Lesson 1: get over the nerves!

Hey everyone, my names Kiranjeet and I'm in my final semester of degree. Just to keep you in the loop.. I started my internship at the Shire of Kalamunda back in March and so far it has been awesome! I started my blog but didn’t actually post it - had a few technical difficulties but here it finally is!

When I was told that I got the internship, I was super excited to get some real life experience yet I was scared at the same time.

What if my work wasn’t good enough?  What if they don’t like me? What if I’m too slow and they kick me out? What if the lady turns around and says my work is rubbish? All these questions kept running through my head making me feel nervous for my first day.

Anyway a week later, I rock up to the office and ask for the HR Manager Davina, who also happens to be a friend of a friend – sounds typical, I know. A couple minutes go by.. and I’m still waiting awkwardly at the front counter with the ladies looking at me confused because they don’t know who I am.

Lucky for me, Davina finally came to my rescue. We headed down to her office where I met the public relations coordinator Nicole O’Niell. After our introduction, I was given a tour of the office. Everyone that I had been introduced to was really friendly and kind which didn’t make me feel awkward – so that’s a plus.

I had my swipe card organised, email account set up and log ins all verified – I started to really feel like a proper employee at the shire.

My manager told me “this isn’t going be like a stereotypical internship where I make you do mail outs day in day out and boring stuff like updating mailing lists… We like to keep everyone busy at the shire so there will be a lot of work to do so you and hopefully won’t get bored.”

After hearing my manager say that, my heart started racing and I was excited - finally I get to do some proper work! So my manager and my system worked like this… She sends me a brief description or even just the flyer of an event, I write a draft media release, email it back to her for editing, she sends me back the final copy giving me feedback along with it and bang - job complete.

After sending her my first media release, I was scared to hear her feedback until I opened my email and read her response “great work! Really well written Kiran”. I will admit I was a bit stunned so just to clarify I turned around and asked her “are you sure its okay?” and she laughed and replied “yes its great, just a few tweaks but otherwise it looks good, don’t stress!”. After that, the next few media releases kept rolling out and before I knew it, it was 3pm - time to go home!

Overall, I found my first day to be initially nerve racking and overwhelming but once I got into the office, met everyone and began to work… things felt great!

Lesson learnt from day one: don’t sweat the small stuff. Meeting new people, entering new surroundings and building connections is half of what public relations is all about.. Get used to it!

- K

That Daunting Feeling Called...

Have you ever had the feeling of wondering where the last few years have gone? On January 17 of this year, I was faced with the exciting yet unpredictable experience of entering a Marketing Communications firm as a Public Relations Intern. I remember waking up on that morning and thinking, "How can I possibly apply my studies to the workplace? I don't know anything about PR!" I felt as though all my hard work at university was finally being applied. But what work was I applying? It seemed as though time had slipped away and everything I had learnt was simply theory...

This daunting feeling is known as 'taking your first steps into the real world.'

Over the past 8 weeks, I have been working once a week at The Hub Marketing Communications as an Intern to the Marketing Communications manager. Not only have I had the pleasure of working with several creative and intelligent women, but I have also been given the opportunity to become involved in numerous different projects. 

My first few days at The Hub involved a dabble in market research. I was given the responsibility of contacting selected individuals in regards to some stakeholder research that we were conducting on behalf of an organisation. Initially I felt as though I had dived straight into the deep end! However, after the first few calls, I was feeling confident and excited; I couldn't wait to get to the real juicy stuff!

My most recent time at The Hub has been spent proofing and organising The Hub's social media e-books. Most recently, I have been concentrating on the Twitter e-book. I have spent much of my time researching into the statistics used and making sure they're up-to-date, as well as searching for any new and interesting facts and figures. This task has been extremely beneficial to me as I have learnt a lot about Twitter and it's benefits to all organisations, not just the ones operating in the PR and Marketing industry. I've also thoroughly enjoyed taking on some responsibility and using my initiative on several occasions. 

Despite all the fantastic experience I have gained thus far, there's no denying it has been challenging. Since starting at The Hub, I've learnt a lot about myself and my work ethic. Particularly, I've found it difficult using my initiative in such a professional environment. I often feel as though I want to do exactly what is expected to avoid making mistakes and letting my work colleagues down. Although I have thrived off the responsibility I've been dealt, I've also struggled with the pressure thats come with it. However, to overcome this I use my common sense and often clarify any task instructions put in front of me to ensure I completely understand what is expected of me. I don't hesitate to ask questions ( which, thankfully, my colleagues are more than willing to answer) and I take my time in completing my work. It's these methods of stress and time management that have made the experience so far thoroughly enjoyable. 

My time at The Hub Marketing Communications has been very rewarding, exciting and fast-paced. I've learnt so much in past few weeks, and gained invaluable experience. I've developed several invaluable skills and taught myself how to work best in new environments. 

With many more weeks ahead of me, I'm very much looking forward to the second-most half of my internship and what it has to offer me.

Perth Fashion Festival

Welcome to my Blog! My name is Laura Johns and I am in my final semester at Curtin University studying a Bachelor of Humanities majoring in Public Relations and Journalism.

I was very fortunate this year to be offered an internship as a project manager for the Perth Fashion Festival. I am one of three project managers for the Chic Model Search, a side project by PFF. I am currently three weeks into my internship, completing 3-4 days a week. The Chic Model Search presented by Student Edge is a model search looking for one model, male or female, aged between 15-21 years old to be signed to Chic Model Management and have an opportunity to fly to New York to meet with one of the world’s best modelling agencies. There are four events;

 

Sunday, 9^thSeptember Model Registration and Heat #1 held at Garden City Shopping Centre

Sunday, 16^thSeptember Model Registration and Heat #2 held at Karrinyup Shopping Centre

Saturday, 22^ndSeptember Semi-Finals held at Wesley Quarter

Sunday, 23^rdSeptember Model Search Final held at Forrest Place

*All events are free to the public

To begin with I felt like I had been thrown into the deep end, with so much working needing to be done as the events were due to commence in three weeks’ time. My first two weeks consisted of a lot of paper work (re-doing the event brief, running schedules, terms and conditions, judges and special guests itinerary, information’s guides for the contestants, judges sheets etc), meetings with the three centre managements, organising staging, sourcing judges, writing the MC's script, organising DJ's, photographers etc. It has been a very busy and stressful couple of weeks!

There are many perks that come with working with PFF, my second day at the internship I was invited to attend the 2012 Perth Fashion Festival Launch which was an amazing event and I was able to meet with people in the industry and network. We also booked Johnny Ruffo to attend at the final of the Chic Model Search, which was exciting being able to talk to him personally on the phone to organise him to attend.

 

One of the main challenges I have faced over the past two weeks is communication barriers. I have realised that absolutely everything needs to be done in emails, as proof later on down the track. It is quiet challenging liaising with two other people from different offices and sometimes it is difficult if one thing is confirmed and organised but then changed without your knowledge as you haven’t been CC’d into an email. I’ m very lucky to have an amazing mentor at PFF who encourgaes me to have my own voice and opinion and has helped me strengthen my event co-ordination skills.

 That’s all from me for now!

Until next time,

Laura Johns
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