JOB DONE, BUT FAR FROM FINISHED
MATTHEW ROBSON WRITES:
Just like that, my first twenty-odd days as a part time employee at the Fremantle Football Club has simply just flown by and are now done. I am very much on of the lucky ones in this situation, staying on and continuing to work for a fantastic organisation beyond the minimum days required for Reflective Practice – my first official degree-related job post uni!
So rather than a recap on an interning experience looking to what t
he future might hold, for now I do know what my future will hold (until at least March next year!). So I am here for my final blog entry today to cover over how I have seen my first twenty days go past and what I have learnt about being in a workplace.
When I began working a little over a month and a half ago, I had absolutely no clue on how a football club is supposed to be run, and what amount of say/influence/day-to-day work any departments outside of the central football department actually have.
Upon reflection, my mindset and ideas of how professional sport clubs are run have changed dramatically. I never anticipated how relaxed and chilled out a work environment on a level such as this would be. It got me thinking – is this what I want to do, is there where I envisioned my degree taking me?
The short and long answer are both yes.
Working for a professional sports club or organisation is all I wanted to do through high school and through university but was never sure of in what capacity. Marketing, journalism, writer, admin roles, sales – I would’ve done anything to work there.
Yet when I was finally accepted, I was so scared. What if I did something wrong or didn’t get into the vibe of the club enough?
There was absolutely no fear of that once I had started to get into the work. Any worries of taking too long to settle in and meet the office vibe were very quickly erased and moved on. The team made very conscious efforts to make me welcome by taking up tasks like kick to kicks after work on certain days, team lunches in the early couple of weeks and just general information and chit-chat sessions.
This allowed me to become myself very quickly – something I really needed to do to feel like I was going to be able to produce my best work. I couldn’t have been happier to feel this way so quickly in a new working environment. A dream job, a great opportunity, a lovely team and an easy work-flow to start in.
I guess the final lesson I want to take from this job so far, and the experience of getting to write these blogs has been to always stay true to yourself and keep your best attitude toward experiences. Nerves and uncertainty will always come when starting new jobs and new roles, but the best way to ease through is to just get to work and not focus on things you can’t control. If you’re working a job in an environment that you love and enjoy, then its most likely the people you work with will have similar interests, senses of humour, etc. It is an opportunity that most importantly I wouldn’t have seen or thought of going for if it wasn’t for the Reflective Practice at Curtin of course, so a shoutout to Bridget for that one!
This has been such a great opportunity so far, and I couldn’t be happier with where I have come to, and what’s to come in my future employment with the Fremantle Football Club.
That’s it for me for now, there’s not much more to say. So until any of you are able to hear from me next time, stay well and keep pushing your limits!
Go Dockers!!
Feeling Out of Place?
Well, well, well
If you are reading this, then you have begun your internship journey as I have and potentially being nervous around the entry into your placement position at your company. I know how you feel, I felt the exact same way. Heading into my first day, I had nerves. The interview had gone well, they had reached out quickly to confirm my placement so they could have everything ready for me by the time I was starting. I knew the expectations were not going to be to an unusually high standard and that I would not die being at my placement. So why did I feel this way? The answer; I felt out of place. Now, I have been doing my degree for a long time heading into this being my final semester; so why do I feel out of place? Why am I so nervous about beginning? Why oh why am I feeling this way?
Thankfully, I did not allow those thoughts to overcome me and the best way to make the unknown known is to follow through. So, nerves and all, I arrived for my first day at my placement. All the other authors here know what it is like on your first day – there is that much information that comes at you that you feel as though your head is going to explode…
Courtesy of BBC
But, thankfully I was able to meet the other members of the organisation (including the Managing Director who is an amazingly energetic woman) which helped me feel at ease and a little bit more comfortable. Even more so, getting a few wins on that very first day. Having the ability to draft and publish a social media post as well as assisting with the development of a plan helped build a little bit of confidence and more comfort in the environment. The environment I have the opportunity to be in also provides that safety of sharing our ideas. Therefore, when I spoke up to provide input on what was being discussed, I was not shunned, laughed at, or abused. No, they nodded their head and helped expand on what I was able to input. Furthermore, in doing this, I was also given my own homework from the Managing Director so I better make sure I get it done!
