Valleygirl Pencil Skirt vs Witchery Flares
Whoever tells you an unpaid internship is easy is a liar. Or one of those people that are just so good that you are afraid to speak to them in fear that even the sound of your voice may burn their pure ears. Working for free sucks. One day sucks and 20 days sucks a little bit more.
Please don’t misunderstand me, I enjoyed my internship and met two cool staff out of the possible two in the office but being surrounded by friends who work full-time and wear fresh season corporate flares while you sit in Valleygirl pencil skirts is a little bit sucky.
If I were to play the role of the wise Semester 1 post-intern woman, I would tell the fresh-faced Semester 2 student to be selective and strategic when choosing a placement. You are giving up a significant chunk of your free-time this Semester for the business, please make sure it is worth your while.
My internship placement was a small agency which sat within a slightly larger accounting firm. Going into the internship I knew I was not cut out for an office of silence and an eternity of weekday lunches at my desk. But a decision of convenience over career practicality saw me become a lean-cuisine desk eater.
With graduation so close, we are all standing on the edge only moments away from being flung into a pit of fiery competition between each other and all of the nation’s 2018 Communication graduates. I really do believe that internships and work placements provide leverage over students who are predominately theory based learners.
Bon Voyage to those escaping Perth for the winter and the very best of luck to all us nervous graduates.
Let the games begin and the odds be ever in your favour.
It’s always been a question of size…Big or Small?
Big or small?
That one faithful question that employees have argued over for decades. Businesses come in all shapes and sizes, from a single business owner to a large-scale, multi-national million staff plus corporation. The agency I am currently interning with consists of the founder, a client manager, a designer and moi. This had made for some a ‘head-down, bums-up’ working approach and some particularly quiet days that start with a chat about the weekend and end with a ‘see you tomorrow’. But what I have noticed is the genuine trust and friendship that the three staff hold between them, which probed me to ask the question which is are you more suited to, ‘Big or Small?’
Remuneration and Benefits
Larger sized companies are able to attract industry-specific and highly skilled quality candidates by outperforming smaller organisations with the incentive of above-industry wage and superb benefits packages that smaller companies cannot compete against. Although potentially offering a reduced salary package, a small business may be more flexible when it comes to bonuses; career progression and commission come in to consideration. It just depends how long you are willing to wait for that advancement?
Flexibility and work-life balance
The ‘work from home’ notion is a recent phenomenon in workplaces and has seen an increased number of employees spending their Friday afternoons and Monday mornings ‘working ‘ from their home office. Social media has given staff members a public voice, this freedom of speech becomes particularly apparent when the companies are seen to be doing wrong by their employees or the public. For this reason we have seen an increase in the number of larger companies defining their policies to include greater flexibility, parental benefits and part time arrangements.
In comparison, smaller organisations are more likely to have a closer relationship with their employees thereby may also require more flexibility from their staff, particularly when it comes to working overtime to meet deadlines. When it comes down to it, work-life balance is not solely dependent upon the size of a company but will vary between companies and is often more aligned with the internal culture than any other factor.
Responsibilities and Job Description
You are a master of all trades in a small business; your job description will include a growing list of tasks that will sometimes blur the lines of multiple positions. This can definitely be positive; more responsibility also comes with more opportunity for personal growth and advanced skills when compared to competitors in larger companies. On the other side of the employment coin, employees in a larger company with a narrower job description are more likely to become specialists within their area. If you are unsure of your career path may I throw in my 2 cents and suggest that a big company will have a more varied range of roles however if you are looking to expand your learnings and knowledge do some research into smaller companies.
When it all boils down to it, for some size just doesn’t matter.
The Real Housewives of Mt Hawthorn. We are talking hair removal, outdoor living and tummy tucks.
