Am I industry ready now? A reflection of industry placement

My time at Event and Conference Co. has come to a close and I feel like I have learnt a lot.

But do I feel ready to enter the Public Relations Industry?

Working for Event and Conference Co. as an intern was an eye opener into the way a small events businesses work. The business had minimal paid staff and quite a few interns. This posed it's own challenges and benefits.

While I felt comfortable knowing I could talk to the other interns and bounce ideas around, the owner of the business, however, having so many interns producing work meant everything needed to be proofed and reworked in more detail than, I think, if the work was produced by professionals. It meant I had less room to fail and I needed to learn to produce industry quality work quickly so she didn't need to review my work so much.

I learnt a lot from my industry placement that I only knew in theory before starting my placement. I have more confidence in myself and the skills I have learnt while at Curtin University. I now know for certain I chose to study a profession I will enjoy and excel at. I do not think small business event work is where I see my career path heading but working in that environment taught me a lot and gave me to tools, knowledge and experience to know where I want to head and know I will succeed in the Public Relations field.

How was your industry placement experience? Do you think the area you interned in is where you want your career to focus? Or, like me, did it show you you want to pursue other areas of public relations?

Over and Out,
Bridgette

An invaluable experience

Before I started my internship, I was positive I wanted to work in-house PR. However, after my time at Go Communications in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia I have learned some important lessons about effective public relations, and I will definitely consider working in a consultancy when I graduate. 

Some things I learned from my internship in Kuala Lumpur;

1. Team work - Throughout my degree, almost every unit has included some kind of group work. I saw first hand the benefits this could have when at the Go Communications office, where my team often brainstormed ideas at lunch or called a team meeting to discuss ideas for a client or upcoming event. The reason this worked so well, was because in these meetings everyone was given an equal say, and everyone’s ideas were considered. PR is often about engaging with a large audience, so interacting with your team - who all have different views - will help you achieve this.

Image - Fradley Croft

2 - Thinking outside the box - One event required my team to get creative for a Halloween-theme launch. This taught me how to bring a little fun into public relations work.

Image - Growing Up With A Disability

3 - Don’t get overprotective of your work - I had more than one idea knocked back during my internship, and this helped me view my work impartially, and edit it without restraint. I think we all get a bit overprotective of our ideas and work, especially when we put a lot of time and effort into it. But to be an effective PR practitioner, I understood sometimes it’s better to step away and try something new sometimes.

Image - Libelty SEO

4 - Think about how your message could be received by a range of people - I think growing up in Australia I have a relatively good idea about how people might interpret a message. For example, when watching the news, I can see a headline and predict how a number of people will respond to it. I now know I definitely took this knowledge for granted, because interning in a different country, I understand you must thoroughly research the cultural values of an audience.

5 - Take advantage of your seniors - As I learned writing my first press release, even though you've done it countless times at university, doesn't mean you know everything. Ask your supervisors any questions you have (It's better to ask too much than make the mistake). They know so much more than you do, and they can help guide you in the right direction. 

Image - Muhsin budiono

6. Don't take tasks for granted - Not everything you're given is glamorous or a hard-hitting press release. That doesn't mean it's not equally as important, you can still take important lessons away from it. And if you do it well, it proves your commitment to the job. 

 Image - The Office, NBC

Image - Smshamma

 

7. Good Attitude - I can't stress enough how important it is to have a positive attitude to everything you do. This relates somewhat to the 6th point, but if you have a good attitude it will not only make the task easier, but it shows in the quality of your work. 

Image - Positively Present

And now I'm back in Perth, and it's almost time to start looking for jobs. I worked with some fantastic people at Go Communications, and I have a wide range of work to add to my portfolio. My internship has not only further honed my writing and communication skills, but it has allowed me to broaden my understanding of PR and how it relates to different countries and cultures. I would highly recommend future students to consider interning overseas. 

Whitney Slater

Curtin Bentley 

Almost there and it feels like I've just begun

So I'm three weeks into my placement it feels like the learning has just begun! 
I'm so busy all the time that it feels like my head is about to explode sometimes. 

I was given a bit of a reality check yesterday when I was promptly reminded by one of the stakeholders that one of the trade shows I had been planning was only a month away! STRESSSS! 
I'm not usually one to let things get away from me but this one did in amongst all of the other work I've been doing like copy write and media releases. 

Needless to say I have spend the morning going through all of the forms and planning of what needs to be still done for the event.

I have also been handed another event by my supervisor, as the company is going through an App development at the moment, I have been given the task of planning the App launch for later next month. I'm loving the events planning that's been handed my way all the time as this is the area of PR that I love the most.