via Tenor
At the risk of providing you with an overload of information, I will cut to the chase with what I have been able to learn so far hitting on that topic of feeling out of place. It is okay (and expected) to feel this way heading into your placement. Beginning in any new environment provides that worry and the not knowing can potentially paralyse us into inaction. But, once you follow through and get those first few days under your belt and get some work done (and even being complimented on it), those feelings of being out of place will fade and you will sink your teeth into it! The only thing that can stop you is yourself and trust me, once you get underway and have an idea about what you are doing, you will be doing too much to be thinking about that anymore and let’s be honest, at that stage, you will definitely not feel out of place.
SO GOT OUT THERE & SMASH IT!
The Internship Experience: My first few weeks working as a Public Relations officer!
After weeks of searching for an internship opportunity, I was lucky enough to secure a 10-week internship at AgregoryPR. I still clearly remember the excitement I felt after being informed that I was accepted to be a part of the agency! On the first day of my internship, I woke up feeling electrified and nervous at the same time. Plus, I do not have any working experience before and I did not know what to expect for my very first job. Thankfully, my supervisors are very welcoming and treated me as if I have worked there for years. I was assigned to work remotely from home, one of my supervisors conducted an online orientation session with me via Google Meets where she provided me a brief introduction about Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop, working schedule, tasks list, and the company rules. Although, I could not get the experience of working on site, my supervisors would make sure that I have tasks to do and pick up new skills throughout my internship placement.
My work from home setup
Furthermore, my main task would be content creation, writing, as well as publicity strategies for the clients and the agency itself. Hence, I had a duty to constantly develop engaging and interesting contents for the clients’ social media uploads, mainly on their Instagram and Facebook page also website contents such as blog articles. I first thought that my internship would be a five-finger exercise, but after the briefing on my job duty and responsibilities, I noticed that my conception was actually wrong! As I then realized that I was UNPREPARED for the upcoming projects because:
- I need to enhance my designing skills
On my first week of internship, I was assigned to create graphics that needs to be uploaded to the client’s social media pages. I struggled to design the graphics from scratch as I have never used Adobe Illustrator and Adobe Photoshop. Subsequently, I recognized that I lack of understanding in clients’ artistic preferences also deficit of creativity in conveying ideas through words and graphics. Nevertheless, I did not fall into despair and continued to practice my designing skills on Adobe Photoshop during non-working hours. Besides, I looked up on Freepik and Canva to obtain inspirations throughout the weekend. Thus, public relations practitioner should consider taking some time to develop designing skills as this could turn into valuable assets seeing that the world is evolving around social media nowadays. It is important for us to have the ability to generate visual arts that could catch the target audiences’ attention in order to build a better brand reputation.
- The Public Relations Industry is……..indeed HECTIC!
Prior my internship, I heard that working as a public relations practitioner would be very stressful due to the hectic communication industry that is always evolving also the constant change of the media platforms. This statement does not really bother me until I experienced it myself. Just a few weeks into my internship, I already had piles of tasks that needs to be completed quickly and efficiently! For instance, right after I submitted the 3-month content calendars, I was immediately tasked to prepare a list of targets audiences and some recommendations for the agency’s project as well as create graphics for one of the clients. Sometimes, I could not finish the tasks on time and submitted my work 30 minutes to 1 hour late. Therefore, I should speed up my progress in the future so that I can keep up with the fast-phased working environment. Luckily, my supervisors are kind enough to provide me guidance and told me to continue practicing.
- Patience is in fact a VIRTUE
A PR professional once said that public relation takes virtue and it is an important foundation for a practitioner to be successful. I got to admit that I am not really patient at times, especially when there are tons of work that needs to be completed. In the course of my internship, there are times when I need to repeatedly re-edit the graphics and revise my work to ascertain that it accommodates with the clients’ requirements. At some point, I doubted myself if I am qualified for this job considering just how challenging it was. Since I signed up for this, I have to be responsible for my choices so I decided to establish a positive mindset and constantly remind myself the reasons I pursued public relations in the beginning. Then, I started to gain some confidence and managed to improve my work quality after being more patient with myself. Therefore, patience and persistency are definitely a key to success.
