Reflections of a PPR Intern

Hi folks!

Unfortunately, this will be my last blog entry as my internship with Professional Public Relations has now drawn to an end.

As I walked into the office on my last day knowing it would be the final time I would as a PPR intern, it made me reflect on my time here. Did I do enough? Had I immersed myself in the culture of the organisation? Did I leave a meaningful impact on PPR or would I soon become a distant memory meshed in with every other intern who was there?

I knew the one thing I wanted to do was to make myself stand out from other PPR interns. PPR only accepts 12 interns a year and when I was talking to the consultants, they could barely remember who the intern before me was. How was I going to prevent this from happening to me? Obviously, I wanted to be remembered as PPR is definitely an organisation I would like to stay in contact with, not only for potential employment but also networking opportunities. Perth, the market it is, I would likely come across many of these people again sometime in my career so it would be nice to maintain a relationship that I had fostered over the past four weeks which would extend the life of my internship.

Reading the article, Nine Tips for Ending Your Internship on a Positive Note made me realise I had to leave my internship believing I did make a positive impact not only with regards to the work I produced but also with the relationships I has formed. The article goes on to say there are certain things you should do on your last day (which I would definitely recommend doing for those of you still completing your internships). The following tips are slanted towards a consultancy only because that's where I undertook my internship but they are easily transferred to in-house.

My farewell email I sent everyone

Tie Up Loose Ends
I made sure that all the tasks I was given were completed and those that weren't, I made sure I told the consultant who I was doing it for that I was unable to get it done. As I had to brief the next intern, I made sure they were aware of what to do when they got to the office on Monday morning.

Set Up Time To Talk To Your Supervisor
I discussed with the HR manager the positives as well as the negatives I experienced during my internship and also thanked her for the opportunity.

Give A Standout Gift
As you should have read from my farewell email (sorry it's a bit blurry), I came into the office on my last day with donuts, cupcakes and spring rolls. I didn't think it was much but the comments I got back raving about the food was amazing. A little tip for you guys, food is always something that will make people happy so I would definitely suggest bringing something in on your last days. Chatting to one of the senior consultants, she told me it was great that I brought so much food in because as I said before, interns are usually forgotten in a month or so and a scenario to remember me she said: "Oh you don't remember Jamie? He was the intern that brought all that food in." Distinguish yourself and make yourself standout in more ways than just quality work!

Thank Everyone!
I literally thanked everyone at PPR; of course I thanked the HR manager like I said before for giving me the opportunity to complete my internship here but beyond that, I thanked the consultants, account managers, group directors and even the admin staff. I also had a chat with the executive director, personally thanking him and also to talk about what my future endeavours were. It was a great opportunity to pick his brain about what it's like to search for a job in the PR industry in Perth.
In my farewell email, I also thanked everyone again as I didn't want them to think that I took their efforts in providing me with work as unimportant. It took a lot of trust for them to give me work, particularly because they had known me for less than four weeks and that what I would do had real implications on their professional reputations. I was and still am extremely grateful and appreciative of this.

Ask For Feedback
Feedback is such an important part of any internship. How are we to improve if we don't know how our performance actually stood up? It was so important to me to get this feedback so I could work on my professional skills and to see if what I thought my weaknesses were ran parallel with what others thought. This will be discussed further in the second part of this blog post.

Stay In Touch
In the email I sent out (I know I keep referring to this email I wrote but a final email is really a great way to conclude an internship, complemented with personally going up to people) I included my personal mobile, email address as well as LinkedIn account details. As I have already said Perth is a small market and maintaining these connections is instrumental in my career longevity. Talking to the executive director, he told me to stay in contact with the HR manager emailing her once every couple of months saying what I am doing now even if I have already got a job.

_________________________________________________________________________________


As you know, I asked for feedback if anyone had time in my farewell email. I invited them to my desk or just to send me a brief email about anything regarding my performance. Quality of work, meeting deadlines and communication were things I particularly wanted to know about though. Obviously, this internship meant more to me than just a grade on my transcript; I wanted to know how I would perform in a role within a consultancy because of course, what we're all looking for after graduation is employment. Any feedback I received while at PPR, I would use as constructive and help myself improve for any future employment opportunities be it at PPR or at another organisation.