“Learning never exhausts the mind”- Leonardo Da Vinci
As Week 6 of Semester creeps by I find myself laughing at Da Vinci’s above quote. Surely even the greatest minds in history felt exhaustion from the continuous and unending opportunities to learn? But upon reflecting on day 10 of my internship, my mind starts to flip through the pages of purely random subjects and topics that I can now say I know a sizeable amount about simply from blog content writing.
There is no set job description which makes for a different list of tasks every day as an intern. The most intriguing so far has to be my outreach blog targeting mums considering cosmetics procedures post child-birth. Mm yes you heard me right think tummy tucks, boob lifts and vaginoplasty procedures…please erase Google history. All new mums will think I am a real treat to have in a room now.
“Pass another scone Helen, Siobhan is just about to tell us about the benefits of vaginoplasty surgery”
I can also add to my list of expertise, knowledge in outdoor living, hair removal methods, home automation, mental wellbeing and top holiday destinations in Western Australia. Imagine that real people in the public sphere are now lucky enough to be able to read about my ‘expert’ advice on these topics with a click of a button.
Amigos, can I please take a moment now to call out that literally, ANYONE can be a published writer. At this very moment I am offering you up on a gold serving platter the opportunity to be a blog creator, there is genuinely no excusable obstacle. If you don’t know about a topic simply Google it, follow a blog or learn from influencers and startup business leaders around you. The two most important skills for a PR practitioner are being able to communicate effectively and influence your target audience, so make sure you can do it right!
My experience confirms it, practice does make for (a step closer to) perfect. My style of writing is constantly adapting, sometimes elements of humour are required dependent on my audience and other times I have to project a more formal and specific approach, however being a more adaptable and well-rounded content creator has helped in my ability to communicate and influence.
To start you in the right direction, lean in as I share with you the top three tips for content writing that the agency founder shared with me:
- Include the word ‘imagine’ as much as possible
- State the reason because
- Say it with conviction or don’t bother saying it at all.
Snog. Marry…. Intern?
You will never take as long to get ready in the morning than the first day at a new job. Continuous checking of my phone screen has confirmed it, the clock has ticked over an hour since I first started the full procedure and I think, “When did I become a victim of a Snog. Marry. Avoid episode?”
Whether you like it or not we are constantly being monitored and judged, making that first fateful impression is integral to how your colleagues will view you and the expectations they will surround you with for the entirety of your internship.
For one of the first times in my life, the Tuesday of my first day saw me arrive to my 20 day office in Mount Hawthorn half an hour early. Receiving a text from my new boss Adam to meet him in the office lobby at 8.40am I decided to use my time slowly walking to fetch two take-away coffees for what I expected to be an introductory meeting. One strange Italian-jungle themed café and two lattes later I met with Adam the founder of Inbound Marketing and my new boss in the foyer area, accompanied by my two new work buddies, Hannah and Connor! Quick maths pre-warns me that those two coffees and four people equals very awkward.
Within an hour of my inaugural day I was sitting in a face-to-face meeting with a prospective client. They had been on the radar for two months but it seemed that the fish weren’t biting what was on offer. The client, a business-minded and balding male in his mid-50s didn’t seem to be budging declaring two minutes into the meeting “who needs marketing anyway?” I started looking for the closest fire escape, could this be going any worse? Not at all phased in the slightest, the agency’s founder and also my new boss was quick to turn the conversation and talking about the problems he faced when building a house specific to the potential clients industry.
As the minutes struck on our balding friend became more at ease and began asking questions about his competitors and their significant online presence relative to his own. An hour later Adam (the amazing salesman) was able to secure a six month contract with the client with an immediate start…a true example of the power of persuasion speech!
Hoping to win the team back after my coffee-shortcoming I was loaded with Twix, Lindt and grapes the next morning. My constant stream of chocolate availability over the last two weeks has resulted in being blamed for attempting to cause obesity amongst my team members.
Let the calorie and office day counting begin!
Day 1 Starting Weight: 60kg
Day 20 Expected End Weight: 160kg…