Another thing I have been doing this week is assisting with the edit of copy for the new website. Working closely with the Marketing team, a new product launch is been set in place and my job has been to write the copy for the website and assist in working with stakeholders on achieving what they want to be the desired image of the product to the industry.

As Imdex recently bought another company as part of an acquisition I have also been assisting with the communication to other stakeholders, shareholders and industry that this company is now part of the Imdex family.
This task is a lot more extensive than I thought! It involves not only communication the news with shareholders, employees and industry but also other organization such as the Tax Office and Financial institutions. Nevertheless I have been enjoying learning how to word letters and documents differently depending on who they are going to.

I am looking forward to my last week of placement and everything it has to offer and look forward to working closely with the PR team in the future.

Half way there with no signs of a holiday!

So, I'm 2 weeks into my placement at the Imdex  PR department and finding myself drowning in work and clutter, however as unattractive as this may sound its not all bad! I'm starting to really enjoy my experiences working with a whole team of new people (some familiar and some not so much) and planning the events and liaising with my supervisors to achieve what they are expecting of me.

Once of the main challenges I am facing at the moment is working with event organizers! In my case most of the events that Imdex goes at are trade shows, these are specialized events specifically designed for the trade or market in which the company runs business within. The challenge I am facing is trying to get these people to return my phone calls! After 3 phone calls to find out some simple information (like expected numbers to this show) I was almost about ready to give up and hand this one over to my supervisor, however finally yesterday I rang again and go through to someone that was able to help me.

I guess the lesson I learn from that one, was that when someone is not answering your emails and phone calls, KEEP TRYING! You will eventually catch them, or ask to be put through to someone else that may be able to help.

One new thing I have been doing this week is assisting with new copy write for a new website that is been developed. This has been a interesting experience for me as I have found the traditional PR that I have learnt through uni is very different. My supervisor requires much more detail that the traditional sentences written. In saying this though our brand is one of a high tech product which requires a lot of detail and is often read by people with PhD's in geology.

One of the other project I was previously working on before moving into this department and one which I have carried over with me to my placement include the development of the companies YouTube accounts and channels.
I have particularly enjoyed this as it has allowed me to be creative but also have that PR flare.

Samples of my work can be found here:

AMC: http://www.youtube.com/user/AMCDrillingFluid

Reflex: http://www.youtube.com/user/ReflexInstruments

Overall, I am very much enjoying my placement at the Imdex PR department!

So the end has come

Hi all,


It has finally come to an end to my internship and a wonderful 4 months it has been. I was allowed to stay on until the end of May as some of the projects i was allowed to handle myself took months to prepare and execute and therefore i needed to be back and forth from Perth and Malaysia in order to complete the tasks assigned to me. I was definitely impressed by the way PR practioners worked in Malaysia and the way they manouvere through the strict policies the Government has in place opened up my eyes to the barriers a PR practioner has to overcome sometimes.

I definitely was able to utilise my writing skills such as speech writing, essay and propsal writing skills as well as producing multiple media releases that has been and will be used for the upcoming events the company will hold later this year. Although the media releases are all prood-read and edited by my supervisor before being handed out, i know that i have done my part and produced work that my supervisor and my lecturers would be proud of.

The frantic pace i had to work at in such a different cultural environment taught me to adapt and change quickly to keep up and prove my worthness in this industry.

I would just like to thank my company and to Curtin for granting me this opportunity to enhance and improve myself for the future and i would hope that i will be able to gain a full time job in the PR industry anywhere around the world.

Regards,
Jun
14041624

Taking Risks

A few things I have learnt throughout my journey as an intern at 96FM is just how much of an impact public relations can have on an organisation. When I started I knew there wasn't a straight out public relations department within this company, they have a strong focus on promotions and sales but throughout my journey you begin to see that PR has a small role within everything.

PR requires a high level of communication skills and working in this environment has helped me to really extend my skills in this area. Studying something such as PR, we all naturally probably have quite good communication skills but it's when you're in a professional environment that you realise how important it can be to convey exactly what it is you're trying to say and do. I realise the importance of working as a team to each achieve your individual tasks but the most important thing i've learnt is also to have a bit more faith in myself.

In the classroom there's definitely a safety net to make mistakes and learn what is right and wrong, in a professional environment you feel as though you need to constantly get it right. And in the past i've found I always second guessed myself and needed the affirmation of class mates or teachers that I was doing the right thing. When you're put in a position like an internship, you're often given a task and you need to go about it how you think it's best, often with not as much guidance as you may like. If there's anything I want to take away from this internship it's to remember what you've learnt and ask questions, but mainly to try your best and if you get it wrong it isn't the worst thing. The main thing is to show you've tried, have a bit of initiative and give everything a go. At 96FM i've been given numerous tasks I had never done before and used a lot of programs i've never seen before. Although it was daunting it's been a great experience to learn to push yourself. 

