysia all on and off screen and/or stage. In the fourth is a host/model/actress who can also sing apparently, Azura Zainal, whom I have been a fan of since my primary school days. As for the heart throb in the third picture, is Jehan Miskin, an actor.

As preparation for the event, the PR, Comm and Events team was in charge of making sure everyone who was accounted for had their T-shirts for the event (such as the one I'm wearing in the pictures above), and making sure BERJAYA UCH had our coupon boxes which we will then have to return to corporate office, used or unused. We got 5 boxes but only ever used two.

At our bazaar stall outside the mall, we sold mocktails, cakes and cookies. There were baskets that some of us could fill with the goods and go around inside the mall selling them to people in exchange for the coupons they have bought before hand. The day was filled with fun and celebration but at the same time very giving and charitable. Every company under the BERJAYA Group of Companies had a stall or so at the bazaar. There was even a raffle draw with a Mazda 2 as the grand prize. I would have joined but I didn't have enough coupons.

I must've sold, over two dozen packs of cookies and somewhere around 10 cake loafs that day. It was my last chance to bond and have fun with my BERJAYA UCH colleagues. The other pictures were taken after we have sold everything we had to sell and more. The day wasn't even over yet. My last day was supposed to be on the 25th of February, 2011 (Friday), but I couldn't resist sneaking another day into my internship. It was well worth it, especially because I got to meet so many celebrities including the ones shown in the pictures. Yet another experience to remember for life!

That is all the highlights about my internship. This shall be my last blog post. It's been a blast interning at BERJAYA UCH. I'll be sure to visit as soon as I get the time off this semester. I really do miss everyone, staff and students alike. I look forward to seeing them again in the near future. All the best to other interns out there. Enjoy your internship and learn as much as possible. You have nothing to lose but so much gain. A toast to the betterment of our future! Cheers everyone!