Over the weeks, I have learned more about the role of a Public Relations practitioner and it was not as easy as I thought it would be! So, I should work smart in order to perform more efficiently and prepare myself before getting a full-time job in the communications field. Do stay tuned for my next blog entry! Are you enjoying your internship? Comment down below and let me know! Thanks for reading <3
-Jing Wun
Final Thoughts- My place in this industry
So this is it, but not really…
My internship period is officially over here at Red Lips Media (RLM), however, in case you missed it, I have already transitioned into my position as their newest marketing assistant! This has meant finishing off this placement has sort of become a non-moment for me. No big goodbyes and moments of reflection, in fact, I’m not sure if anyone at RLM even knows this is technically my last day as an intern.
It’s crazy to think that the ending of this internship has actually become the start of my career and I’m so excited and honestly relieved to have already found a position that I can truly see myself in post-graduation.
When I was searching for placements for this internship, my biggest goal was to get experience in an agency setting. Having already gained experience in an in-house communications role, I wanted to use this opportunity to explore different pathways from my degree to hopefully help me find my place in this industry for when I graduate.
Especially with a seamless transition into a paid role, it would be all too easy to blow over this internship in my mind, so I want to ensure I use this blog to truly reflect on what I gained from this placement and how it has changed the expectations I had for my career.
Of course, in typical Type-A fashion, the best way to do this is through a pros and cons list of working at a marketing agency.
PRO: A diverse range of clients, getting to stick your toes into a variety of industries and gain a broad range of experience.
CON: This means working with some clients you love, but very possibly clients you don’t know much about or have very little interest in. Unfortunately, commercial linen rental is not one of my passions…
Figure 1. DrSquath, Life Soap GIF 2020, GIF. Reproduced from: Giphy.
PRO: A never-ending to-do list- there is always stuff to be working on or planning. I truly never ran out of work.
CON: A never-ending to-do list- there feels like a mountain of tasks always on the horizon and sometimes I felt I couldn’t put everything I wanted into a task, just because I wasn’t able to invest that much time into it. Agency work truly is the epitome of “so much to do, so little time”.
Figure 2. MeufParis, To Do List Work GIF, 2020, GIF. Reproduced from: Giphy.
PRO: Working with a team of eager and creative professionals who are truly pushing on the edge of innovation and hungry to grow. I truly felt uplifted working with this team and I am excited to have the capability to be pushing the boundaries of current marketing and PR for our clients.
CON: Once again, it’s hard to be passionate and innovative about commercial linen rental…
Figure 3. NailedIt, Jacques Torres Innovation GIF 2018, GIF. Reproduced from: Giphy.
Now some of these definitely aren’t agency-specific, but I do feel like this rounds out my experience here well.
Agency has been hard and fast, exciting and dynamic, and I think for right now, with the thrill of entering the professional workplace, this is exactly what I need. It is helping me to define what I enjoy and what I don’t enjoy, while giving me a base level of knowledge in all aspects of this work. Working at RLM has been an invaluable experience and a major building block in my career that I am so keen to continue to develop upon.
At the end of the day I am still not sure what the right direction for me is, but at least for now I am very happy to be finding my way in the industry and taking on everything agency work can throw at me!
References:
DrSquatch. 2020. “Life Soap GIF” Giphy. https://giphy.com/gifs/DrSquatchSoapCo-variety-is-the-spice-of-life-varietyisthespiceoflife-YudIjqT4Z8JRxktik0.
MeufParis. 2020. “To Do List Work GIF” Giphy. https://giphy.com/gifs/MeufParis-work-meuf-meufparis-HYYbdk46gUzrgWi1Iz.
NailedIt. 2018. “Jacques Torres Innovation GIF” Giphy. https://giphy.com/gifs/nailedIt-nailed-it-netflix-nicole-byers-mkMaunQTzZnPY9PWxK.
Moving On Up!
So after being at my internship for a few months now I am very excited to say that I am moving on up! I have officially been asked to increase my days from two to four, and move into a paid marketing assistant position!
Figure 1. MikeandJackson, Moving On GIF 2019, GIF. Reproduced from: Tenor.
