PR Placement – The Entrance of My Career Journey

They say all things have a tough start. Hunting for a suitable public relations (PR) placement was such a challenging task of the year. Time was going by fast, I had only got two weeks to submit the Placement Approval Form in order to continue the unit. I went through all the available resources – BlackBoard, Seek, Grad-Connection, Career One and more searching for job vacancies; spend all my spare times sending out resumes to employee seekers, and even to organisations that were not hiring just to approach for an intern position. 

It was a great learning opportunity. Through this process I have reviewed how to write effective cover letters, resume and follow-up emails. I researched every oganisation carefully before I approach to them, sent out relevant documents outlining strengths and what I can contribute to help to achieve their organization goals. Although the un-replied and rejected emails have brought me down; I was fear that I might not be able graduate in June, but I kept trying.

The good news have finally came. Two non-for-profit organizations have scheduled me for an interview to further review my qualifications. There were no words could describe how excited I was.

Momentum Forum Events is a non-for-profit organization, providing corporate and social networking through its signature annual charity events include Internaitonal Woman’s Day in support of women’s rights; Men in Black Ball in support of men’s mental health; and Pink Ribbon Ball supporting breast cancer. The founder Barbara McNaught is such an admirable woman who was a former Polish actress with a law degree and ability of speaking five languages.

Western Australian Water Polo Inc (WAWPI) on the other hand is the peak body for the sport in Western Australia. It runs professional water polo competitions and supports the teams and clubs. The Chief Executive Officer, Dale Ballantyne, is a very nice and enthusiastic leader.

Although Momentum seemed more appealing I decided to go for two, so I will have a back-up. Due to I have very limited experience working in the field (the only relevant experience I had was volunteering as an event assistant for ‘Unwrapped Marketplace’ last Christmas) I brought along my recent assignments into the interviews; after considering the relevance I decided to take the Media Placement Strategy, Media Release and Public Relations Plan that I have conducted for the previous PR units. Both interviewers were extremely impressed by my assignments and offered me an intern position, they also offered an immediate start and asked me to produced similar documents for their projects.

Initially I was going to take both placements offers but after carefully consideration, it was not a good idea to stretch myself too thin, I had to withdraw my offer with WAWPI – what a pity. 

That was how I began my PR internship journey. Success key is to be confident and honest; know your interviewers and their organization; and most importantly show them all your capabilities that are suited for their expectations. I treasure this opportunity and felt valued, now the door has opened for me and I am ready to work hard for the coming challenges. 

PR Placement – The Entrance of My Career Journey

They say all things have a tough start. Hunting for a suitable public relations (PR) placement was such a challenging task of the year. Time was going by fast, I had only got two weeks to submit the Placement Approval Form in order to continue the unit. I went through all the available resources – BlackBoard, Seek, Grad-Connection, Career One and more searching for job vacancies; spend all my spare times sending out resumes to employee seekers, and even to organisations that were not hiring just to approach for an intern position. 

It was a great learning opportunity. Through this process I have reviewed how to write effective cover letters, resume and follow-up emails. I researched every oganisation carefully before I approach to them, sent out relevant documents outlining strengths and what I can contribute to help to achieve their organization goals. Although the un-replied and rejected emails have brought me down; I was fear that I might not be able graduate in June, but I kept trying.

The good news have finally came. Two non-for-profit organizations have scheduled me for an interview to further review my qualifications. There were no words could describe how excited I was.

Momentum Forum Events is a non-for-profit organization, providing corporate and social networking through its signature annual charity events include International Woman’s Day in support of women’s rights; Men in Black Ball in support of men’s mental health; and Pink Ribbon Ball supporting breast cancer. The founder Barbara McNaught is such an admirable woman who was a former Polish actress with a law degree and ability of speaking five languages.

Western Australian Water Polo Inc (WAWPI) on the other hand is the peak body for the sport in Western Australia. It runs professional water polo competitions and supports the teams and clubs. The Chief Executive Officer, Dale Ballantyne, is a very nice and enthusiastic leader. 

