The beginning of my Public Relations Internship

My first couple of weeks of Public Relations Internship have certainly been an interesting one. Where to begin? Well on the semester break i started emailing organisations and i was fortunate enough that within the same day of emailing i had a call back from United Way WA. With in a few days after that call i was officially an intern.

Firstly a little about United Way. Basically it is a not for profit organisation that works with corporate companies such as Bankwest, Chevron and Westpac (to name a few) and links them with community based charitable organisation. They create opportunities for people and organistations to give, advocate and volunteer. To give an example the other day i went along with United Way WA and a group of Bankwest employees and we cooked fresh food from scratch and served it to the homeless in Perth. Bankwest funded the project and paid their volunteers to spend a day volunteering in the community. I went along to help and to also create media opportunities about the days proceedings. 

So far i am really enjoying my time at my placement. Though i have found that United Way WA has really lacked in its Public Relations sector this year, which is good for me because it means i have lots of work to do. Everyone i work with have been so busy with organising new campaigns and volunteering opportunities no one has had much time to focus on publicity and the media. Within my first day i started on writing media releases and creating templates for media kits to send out to the media on the latest volunteering achievements.

United Way does so much for the community and they have so much opportunity to gain more support and awareness. At the moment I am creating social media strategies and media releases to boost the creditability of the organisation and to also get their name out into society so people and companies are aware that such an organisation exists. Soon i will also be working on the media aspect of this new campaign that is soon to be launched called Paint the Swan REaD. I will be writing media releases, talking to journalists, helping to create logos and to also create social media opportunities to promote the campaign.

I feel that my internship is the beginning to my future in Public Relations and i am excited to see what is next.

Newbie In The Workplace

Public relations internship is definitely an essential path in helping students to land lucrative positions in the field. It provides us opportunities to be involved in the decision-making process rather than just theoretical learning, more importantly it allows us to get a vital experience in the real world working environment. 

The role of being an intern-assistant in Momentum Forum Events associates with many challenges which include multitasking, fast and creative thinking, stimulation and effective communications. It is so much more than being a coffee girl in the office who manages minor tasks for the boss such as arranging schedules, printing documents and getting break beverages. The variety of my daily work tasks involves the following:

·            Managing incoming email inquiries

·            Researching and sourcing potential sponsors

·            Helping to prepare sponsorship proposals

·            Liaising with venues and suppliers

·            Communicating with the media

·            Aiding in the development of media releases, radio advertisement scripts etc

·            File management and data entry

·            Producing electronic newsletters and other related documents; and sending to database contacts

·            Assisting in updating the Momentum Forum Website

·            Event assistant

Since this is my first office-type job I struggled at the beginning. I need to type faster; I was so nervous I could not spell the words; I was not sure how the email system works etc etc… Although I was so new I was picking up fast. I remember once the boss told me ‘you’ve done well today’ at the end of my shift I was really happy. I could not explain the brilliant feeling when I looked through the work tasks I had done for the day – there were big amounts of sponsorship invitation emails, contacts lists and more. 

The biggest thing I learnt during the first few shifts of my internship is that quality is definitely more than quantity – the fewer the words the better. People in the real business world are extremely BUSY; no one would have the time to read through your 40+ pages document, sometimes I wonder why us university students do it so much. The success key is to be straight to point, I have now totally comprehend why they say it’s all about quality rather than quantity. I couldn’t help it wondering if Barbara – CEO of Momentum has even read through the 29 pages media strategy plan I conducted for her two weeks back as I started my internship. I think the best way to approach strategies is to go straight into the innovative ideas and benefits; I have some ideas regarding the use of active social media event promotion, I need to think about an effective way to communicate the pitch.

Another issue I have come across with during the first days of my internship associates with professionalism and confident. I can be a very shy person in the new environment; sometimes I totally lose my confident and speak in a very soft voice. There was a time I was asked to make a phone call to confirm a corporate contact detail with one of the manager’s assistant, I spoke so quietly the person over the phone could hardly hear me even after I repeated myself numerous times, it wasn’t professional. After the phone call my boss told me that I must speak louder and be more confident. “If you don’t speak with confidence you have no value, how would people listen to you when they can’t even hear you” my boss said. She was extremely right. I need to work on my self-confident and overcome the language barriers. Barbara is also an immigrant and she has a Polish accent, but she always speaks in a strong and persuasive tone. I want to be an independent and powerful woman in the workforce like her.

The learning journey can be tough but there is so much to gain. I must challenge my limits and surpass them.