Kieran Vanpraag - State Government Internship Program success !!

A big hello to the predominantly female presence in this blog and an ultra big pat on the back for all the lads that have stuck with their PR major, there seems to be quite a shortage of men in this industry for some reason!

So, this is my first blog (ever) and I hope it's a good learning experience for myself and throws a bit of helpful information your way as well.

As the subject reads, I was one of the 10 lucky students to be offered a State Government internship and I begin my adventure next Thursday. Although I have not been briefed exactly on my daily tasks and duties as such, the basis of my employment is to ultimately produce a conclusive document that outlines innovative strategies to retain and attract young volunteers to the Department of Sport and Recreation.

This will be achieved through conducting field research, focus groups, researching previous documents and strategies implemented in Australia and even looking internationally to find the most effective proven methods of securing volunteers.

I am very much looking forward to my working role and would encourage anyone who has not yet found their internship placement to seriously consider contacting Government departments and offering your services. I am not sure whether applications are still being accepted for the Internship Program but contacting Government departments through your own initiative would be looked upon quite favourably I would think and might just land you a position that was never even there to begin with!

I will end my first blog with a bit of advice passed down to me from a student who is currently doing this unit also. I won't name her but she will know exactly who she is :)

Quite simply she said, "The squeaky door gets the oil"

This can be easily applied to your everyday lives. If you apply for that dream job and miss out, don't close the door and rubber stamp failure on your head. Consider asking the employer if it is okay if you contact them once a month to find out about possible positions available. If the person hired happens to leave the job, you will more than likely be considered as you will be fresh on the mind of the employer.

Well, that is all for now but I wish everyone the best for this unit and hope that we all get a lot out of it including many stories, heaps of experience and a host of networking contacts that will help us in our first full time job after uni.

Take care and get back to study !

Kieran Vanpraag