Although Momentum was more appealing I decided to go for two, so I will have a back-up. Due to I have very limited experience working in the field (the only relevant experience I had was volunteering as an event assistant for ‘Unwrapped Marketplace’ last Christmas) I brought along my recent assignments into the interviews; after considering the relevance I decided to take the Media Placement Strategy, Media Release and Public Relations Plan that I have conducted for the previous PR units. Both interviewers were extremely impressed by my assignments and offered me an intern position, they also offered an immediate start and asked me to produced similar documents for their projects.

Initially I was going to take both placements offers but after carefully consideration, it was not a good idea to stretch myself too thin, I had to withdraw my offer with WAWPI – what a pity. 

That was how I began my PR internship journey. Success key is to be confident and honest; know your interviewers and their organization; and most importantly show them all your capabilities that are suited for their expectations. I treasure this opportunity and felt valued, now the door has opened for me and I am ready to work hard for the coming challenges. 

Good bye and good luck!

So after 20 days I have come to the end of my placement at the Department of Sport and Recreation. No more database, no more San Churros hot chocolates and no more talking about sport twice a week. Despite realising government work wasn’t for me, I was sad to go. I have thoroughly enjoyed myself and learnt a lot.

As well as filling in some important skills gaps I have also realised what I need to work on more. I need to feel more confident in my contribution and what I have to say, I also need to practice my telephone manner and not be so scared to pick it up and call someone. The most important lesson I learnt however is that even after years of experience you never stop asking questions. It was a relief for me to sit in staff meetings and have people ask the same questions I had running through my head.

On my last day I made Anzacs for the staff and went out for lunch in the beautiful sun. While I was sad to say goodbye I will always be grateful for all the staff taking the time to say hi to me every day and for my supervisor being patient with my many questions (some of which were relevant to the task I was working on).

Government work is not for me, but I know sport is where I want to be. I am hoping that in the coming weeks I will be called up to help the not-for-profit organisation mentioned in my earlier blogs because it is a perfect fit for and something I really want to be part of.

I hope everyone had a placement as enjoyable as mine!

My final week as a student

This will be my fourth and final blog and it feels like just yesterday I was searching for my placement. In this blog I will reflect on my internship and also point out the main things I have taken away. This placement opportunity has been a wonderful experience for me, in both learning and experiencing everything Public Relations has to offer. I have been able to fine tune the basic skills that are needed to work in the PR field. I have also had the opportunity to enrich my own personal knowledge about being in a practical field. I have learnt to differentiate between what I learnt at University and PR practiced in the real workplace, this has been very beneficial.

I will now be able to take away everything I have learnt and put it to practice in my next working adventure, I feel the most important thing I have experienced is my new found appreciation for what public relation can offer any organisation. When companies underestimate what PR can do for them they miss out on vital opportunities that could benefit them. I found this especially important in building a brand,  a brand can be see as the perceptions of consumers and its importance to any organisation, as it can make or break the success of a business.

Also PR can help the company build and maintain their relationship with their stakeholders, I understood the importance of having a good relationship with not just the public but also the internal and external stakeholders, it is important in building a brand that is known and trusted to continue being successful. Public Relation can offer any organisation so much opportunity and throughout my internship I have really experienced this first hand, the main thing I have realised is how interested I am about Public Relations. I am seeing the possibilities within any organisation, I am excited to graduate from Curtin University and begin the rest of my career, hopefully in a public relations field. 

The Jazz Event of the Year!

Hello Again,

So after weeks of preparing for the Mike Stewart and Sarah McKenzie Concert with WAYJO it had finally arrived!

Since I've been at WAYJO I've been set tasks focused on the Mike Stewart and Sarah McKenzie concert. There are three events in which we had to prepare for: a schools excursion concert during the day, the big concert at night and the VIP's event before the show.

One of the major roles I was given was in regards to the Mike and Sarah for Schools Excursion. For this concert I spent my days liaising with teachers across the metropolitan Perth area. This was a very scary task for me as I was not yet use to calling up people I didn't know. It was soon after the first few phone calls that my confidence had sky rocketed as I found the most efficient ways to communicate with teachers. What I learnt was that teachers are very informal in communications, preferring a more relaxed environment. I also noticed that they’re not always on top of things, so they really appreciate reminders and direct communications such as phone calls. Many hadn’t even gotten round to checking their emails from the previous month!

