One door closes, another opens – departing my placement
What a wild ride it has been. I am finally at the end of my internship. Two months ago, I started as a clueless, inexperienced undergraduate student. Now I’m departing from my internship as a not so clueless with a small handful of experience graduating student.
To say that I have learnt from my internship would be an understatement. Instead it felt like I had just discovered the tip of the iceberg, with so much more for me to learn and explore.
I was given tasks that I didn’t even know belonged under the PR umbrella. For example, Incite Solutions has a corporate volunteering program where their employees can take one day off work to engage in volunteering activities of their choice. One of my tasks was to research, contact and source volunteering opportunities that are engaging for the staff or relates to their profession/industry.
The table below provided a quick snapshot of my major task scope.
My placement experience further reinforced the flexibility and range of activities that belong under the PR scope. There is no one size fits all, how PR is practiced from company to company differs. That’s the mystery of the profession; there always seems to be something that can be explored.
I remember my supervisor told me earlier on in my placement:
“You know how to write a media release but it’s’ going to be different every single time”
She was right, we are going to be using the same writing skills to write a media release. But the content would differ depending on the organisation and the topic. Its’ all about honing your skills so you can adapt them to any subject! Similar to a knife that is consistenly sharpened to deliver precise cuts everytime.
The most rewarding part about my placement was seeing the results or impact of the work I do. Such as the flyer that I designed was printed and used during the event launch. The drafts that I have written for the company website portal is now publicly accessible, view it here!. It sounds kind of crazy, but the placement legitimises the PR profession to me. Of course, before my placement started, I know what a PR professional does. But after undergoing this internship, I now have a concrete, solid understanding of the varied tasks of a PR profession. Yes, we write media releases, yes, we do social media marketing. But it is so much more than that. Every task that we undertake can be watered down to its essence. Public Relations. Managing the relations between the organisation and its’ internal and external public.
Besides enriching my knowledge about the PR profession, this placement opportunity also provided me a taster of what job searching will be like. From searching for my own placement opportunities, writing my own cover letters and resume, contacting the recruitment persons, and attending the interview. Frankly the process was daunting to me. But I’ve been through it, and I’ve done it. Looking back, it provided me with the boost of confidence and experience I now need as a graduate who is starting her job searching journey soon.
Now that one door of opportunity has closed, I can’t wait to find the next one that opens.
3 Tips for a Timid Person Approaching Their Colleagues
A blink of an eye, and I am now mid-way through my internship!
When I last touched base with you, I discussed the reality and impacts of corporate reputation in an organisation and how it can boost employee morale and staff retention. To add on, internal communications is also another strategy to maintain employee morale. Everyone wants to feel like they are being seen and heard. Internal communications is an integral function to ensuring employees and staff are being seen and heard by the organisation.
At my internship, I am responsible for a considerable amount of tasks relating to internal communications. Recently one of the company’s CEOs was a nominated finalist for Australia’s National Rehabilitation Counsellor. My supervisor had tasked me to reach out to my colleagues and film a short congratulatory video message surrounding the prompt: What skills or abilities does the Director possess that you admire and respect as a rehabilitation counsellor? Afterwards, I would compile all the footage into one video clip. We aimed to compile as many video messages as we possibly can. Though we were in a time crunch as we had only 3-4 days to film and compile the video.
Frankly, I dreaded the task, and for a number of reasons.
Firstly I barely knew anyone in the office, as I haven’t had the chance to work with the majority of my colleagues. Secondly, I am quite a shy person especially with people I’m not comfortable with, and it takes me some time to warm up to people. Despite my social anxiety I knew the task had to be done. It was a great learning curve for me in terms of video recording content, as well as a socialisation exercise. I have noted down five tips and tricks to approaching your colleagues for anyone who is a little shy like me.
1. Notify them first!
One of the first things my supervisor did was informing all of the staff in the office beforehand about the tasks we were doing. This made my job a whole lot easier as I did not have to repeat myself like a broken record. Instead I could simply just ask them “Hi! Have you seen the email that xx sent earlier today about the congratulations video for our director?” This is useful, especially if you need to engage with a large number of people in the office. By sending them a message beforehand, it brings everyone on the same page faster and makes your job easier when you are discussing with them about the task face to face.
2. Write it down
Preparing a short script with key dot points of what information you want to relay will help reduce the stutters and jitters. You might be thinking, you can do this in your head there is no need to write it down. There is a higher chance of you losing your train of thought especially when you are nervous. Having your key points written down ensures that you relay all the necessary information to your colleagues, as well as for you to jot down any information from them as well.
For example in my script I wrote:
- Say hello and ask them how their day has been
- Prompt them about the email that was sent earlier today
- Rehash the task
- Ask for their availability for filming
- If yes, note down the time. If no, inquire when would they next be available
- Ask them if they have any questions about the task
3. Fake it till you make it
Approaching someone for the first time and asking them for favour can be a really daunting task. I totally understand the feeling. But sometimes you just have to fake it until you make it. Sometimes we get stuck in our head about such tasks but if you approach them sincerely and at the right time, they will most likely say yes. So don’t be afraid to approach your colleagues, as interns we are there to learn as much as we can and develop not just our hard skills but our soft skills as well!