After I sent out that email, it was so humbling to have so many of the consultants come up to me and tell me that I did a great job and that they would definitely recommend me to other organisations, particularly because it was coming from such a credible source as PPR. If any of you had read one of my earlier blogs, I was daunted by the fact that the consultants wouldn't accept me as a valid and reliable intern which turned out to be all in my head. This is my message to all of those who have just started their internships or haven't started as yet: as long as you are 100% committed to producing quality work, you should have no problems being considered as reliable, trustworthy and responsible. If you were in an intern role like mine, I had to generate my own work and it was important to be seen as reliable because the consultants wouldn't have given me any extra work to do, if they saw me as incompetent and unorganised. Looking back on it, I'm glad I had to find my own work because if I was given tasks to do, I may have become complacent and not have taken as much pride in my work. Having to "work for work" made me just that much more motivated to keep deadlines and produce quality work. It has definitely made me more work-ready and now believe that every task done, no matter how menial I think it is, fits into the larger picture of PR and is something to be proud of.

Reflecting back on my entire internship, I now realise how beneficial it actually was. Particularly because this is my last unit, I will be entering the job market as of now. The experience gained at PPR has helped shape my idea of employment as well as the field of public relations. It has allowed me to explore different elements of PR with a wide variety of clients. The one question that still remains is whether I want be employed in a consultancy or as an in-house PR professional. Having never worked in-house before, I cannot answer this question without bias and unfortunately, until I myself figure out which career path I want to head down, I cannot conclusively give you my thoughts on this. I sincerely apologise but as you know, it is not a decision I can make lightly.

As I now look to the future and graduation in February, I now look onwards and upwards with the new found knowledge I have gained through my internship. It will be interesting to see how I apply everything I have learnt here into getting a job in the PR industry. I have had a pleasure reading all of your blog posts and hope you have enjoyed reading mine. Best of luck to you all and hope to see you guys at graduation next year!

Happy Interning!

Jamie :)

A Reflection on Personal Professional Development

I remember at the beginning of my degree when I sat in the introductory lecture for the course of public relations, the lecturer was going through and stating the attributes of an individual that would make a good practitioner in this area of Commerce.

I sat there listening intently, taking notes, and thought to myself that I checked off on most of the attributes, except for one; and unfortunately being one of the most important – time management. I have unfortunately struggled with time management all my life, but have made considerable efforts to improve upon this short-fall.

During my professional practice placement, this experience has also brought to my attention areas of my own professional development that needed improvement; such as time management.

I found that whilst I was completing tasks and projects I was assigned to during my work experience, I was failing to manage my time well and was spending many hours outside of my placement just trying to complete them.  I suddenly realised I was going to have to review the way I was approaching tasks, and the process I would take to complete them.

Whilst at Sinclair Consulting I was also asked to research and then create a stakeholder list of prospective industry employers for surveying company. In particular, of prospective clients in the mining and construction industries, that was involved with or contracted to, large scale projects. As I did not know much about the mining or construction industry it took me much longer than anticipated to deliver what was required of the task.

On review of my work with my supervisor, he drew to my attention that I had actually missed most important objective at hand – the HR details with the direct person of contact. Whilst compiling the list I realised I couldn’t remember the specific details of my task and had not written myself an outline of what was to be included upon delivery. I decided I didn’t want to ask any questions in embarrassment of looking silly (like I didn’t know what I was doing), especially for such a straight forward task.

Luckily my supervisor was understanding and gave me the opportunity to fix my error, however it taught me a few key lessons about time management and the process of my completing work.  From this I learnt that it’s better to ask questions than not to ask any at all, even if it’s for asking for clarity on information that may have already been given. It also taught me much about the processes involved in identifying an organisation’s target market, and where to start when doing research, such as beginning with analysing the client, and then proceeding from there.

It also In turn it has taught me to never assume the complexity of a task, and demonstrated the type of timeframes and workload, I could expect in similar roles of future employment.

A Journey's End - The PR Journeyman IV

Hey fellow interns,

This is Blade finally signing off from my internship at Volunteering WA, with my last day being on the 20th of May. My last day was relatively quiet, but when I arrived at the Office I was greeted with a gift bag on my desk containing wine and chocolates as a thank you for the work I had put in over the course of my internship. To be honest, it was quite touching that their appreciation had reached that far - I was simply happy to just help out.