I also learnt that you should always refer back and question yourself about how your position and the work you are doing could make a difference in the organisation cause the, how could you go wrong?

Alicia 

The icing on the cake

Baking a delicious cake takes time, ingredients and a little bit of TLC. Making a decadent culinary masterpiece is only complete however, when you finish it with a generous application of icing. Thankfully I can consider myself a scrumptious and moist cake WITH great PR knowledge as opposed to a dry and crumbly mess who might fall apart on the plate, or the professional world as it may be, thanks to my internship. It was the icing on my cake. 

There is no substitute for hands-on experience when you are learning any profession, trade or skill. You can spend hours, weeks or even years in a classroom attempting to perfect the talents needed to succeed, but until you truly enter into that world yourself, you will never have a complete grasp of the learning you have undertaken.

Yesterday I finished my professional placement with the beautiful and helpful people at Clubs WA. After just 20 short days my internal PR playbook has become a proverbial encyclopaedia of communicative knowledge and titbits. The real life challenges I faced were invaluable in preparing me for a transition into the work place upon graduation. Yesterday's challenge however was learning to bake cupcakes for the team as a thank you. Nothing in my past Curtin PR units prepared  me for that! Don't be too concerned though, they were delicious.

In the real professional world there are real professional clients, with real expectations. Real money is being spent on strategies, campaigns and events. Real deadlines must be adhered to or there will be real consequences. Having the safety net of university that cushioned my fall with assignment extensions and strategies where we could only make evaluations based on conjecture or guesswork, pulled out from underneath me was the best possible learning experience the tertiary institution could give me.

I was provided the opportunity to employ my learned skills of professional writing, event planning, graphic design, media relations, market research and a whole range of additional professional tasks – including the joys of administrative work like putting sticky labels on envelopes, and for this I am hugely grateful.

Right at the crux of public relations theory is the concept of communicating with people in ways that they find accessible and appealing. The wide variety of people I was able to interact with throughout my internship has illuminated new ways of communicating with others. From fellow co-workers and clients, to outside media or business we hired to assist in strategies, it was the way I communicated with them that was the key to making progress and being successful.

Thank you Curtin and Clubs WA for everything and thank you all for joining me on this learning adventure.

Blair

Taking responsibility

I’m nearly at the end of my internship with Shine Communications, which I have been working under the lovely Ruth Simpson. When I first started my internship I was very excited to get involved but was also quite nervous when it came to contacting people for an interview, I suppose I didn’t have the confidence yet. When I was given the task to phone someone up, my heart would skip a beat and without prompting, my subconscious brain would come up with a thousand different excuses that my conscious brain would will away and tell me to grow up – it wasn’t a good feeling.

I suppose I was just overthinking things too much, and was too focused on what I had to say and what I had to get out of the interview rather than just being myself and having a normal chat. But luckily for me, this feeling slowly faded away when I realised one crucial thing: the term ‘intern’ is known by most people as someone who is still learning. So, I found that although I was given a lot of responsibility as an intern, the average person knows how much responsibility an ‘intern’ should have, so if I made mistakes, I was forgiven more easily – to say so lightly. If I mumbled my sentence and had to start again, the person on the other line didn’t seam to mind, if I spelt their name wrong or got a date confused, they understood, or if I forgot to attach a document to an email or called them back for a clarification, I didn’t seem too unprofessional because in their eyes I was just an intern who was still learning. Once I had this knowledge in my head, my confidence grew, and the more mumbling and wrong spelling I was picked up on, the more I learned and the more mistakes I began avoiding.

There was this one mistake, however, that was my full responsibility and therefore something I couldn’t blame on my title ‘intern’. I had written a story for the Dogs’ Refuge Home in Shenton Park, which involved a Kallaroo resident adopting a dog. I had been in contact with the resident since day one of writing the story and during the whole process, he was nothing but kind to me over the phone. When it came to asking for a photo to accompany the story, he made it clear that he was very camera shy and repeatedly asked for someone to accompany him when the photographer came to his house. And in response to his pleads, I would reply (numerously) that I would attend the photo shoot and make sure everything runs smoothly for him, of which he was extremely grateful for.

As the date of the photo came closer, I was given more and more tasks to do for the refuge and so, as the day of the Kallaroo photo shoot approached, it became the last thing on my mind and it took until the next morning to realise I had completely missed it. What a feeling that was, I felt TERRIBLE. I immediately contacted my supervisor which she advised for me to call him and appologise – now that was one phone call I was nervous for! Once I had explained to him what had happened, to my surprise, he was very good about it and understood that mistakes do happen. In this case, I couldn’t rely on my title ‘intern’, I think I was just lucky this guy was such a nice and understanding person.