This is honestly all I could have hoped to gain from this internship and I’m excited to continue to get some real-world experience under my belt as I move into my final semester at uni.
Getting this news definitely came as a bit of shock, with weeks of imposter syndrome and constantly worrying that I was working too slow, or that my work wasn’t up to standard. Turns out no feedback is good feedback here and I must be doing something right! It’s extremely fulfilling to know that the work I have been doing has made some kind of mark and I am so excited to be considered one of the team here.
This change has also meant more responsibility and autonomy. A good thing, but definitely a scary thing. I have been officially assigned a list of monthly tasks, including monthly social media content, EDM’s and research tasks, that although I have already been doing, are now truly my responsibility to manage and complete on time. I’m looking forward to having a consistent list of jobs, that I can organise myself, and not have to be constantly told what to do, but most of all I am already excited to make a very pretty excel spreadsheet to track my tasks!
With this change, of course, comes new pressures. Suddenly I’m being paid for my work?? Not that I wasn’t already giving my all, but now it definitely feels like I have to make sure my work is worth the money they’re paying me! I am in direct contact with clients and even presenting in meetings.
But wait, I’ve saved the best till last…I get my own desk! Officially upgraded from the intern table to my own desk and computer, oh, and did I mention my own company email address and official signature! It’s funny how these small things become so exciting- a true representation of me becoming part of the team. I know in 5 years’ time I’ll be looking back thinking how silly it is to get so excited over these things!
Figure 2. My Desk (Photo by Author)
I am so, so, excited to be moving into this position, but mostly to be part of such a supportive and lovely team of girls who I know will work to help me succeed. Only one week to go in my official internship period…let’s see how it goes!
References
MikeandJackson. 2019. “Moving On GIF” Tenor. https://tenor.com/view/moving-on-up-jefferson-george-gif-14786249.
You Just Made The List!
After a few weeks of being an intern at Zella DC, I continued to develop more of the skills that I’ve learned during my Public Relations course and applied that in creating media releases, building a website and creating strategies and guidelines for the organisation for any upcoming projects. But the one thing that I mainly focused on was tidying up the distribution lists for Zella DC.
With this task, I felt like Penelope Garcia from “Criminal Minds”, who is known for her role as an intel/technical analyst. It was like I was hacking and finding information about journalists and writers and reporting it back to my supervisor. As I thought this was an easy project, it was not. I first began looking for journalists and company who has written about the organisation through press releases, looking at articles about competitors and then looking at different industries. I was so pleased that I did not need to learn more about Excel Spreadsheets/Google Sheets (but I definitely should), but never knew how difficult and how long it took to research and find contacts information.
As I was tidying up the distribution list, another job from my long list of jobs was given to me but this one was also similar to a distribution list. I was asked to find the contact information of certain executives of a list of organisations for the company to contact in the future for sales prospects. Like a distribution list, it was also difficult and long to find as many contacts were also not named or hidden under a paywall.
With an extension software provided by Zella DC, I was able to business e-mails and phone numbers just with one click. This! This brought the groove back that I was Penelope Garcia from “Criminal Minds” again.
This long journey of finding contact information about journalists, writers and company executives, lays out the foundation of an organisation in contacting the media to gain recognition. As Zella DC is a business-to-business organisation, it positions its products to appeal to more sales prospects through the media.
That is all from me for this blog. I hope everyone who is continuing with their internship has the best of luck!
First Day Reality Check
Applying for internships was daunting, as I was taking one big step out of childhood and one giant leap into adulthood. Being 22, my fourth year of university and taking my Public Relations and job experiences slowly throughout the years in a university club doing promotional and marketing work to applying to a start-up company was already a big step to me.
I finished my interview with my supervisor, who was very laid back and professional and once I got accepted, my head became a mess. I was trying to get myself to remember everything I’ve learnt throughout my course and trying to apply it to possible situations that may occur on my first day.
When I started on Thursday, August 19th, it was truly overwhelming, as I just became confuzzled with how much information I had to take in about the technology used by Zella DC.
I began my experience with just reading their articles while I take it in for myself what they do and storing them in their system and started to begin tasks for the organisation’s future projects.