When I reflected back upon from when I'd started there, and leaving on my last day - the one thing that really stood out to me that had changed was how much more comfortable I was in the office. It was much easier to chat casually with the staff, who had been nothing but friendly and invited me into their close knit family. It felt awkward to be saying goodbye, but I suppose one can't intern forever! As a small token of my appreciation, I purchased 2 bottles of wine for the office - it had been somewhat of a dilemma trying to decide between getting something for everyone or specifically my supervisor, but everyone had been far too welcoming and nice to me so I wanted to say thanks to everyone.

Although Volunteering WA wasn't necessarily where I pictured my first internship being, it was a pleasant surprise that completely surpassed my expectations. To be able to work alongside people whom so tirelessly dedicate their time and effort to furthering the community in such a positive way was a real honour, and to any future interns looking for placements I would highly recommend VWA without hesitation.

Now, although I don't think I was perhaps the perfect intern - I was pretty pleased with the outcome of the work I had produced for them, and it was a positive learning experience of some of the occurrences I should expect as an upcoming professional. Things such as reporting to a supervisor, thoroughly editing your work and comprehensive attention to detail are sometimes easy things to forget or process with varying levels of effort - but in PR we should always be striving for a high standard of communication and enthusiasm.

Funnily enough, the Gala Dinner and Awards Night had left me with another situation. I've previously done some volunteering work before, but it has been a considerable time since my last commitment. However, there was a particular award recipient called the YMCA Big Brother, Big Sister program - which essentially recruits volunteers in a buddy program with children from diverse backgrounds. This was something that really resonated with me, so I decided at the close of semester I would apply to be taken into the program.

I just want to give a particular mention to everyone at VWA - especially Jen Wyness and Felicity Stevens who I worked so closely with over my internship. To say thank you for allowing me the freedom to be creative and explore my ideas, and also for making me feel like a part of the team - it was really fantastic.

To all my fellow interns, we're almost there! And to those finishing up their placement, or those who are just working on their reports - good luck, and god speed. Thanks for reading my posts over the semester, and I look forward to seeing how everyone else finished up.

Blade Shaw
14755556

This is not the end, it is all slowly beginning

As the end came for my internship, I took time to reflect on the last three months about how working at Communicare had set in stone that doing PR was one of the best decisions I ever made personally.

The 8:30 starts and driving through traffic for another day at staring at a computer may not sound so appealing and great but I came to enjoy it. The different skills I had learnt through the course of my degree, were being put in play and having done countless assignments for non- for profit organisations, the knowledge that I had gained was helping me.

My internship thought me to be organised, on time and to double triple check everything to ensure everything is perfect and also there is nothing wrong with asking for a third or fourth opinion. At Communicare, the organisation services about seven different sectors, and they are all dependent on the marketing and media team, to get the word out there about the different events that are happening for them. I was thoroughly impressed how organised the team was, in ensuring they got all the right information out there at all times  and on time.

I am grateful for Aimee (who is no longer at the organisation) for giving me this opportunity, to develop my skills further, to allow me to reassure myself, I have made the right decision in choosing to study PR , when some around me doubted it was not really a real degree.

Now that it has come to an end, and I am writing my final report, each day I think to myself, yes I can be a PR practitioner and though it may not always be easy, I will enjoy it at the end of the day. Now to just get a job!

This is not the end, it is all slowly beginning.

Asvinder

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

To be, or not to be, that is the question....

Thirty days ago when I started my internship at PPR – I set out in search of an answer to a question which has plagued me since the beginning of my degree – ‘To be or not to be a PR consultant?’ I am happy to report that after my finishing my last day at PPR on Friday – I am now a whole lot closer to finding that answer.

The world of PR consultancy is an exciting one to say the least with a multitude of clients that subsequently come with a multitude of different projects, experiences, deadlines and demands.  It is because of this versatility, that in the past month at PPR, I have had the privilege and the opportunity of working on a range of different projects for different clients. I find this versatility to be a very attractive characteristic of working in consultancy and one that I will attempt to explore more when I begin my search for employment in July.  Having said that, there is still a large part of me that is curious about working in corporate PR and I think that I will need to experience this before I can confidently choose the path that appeals to me the most. Have any of you ever had experience working in both fields? And if so, which one do you prefer?

As I write this, I can’t help but also smile at the fact that in only 20 working days, I can say that I have done everything from media clippings, reports and releases through to invitation drops, research, phone interviews and writing for some of PPR’s professional publications.  When regarding the writing I have done in particular, three pieces of my work were officially published in my last two days at PPR – which I think was such a great way to end what I would definitely call a great internship!