So, things that I have learnt:

- People aren’t so scary to call and talk to on the phone

- People are generally understanding and I shouldn’t be scared of them

- Never break a promise with someone who is relying on you

- Always take responsibility for your own mistakes

Communicating Around The Globe

Throughout my studies at university I have had many units that cover the topic of cultural differences and some of the challenges of working with organisations worldwide. I recently learnt the truth to this in my internship.

For my internship I have been involved in writing emails, using social media, and posting mail to international organisation members. These are the organisations that operate within Confederation of Meningitis Organisation (CoMO) around the globe.

I have found that social media is an effective tool for communicating worldwide because it is fast compared to mailing a letter in the post. However posting to social media on a global scale can have its challenges. Time differences are something I learnt about in units throughout my degree. When this challenge became a reality it truly was difficult working out what time would be most effective worldwide. Another challenge is that some places around the world do not have the accessibility or knowledge about social media which made things a bit tricky.

When it came to sending packages/mail in the post this proved to be another challenge. I found that time was a big constraint when sending mail around the world. When you only have a few days to get something across the world you therefore need to use express post which can be expensive, especially if you are sending parcels to many places around the world and you are a non-for-profit. I found it also difficult when writing the mailing address onto the packages as many places addresses are different to us here in Perth, WA. Did you know some places postcodes are more than 4 digitis and some do not have postcodes.

Writing emails to organisation members around the world proved to be interesting. I had learnt at university that languages can be a barrier when communicating to someone who speaks a different language. So when I had to write an email to someone who spoke a different language to English I had to use Google translate. This tool is not the best at grammar and based on email responses that had been through Google translate on their end I found often the email did not make sense, and therefore I am sure neither did mine to some extent. When I would send the email I would be sure to put the translated version at the top and then the English version below so I could CC anyone into the email that needed to be, and it would make it easier for them to read rather than again going back to Google translate.

I have learnt a lot about communicating worldwide throughout my time at my internship. It has been a fantastic learning opportunity. All the cultural barriers I had learnt at university where now put into practice.

-Alyce

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

"Give a dog a home"

Doing PR work for the Dogs’ Refuge Home in Shenton Park has been one of the most rewarding and fantastic opportunities I have ever been given as a budding Public Relations Professional. I’m actually an intern at Shine Communications but my boss Ruth Simpson volunteers at the Dogs’ Home by doing PR work there, free of charge. She has taken me under her wing and being an animal-lover myself, I’ve gladly taken over at the Dogs’ Home writing media releases and organizing other media opportunities.  

I’ve done what seams like over 100 media releases starring Molly, Cindy, Sammy, Toby, Moosh, Moet and Spunky - just to name a few - who are in desperate need for what we call, a ‘forever home’. Not only do I get to develop my writing skills, I actually really enjoy having the opportunity to give these dogs a voice of their own. Each dog has their own story to tell, whether it be a sad one or a happy-ending, so it has become my job to display these stories in a way that will make them heard.

I’ve managed to get at least two in every three media releases in the respective local papers which makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside for two reasons: one, the dog featured in the paper has been successfully advertised and will hopefully get a home soon, and two OH MY GOD MY STORIES ARE IN THE PAPER!!!! It’s a fantastic feeling to know that my media releases have been noticed by journalists and have been successfully chosen to appear in the paper.

The Western Suburbs Weekly (WSW) have been filming a ‘dog of the week’ segment and have been putting it up on their Facebook page every Thursday. This has become my responsibility to make sure everything runs smoothly. So every Tuesday afternoon I’ve been going down to the Dogs’ Home, where I meet with the volunteer and their chosen dog, run through the questions they might be asked and of course make sure they know the correct answers. Along with this, I also meet and introduce with the WSW crew, make sure they get the clip that they need and everything runs smoothly. All this responsibility makes me feel very important and superior – not bad for an intern!

I have not only developed a passion for helping these homeless dogs, but I have also become painfully aware of how this opportunity has been a fantastic start to my career as a PR professional. At first, the media releases would take me a good four hours to complete, now this time has been more than halved. The people I interview, whether they are volunteers or staff at the Dogs’ Home, or have recently adopted a dog, are lovely people who are kind-hearted and are very much willing to have a chat to me. Everyone involved at the Dogs’ Home are aware of every story that gets published which means my hard work does actually get noticed, which doesn’t normally happen with the unlucky interns! There has been nothing but positives coming from my time at the Dogs’ Refuge Home with Shine Communications and I hope there will be many more positive times ahead, I feel like I’m living every PR professional’s dream.