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.