Finding out about my audience was really helpful as I discovered what they wanted to hear and how they wanted to hear it. Talking to the teachers was actually quiet rewarding as they were very receptive to an open two way communication flow about the event. Now I understand the value in what my tutors and lecturers have taught me throughout my degree; that getting to know your audience in every aspect allows you to maintain and create a strong positive relationship with your stakeholders.

It was such a shame that I was unable to see the Mike and Sarah for Schools Concert and appreciate the results of my communications but the main concert needed all hands on deck! The day of the big concert was very manic, I spent most of the day updating the final guest list and creating the seating plan for the VIP’s. This was very exhilaration as my job was to make sure that every guest was accounted for, and I was still receiving new names up until the last minute! You could imagine my stress.

After the list was finally finalized I rushed to get ready and headed to the theatre where I was to give out name badges and tickets to the VIP's. If I thought handling the guest list was stressful then I was very much mistaken. Many tickets had not yet been put into each guest’s envelope, therefore tickets had to be manually found and accounted for in front of the guest which was not ideal. From this experience I realized that no amount of theory in the class room can prepare you for the stress and pressures of running an event.

I spent many days focusing on; sending out event information to websites, writing an editorial about Sarah McKenzie, designing flyers and other related tasks. Therefore, it was such a thrill to see the event come together and be a massive hit! I specifically remember hearing the words sold out at the box office whilst attending to our full VIP guest list. It was such an amazing feeling to know that all our hard work had paid off! Take a look at the following link for more information regarding the main event: http://wayjo.com/event/mike-stewart-sarah-mckenzie-with-wayjo/.

I now look forward to getting back into the office and gaining more experience in PR at WAYJO.

Goodbye for now!

Christina

What a Success - Article Published!

Festival De Cannes is an annual event, were all film stars come together and celebrate the world of film and present awards. The work placement I am at in London is called, Chivas Brothers and Chivas Regal is the top selling whisky brand around the world and is their major brand. Chivas Regal sponsors this Film Festival and has done for three consecutive years now. They also sponsor FilmAid which is a global not-for-profit organisation that entertains and teacher’s children through the use of film. This event took place in May, however as I started my internship in June, I was unable to attend the event but was asked by the internal communications manager at Chivas Brothers to write an article about the success of the event. I also was asked to help evaluate the event by getting feedback from the celebrities that Chivas Regal invited and took care of during the event by providing them with the red carpet experience.  For more information on Festival De Cannes take a look at this link: http://www.festival-cannes.fr/en.html.

Here is another link: http://www.chivasbrothers.com/newsroom/news-area/news-detail.aspx?newsId=13383 . This is a Media Release written straight after the event, for you all to read, although I did not write this one it is still a good overview of how the event went.

Below is a picture taken at the Festival De Cannes in May:

FilmAid UK Chair Iliane Ogilvie Thompson, Chivas Regal Brand Director James Slack and Academy Award winning actor, Cuba Gooding Jr., celebrate FilmAid’s work in Cannes.

I was so excited to be given this opportunity to write my first real article, which will be published in an internal magazine and distributed to all employees that work at Chivas Brothers globally. For this article I had to research a lot, get in touch with a number of employees who attended the event and speak to James Slack (pictured above) about the event and Chivas Regal’s work with FilmAid. This was all necessary to avoid using incorrect information and to ensure all facts and quotes were accurate before I submitted it for publishing. I had to cross check details with my supervisor, who is the Head of PR at Chivas Brothers and once complete I proof read and also sent it to my supervisor to check over. 

Proof reading and cross checking is sooo important, I never understood it at uni when the lecturers went on about it, but now I fully understand its importance! There is nothing worse than getting told that you spelt something wrong in an important document. However I was OVER THE MOON when she gave me great positive feedback and only changed a couple of words! I then sent it off to the internal communications manager to edit and publish. She also loved my work and it is to be published in the next Salute (internal magazine) edition in August!