One of these pieces of writing was a media release entitled ‘Dalwalinu Channels Its Own Rottnest Swim’, which was published in a regional WA newspaper that you can read here.  As some of you would know, that feeling that you get when your work is published in a public space is like nothing else and has certainly given me the confidence and self-assurance that I need to believe in myself as a professional writer and PR practitioner.

Another thing that I have learnt throughout my time at PPR is that though Uni definitely has its place in teaching us the fundamentals skills required in the PR industry, there is still nothing quite like applying and refining these skills in a real working environment. I am thankful for the opportunity that PR Professional Practice 393 has given me in this regard as I have been able to use what I have learnt and expand on what I have learnt in all my classes in a way that I believe will serve me well when I graduate and begin my career.

Thanks everyone for following my updates over the past month and it's been wonderful reading all of yours. Though these entries have been useful for reflecting on my own experiences, I’ve also learnt a lot about other aspects of the industry through reading yours. I wish you guys all the best in the remainder of your internship and your degrees, and best of luck in your careers.

Reflection

This is just a small reflection on my semester – more on the PR part of my degree in general than my placement. As I said in my first blog, I came into this semester dreading having to do this unit. Ever since year seven I’ve wanted to be a sports journalist and adding a PR portion to my degree was somewhat of a safeguard at the time. However, the combination of having to look for a placement and only completing PR units this semester has seen me open myself up to the idea of a career in public relations. I mean, the fact that there are full time PR jobs at sporting organisations would still mean I’d be able to centre my career around sport while maintaining a PR career.

Before this semester that really wasn’t something I thought was a possibility. It was probably a combination of ignorance and closed-mindedness but I just didn’t know that much about how many opportunities there are in PR.

That said - I still have a passion for journalism but whether I pursue it or not is a different story. I don’t know about many of you but I have absolutely no idea what I want to do with myself when I graduate. I can only hope I find a career I enjoy whether it be in PR or journalism.

Ultimately, and I’m getting a little reflective here, I hope I can get a job that I look forward to going to everyday. Something that interests me and I genuinely enjoy and if that’s the case then I couldn’t care less about what industry it’s defined as.

Anyway, I hope you’ve all enjoyed your semesters and I wish you the very best with whatever it is you choose to do with yourselves.

Finished at the Fellowship...for now

And so, my placement at the Fellowship of Australian Writers has been completed. I won't however be leaving, Trisha (the president) as high hopes that all three interns that completed placements at the Fellowship will stay on and help out when we can. We all plan to do exactly that.

Many past writer’s that have had the pleasure of staying at the Fellowship have commented on a certain feeling you get when you visit the Fellowship. It's an inexplicable desire to be a part of the Fellowships long standing heritage and to provide them with a helping hand where you can. So I plan to stay on and help throughout the holidays.

I can’t stress enough the level of experience I have gained during my time, I have learnt invaluable lessons about initiative and for the first time saw the usefulness in many of the things I’ve learnt during my degree. I also believe that FAWWA has benefitted from having me there during this semester.
Whilst writing my report I began to see the extent of my help at FAWWA and my recommendations come from true firsthand experience, of the organisation’s needs.

FAWWA was my first experience working in a not for profit organisation. I can see the significant difference between my experiences working for a consultancy and for a cause. A career in a not for profit organisation is now something I would truly consider and enjoy, there’s a sense of motivation that comes from knowing everything you do that day in some way is helping others.

I’d like to extend my sincerest gratitude to the Fellowship for giving me this opportunity and allowing me to be a part of this wonderful organisation

A beginning not an end.

I have come to the conclusion of my internship experience as well as the conclusion of my last Public Relations unit (I still have Business Capstone ahead of me so this won't be the last time Curtin University assesses me on my commerce skills) and I have felt it necessary and appropriate that my last blog entry be a reflection of my thoughts and feelings.

To be honest, I was initially disheartened by the harsh reality of a career in public relations. Though I was not expecting it to be the most glamorous job in the world, some part of me thought I would be applying the techniques that I learnt more. For the most part the tasks I had to to do within my internship were things that could've easily been learnt 'on-the-job' provided you had at least an average IQ and a slight ability to write but I had been assured by my supervisor and mentors in the company that this was typical within the first few years of graduate work and eventually it would get more challenging and I would be writing larger-scale documents of more importance.