Yes, Corporate Culture is Legit
It was a Thursday night; I was on my usual Netflix lookout hunting for something to entertain me while I’m having dinner. Along the catalogue of previews there was a film featuring Anna Hathaway called “The Intern”. I’ve seen some talks about the film and having watched an unhealthy amount of Hathaway’s discography, I decided why not?
The film follows the journey of a retired widowed man – Ben, gaining an internship at a leading e-commerce clothing website – ‘All the Fit’. The company culture exudes hip and modern vibes, reflective of the organisation’s founder Jules, a young and passionate CEO. The layout of the office is open with no office cubes, to promote collaboration and team spirit.
A scene that stood out to me was during Ben’s orientation session, one of his colleagues rang a bell that is attached to the wall found in the middle of the office space. She exclaimed, “we just hit a record high of 2,500 likes on Instagram!”. Upon the announcement, all the employees were applauding and cheering.
(The bell scene from the film The Intern)
“This can’t be real”, was the first thing I thought to myself while watching the scene. I couldn’t imagine that there could be a bell attached to a wall in a corporate environment, as well as employees ringing the bell during busy office hours. The whole concept seems absurd to me. Until I got to my internship…
Yes, this is a weird twist of fate and I wish I was making this up. At my internship, in the middle area of the office, there was a bell hung off of the wall called the ‘Celebratabell’. It’s purpose and use was similar to the film, anyone in the office had the opportunity to ring the bell when a significant achievement was obtained and worth celebrating.
(Incite Solutions LinkedIn featuring the celebratabell)
This is one of many examples that depicts the warm and encouraging corporate culture at my internship. As part of my orientation session, they had one of the company’s occupational therapists conduct a work assessment activity. She instructed me on the recommended height for my stand-up desk, educated me on the placement of my arms and legs to ensure optimal comfort, and provided me with ample information on developing healthy and good ergonomics habits. From this, I felt that there is a strong emphasis on maintaining the health and wellbeing of employees at the company.
You might be wondering, how does PR fit in the mix of this?
Well a major work stream of the Business Development department (also known as the PR department, to read more about this refer to my first blog), was Internal Communications. Internal communications ensures that there is an effective flow of information between organisation’s departments and colleagues. The bell ringing ceremony is one of many activities taking place at Incite Solutions Wellness Week. Throughout Wellness Week, there were activities organised in and outside of the office to encourage employee wellness. It was the responsibility of the PR department to organise these activities, relay the information to employees, and encourage their participation.
This experience provided me with a deeper understanding of a fundamental concept of PR – stakeholder management. I often think of the external stakeholders of the organisation such as the customers, suppliers, investors, government etc. But a major and influential stakeholder are employees. Manifesting a positive workplace culture and environment plays a major role towards the organisation’s corporate reputation. Research has shown corporate reputation can act as a form of competitive advantage against other organisations. Not only are investors and customers looking to support brands with favourable reputations, so are jobseekers. Thus the role of PR is imperative in various aspects to support the development of a favourable reputation internally and externally, with all stakeholders.
Terminology confusion: PR, BD, isn’t it the same thing?
After nervously submitting my resume, undergoing the interview process, and receiving the acceptance email… I am finally starting my internship! I am interning at Incite Solutions Group (ISG), a workplace rehabilitation service provider. The organisation provides rehabilitation to persons injured from work and ex-military personnel. ISG assist them in their career whether this is to bring their clients back to work, or to seek for new professions to venture into.
My supervisor is the leads for the Business Development and Engagement department (BD). During the induction session on my first day, she showed me the organisation structure and the key persons in each role.
I glanced at the diagram and realised that there wasn’t a Public Relations department. Neither was there a Marketing or Advertising one. I was surprised by the absence of these departments. I reason with myself that perhaps this is the case because the organisation is a SME. But marketing and public relations are integral to any organisation. This was especially the case for companies within service-based industries such as Incite Solutions. Where reputation and stakeholder management is crucial in building a loyal clientele.
It was then that my supervisor explained to me that the BD department was the equivalent of the PR department of the organisation, and that in corporate settings PR is often labelled as Business Development. So I concluded that Public Relations = Business Developement
BUT upon further research I found that BD was a hybrid of public relations and marketing. Business development is not public relations, but public relations does fall into business development. Like how a square is a rectangle, but a rectangle is not a square.
I hope I haven’t lost you. Essentially you can definitely find elements of PR practiced in BD. But at the end of the day BD is not PR.
So then why do we have a BD department when we can just have a PR one?
Well, often SMEs do not have the capacity to establish a separate marketing and public relations department. And hence this is the case at my placement with Incite Solutions.
This mini awakening reinforced my understanding of the fluidity and adaptability of the PR profession. The department that you work in might not be called ‘Public Relations’, but that does not mean that what you do is not public relations. The theory, knowledge, and skills you attain is transferrable whether it is for a traditional PR agency or at a corporate BD department.
Its’ just my first week but I feel that I’m already learning a lot about PR and how it is practiced in the real world. Leave a comment below what organisation department you are interning at!