I have learnt a lot through the process of writing this article, one of the main points being that there is no 4 or 5 week notice to complete a task (like at uni), it is generally a weeks’ notice (if you’re lucky). I felt a little overwhelmed at first because I knew I only had a week to contact everyone that I needed and actually try to write a ‘professional’ article that will be submitted in a publication for the first time and seen by thousands of employees. Once I got my head around this, it was very fulfilling and exciting to complete, as the event was so huge and very interesting to find out how the whole red carpet process happens.

This week I also went to a creative thinking session with one of Chivas Regal’s clients John Doe, as some of the information discussed is confidential, I won’t discuss the PR and marketing concept created. However this was an all-day meeting that took place in central London at a creative thinking building called: Wallspace. The idea is to get the Chivas Regal team and PR team out of the office environment and into a room which is bright and is made for people to ‘think creatively’. This was such a great experience and I got to have some input into the upcoming PR campaign for Chivas Regal. –This was very different from anything I expected and I had never heard of such a place, but it was very cool to see.

As I mentioned in my first blog, I have also been creating documents each week which collate all the relevant weekly press cuttings which I send out to all employees to keep informed on the company news and industry.

Hope everyone else’s interns are going well- Can’t believe it will all be over so soon!

Gemma O’Hart

Media Releases - What a Process! - Blog 2

Hi all,

It has been eight days now at the Heart Foundation and it certainly has been busy. The last few days I have been working alongside the media and communication manager to help promote the 2012 DoorKnock appeal. You may be familiar with this campaign; it entails an army of 120,000 volunteers (nationally) “Door-knocking” in order to raise 5 million dollars to help fund life saving research and promote community health.

The campaign begins in WA on the 3^rd of September and finishes on the 22^nd.

Last week I officially sent my first media release to a local community newspaper and it was a good experience. (I believe I have sent three or four now) I am glad I remembered what we were taught all those moons ago in the PR media techniques classes. It is surprising how your desk phone becomes an extension of your body, especially when calling journalists and gathering quotes from volunteers.

The whole process of sending out a media release can be quite time consuming as detailed below:

1)     Source a volunteer who is willing to interviewed and photographed for a local paper and has a personal connection with heart disease. (harder than it sounds)

2)     Interview them over the phone to generate quotes to incorporate within the release.

3)     Once typed, send the quotes back to the individual for approval, alongside a media exposure consent form.

4)     Call the local paper and find the appropriate journalist for the media release.

5)     Wait for the approval forms to come back, and then input them within the release.

6)     Send the completed media release to the journalist and hope it will be used to generate a story in the local newspaper.

That is roughly the process, however there is often a spanner thrown in the works somewhere along the lines.

Recently I was also lucky enough to sit in a PR meeting in West Perth within a firm named Devahasdin PR, regarding the ‘smarter than smoking campaign’ running this year. The meeting was conducted with a PR team who were certainly on the ball and very professional. It was great to escape the office for a little while and see how professional PR people conduct business behind closed doors.

If you anybody is interested in learning more about the DoorKnock Appeal or even donating!, Visit www.heartfoundation.org.au/doorknock

Thanks for reading, Miles

 

    

 

Busy one week, dead the next

Busy one week, dead the next.

When I first arrived at the Department of Sport and Recreation, communications were swamped with media monitoring and getting out the priority news releases. At this time I had quite a bit of work to do. After two weeks, the work has dies down and my duties have died down with it.

Recently I have learnt how to upload news items on the website which is great. Once I was shown twice, the process was super easy I didn’t need any assistance after what so ever. My supervisor was impressed at how quick my uploading skills are. But it really is a sintch!

Other duties have been writing the odd media release for sporting club events, following up on loose ends of a story and making further phone calls and emails. Today I re worked a very wordy media release about the Edmund Rice Centre Lions football match held for Harmony Day. The news item had some great quotes and information and I found it quiet easy to pick out the irrelevant information and re typed it so the article flowed and caught the reader’s attention.

From working here I have found my writing skills have improved immensely and I am able to reconstruct a media release with more confidence. For one, it doesn’t take me as long to re work and I am able to see more easily where paragraphs are most likely to fit in place.