That being said, on the job I have learned invaluable skills being thrown into the deep-end such as InDesign which I feel is an excellent desktop publishing program that Curtin should consider incorporating into their curriculum- it's fast becoming an industry standard! I have never edited more proof work in my life it seems, I have cold-called clients, corresponded with various stakeholders via e-mail for serious issues, been in business meetings, planned successful events and learned the in and outs of social media among other things. Overall it has been an unforgettable experience.

I definitely can say after all this, my heart is still in public relations and I look forward to a career in the field. My internship has taught me the reality of the field which can be at times rewarding and cruel and when I weigh the pros and cons, the pros are far more numerous. Though my internship is coming to a close and so is this unit, I feel it is not an ending but rather a beginning for myself as an imminent true professional.

The End of Something Special

Twelve weeks on from the beginning of my final semester at University, and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I finished my final week of work experience one week ago, and have been busily putting the final touches on my final report since. This has given me the chance to reflect on my time at Metric Promotions and Pilerats, and what I have learnt over this period.

As a unit, PR301 gives such a great opportunity to learn in a real-life setting, and to grow confidence in your skills as a practitioner. Throughout my time at Metric & Pilerats, I feel that I have had a true life lesson, not only in public relations but in general life and business skills. I have been taught a wide range of skills relating to running an organisation in events and promotion, and even within journalism working up to the launch of a magazine.

Throughout the experience there have definitely been a number of hurdles to overcome, but these have been translated into valuable learning experiences. From the general time management of being a full-time student undertaking work experience and working at my part- time job, to being asked to write in a completely different way to that taught to me at university. It is clear to me now that there is no 'set rules' for public relations. Every student I have spoken to, or who has commented on my blog has noted that the difference between what we are taught, and real life practice is extraordinary. Every organisation is involved in different aspects of public relations, and has different procedures.

One of the disappointments of my placement was the set-back of the launch of Pilerats magazine. External factors out of the organisations control, have resulted in a slight delay of the launch of the magazine which is a shame. I feel as though I could have been involved in a really great project had I been able to assist in the launch. That being said, I have made some fantastic friends (and contacts) within Pilerats, who have offered to keep me involved if I am interested which is an amazing opportunity. Even though I am not planning to go straight into work when I finish university this gives me a chance to polish up my skills on the side if I wish, and is still great experience for my resume.

I look forward to what the future has to offer me in terms of a career in public relations, and I believe that this work experience has given me this chance to solidify my skills as an up-coming practitioner. Finally, I want to thank everyone involved with Metric Promotions and Pilerats Magazine, who welcomed me and taught me. I hope I get the chance to help them out and wish them all the very best in the future.

Anna Randrup
14756245

Jazzed About the Outcome!

After working with WAYJO for the past three months, my time has come to a sad end.

Throughout my time I was able to undertake a wide variety of tasks, and experience the daily workings of a public relations employee in the not for profit industry. This provided me with a true understanding of the importance of the public relations role and enabled me to develop my PR skills. Some of the main tasks I undertook included: compiling media and other stakeholder contact lists; event organisation, planning and promoting; updating and proofing of the website; supplying an e-newsletter, communicating and liaising with school contacts; and sourcing relevant information regarding possible sponsors and past alumni.

All of the tasks I have completed, even if tedious, have proved to be very beneficial to my studies as I've been able to put all my classroom knowledge into practice. I have also been very lucky to have gained a placement at WAYJO as I've been able to contribute to their inspiring cause and meet an array of people dedicated to the arts. 

After completing my placement what I feel I will miss the most is the staff. The ladies in the office have been there throughout my placement and have each shared with me their experiences and advice about the industry. This has provided me with invaluable information about what the future can hold. I was astounded with how friendly and available they made themselves to me and how they were always there to inspire, listen, and guide me throughout the process. I am internally grateful for their patience and dedication.

Reflecting on my placement I've been able to grow both professionally and personally. I cannot stress how rewarding this experience has been as it has taught me about the PR profession and prepared me for the workplace after graduation. I know I still have a lot to learn and experience but I now feel confident with attacking any task and role given to me head on. I can't wait to see what next year brings for me!

I hope everyone has enjoyed and learnt as much as I have from their placements!

Christina

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