I have learnt how to send out mass emails to regional admin’s in the WA area. This has enabled me to send out emails to monitor what news items I have written that have been published in the regional news papers. So far I have had one media release that has been published about a Country Athlete Scholarship. It’s on page 62 of the Mandurah Coastal Times. The other news item I released was for the NAIDOC Carnival. Unfortunately the photo attached to the article was of one girl who did not have permission to be photographed; therefore the story was not published.

Aside from this, I am pleased that my media release was even considered and published by a newspaper. I am truly starting to understand the ins and outs of researching, writing, sending and publishing a story. It’s quiet fulfilling to see your work out in the real world.

Emma Harris

Department of Sport and Recreaation

Life after my PR Placement...

So it has been a week since I finished my PR placement in Melbourne and I am ready to finish my degree so i can enter the workforce! I learnt a lot at my placement and met some really valuable contacts that I am definitely going to keep in touch with over the next few months. Now that I have seen what it will be like once working in the PR industry, there are a few measures that I am going to take before seeking a job;

• Updating my resume with my placement details. 
• Collect and store any PR coverage that I helped to gain while at the placement e.g. Magazine clippings, press releases, PR documents etc.   
• Do a short graphics design course - i think this will be very useful on the job. 
• Keep in contact with my supervisor. 
• Pass all my remaining units so I can join the workforce!

I feel very lucky to have been able to go to Melbourne to complete my placement in a big organisation like The Just Group and now know that this is the kind of company that I want to find a job with. I hope everyone else doing the PR Placement unit enjoys the experience and learns as much as I did. I look forward to reading everyones experiences!

Lessons learnt so far...

After almost completing my placement there are a couple of lessons that I have learnt about working in the fashion PR/Marketing industry.

The communication doesn't stop - Everyone I work with has a work phone that they have with them all the time constantly checking emails, answering phone calls and updating social media platforms.

You must proof read everything - I have been triple checking every email that I write not only for the sake of spelling and grammar errors but to ensure that the content is written in a professional manner and has clarity.

Time management is crucial - I have found that time management skills are crucial in this industry and prioritising tasks is so important.

Using initiative when in doubt - In situations where i have been in doubt, using my initiative has proven to be the best option and has worked out well for me so far.

Working hard leads to good things – A lot of the ladies I work with have done a lot of overseas travel with the company and when I ask them how they got to that point they all say 'a lot of early starts and late nights!'

Of course I could write a huge list of exactly everything I have learnt but I feel as though these points are the most important in my journey so far. I have had an amazing time at my placement and made a lot of friends. I am not looking forward to having my last day tomorrow!

It's only fun if you want it to be

Hey again everyone!

It has just past day 7 of my internship at The Global Good Foundation and I am absolutely enjoying it. Since the first week, I've gotten follow ups from interviews and I'm on to constructing a press release alongside getting primary schools from Rockingham and Freo to join in our Minute Of Noise campaign which will begin in the next semester.

The Global Good Foundation is currently planning up a camp that will be taking place in April. It's a 4 day 3 night camp planned with jammed packed fun activities for children who have been affected by domestic violence. The response has been far better than we all expected! It's so good that Tanya had to come up with a waiting list as all the spots have been filled up. The camp's are going to be great. I'm honestly excited. Tanya has a whole range of activities planned out for the kids that will help them in self esteem building, teamwork and learning to trust.

Last week on Monday, my supervisor Tanya told my colleague Danielle, Global Good volunteer Kennah and I to come in our best camp gear as there was a photographer coming. We headed to camp site to scout for activity locations, speak to the care taker and to mostly check out the facilities available. The Kwinana Courier's photographer Neil greeted us upon arriving and began taking photos of the three of us. The article was pieced together and appeared on last Friday's edition of the Kwinana Courier! It was definitely a fun day out of the office.

From what I've learnt so far is that PR isn't just about media releases or making checklists for events. There are so many different areas of PR you can touch on. I've been having the most fun at my internship doing interviews, invitations, doing rsvp for events and communicating with principals or schools and counsel members I never thought I would.

It's already coming to the end end of week 6.

We're all half way through the semester! I hope everyone of you are enjoying your placements and don't forget to make the most out of it. Have a great weekend and semester break!

I'll definitely update soon.

The article from the Kwinana Courier.

The kid's camp invitation.

Denise Danielle Lee

14672082

Bentley Campus