I started easy with my first few days out of the twenty but after a few roadblocks with getting sick and the effects after getting the 1st dose of the vaccine, I began to do various tasks that felt like I truly loved doing back in Curtin in my PR units such as the research, writing blogs, completing reports, defining distribution lists, media kits and publishing a press release that I had assisted in writing.
From only the first few days of interning at Zella DC, it has put in reality to me how important public relations is to an organisation.
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!
A great learning experience: The End of my Internship.
Today was my last at my internship, I definitely felt it was a great learning experience and certainly built my confidence as a soon to be graduated PR practitioner. When I arrived that morning, it was like any other morning at my internship, and we were going into our weekly team meeting when everyone came in and there was food on the table. My placement had put on a morning tea for us to say thank you and goodbye, it was really nice to just sit and chat and even get to know my colleagues a bit more. The rest of the day was as normal just finishing off any tasks that I had left to do before I left.
Throughout my internship I really felt I got to utilise and further develop the skills I have learn throughout my university degree. At the start of my internship, I was not confident that I had the skills, or my skills were not developed enough for a professional setting. This however changed throughout my internship, I gained confidence in my skills and that I knew what I was doing.
During my internship I got to write a lot of blogs, social media posts and film and edit a lot of videos for my placement. Editing and filming videos was certainly the task I did the most, which was great for me as it was something I really enjoyed doing and was interested in. I also got to learn some more editing skills that I did not know about which was really cool. I really enjoyed learning how to use HubSpot which I feel was an especially useful skill to have, as it is a popular marketing, sales, customer service, and CRM software that a lot of businesses use. As well as further developing my skills in navigate different software’s quickly, having the ability too understand how basic software’s are laid out will help in the future when starting a new job to quickly learn and navigate their software.
Lastly, I want to thank my colleagues at my placement for making my time there welcoming, enjoyable and a great experience that I will carry with me into the future as a professional PR practitioner.
Nothings taking over my job!
They talk a lot about how artificial intelligence is going to take over and take all our jobs. One thing I’ve learnt by being in this internship is that there is nothing that over-powers human connection and communication.
My amazing internship experience:
Perth Happenings is a media communications organisation that I am currently an intern at. We provide website advertising, social media promotion, collaborations and partnerships.
The organisation has a sub-company called Critics and wits and works more closely with social media management, influencer engagement, branding and design, a digital strategy or website creation.
Recently, the creation of Perth Happenings Communications (PHC) has come about. This part of the company deals closely with influencer management and campaigns, content creation and public relation events.
Why is PR even important?
Looking at the analytics first-hand has given me an insight into the impact that a good marketing and public relations strategy can have on an organisation.
You go into some units at university and think… gosh… when am I ever going to need to use this. Well, one thing I learnt while being at my internship is that, yeah, you do need to use those things. All those marketing and public relation strategies, with the SWOTs and objectives and goals, it’s an extremely beneficial tool to have stored in your brain.
Looking at the communications side of things, my main takeaway is that, in person, face-to-face interaction with your clients or consumers can really drive value and opportunity. Something about the public relations industry that grabbed my attention the most was the ability to talk, have a conversation, put yourself out there and make meaningful connections.
He’s right. Communication is key. The power of meaningful, valuable communication is extensive. Know your target, develop a fond relationship with them. They want to feel valued. There were definitely situations where this communication had failed, and this was evident through the organisation’s outcomes and unattained goals.
In my mind, every industry and almost every job needs some form of public relation. Whether that be with relationships with consumers and shareholders, crisis management, event management, building and sustaining positive brand image or media relations.
Until next time guys..
xoxo Emma
I’m almost done…
My internship experience is coming to an end and I need to start looking ahead at where it can take me and how I can take full advantage of everything I have gained. One of the ways that I can capitalize on this internship is through the many employees who works at Agregory PR. Many of them are experienced and have worked at larger companies earlier in their careers. I hope that through my connections with these employees, we would be able to work together and help each other next time in the future.
Next, another way I can capitalize on this internship is through my improved resume. This internship has given me the opportunity to put Agregory PR into my bio which would really help when I am looking for a job next time. Not only that, but this chapter has also taught me how to revise my resume as our mentor has taught us the tips and tricks on how to polish up our CV and work portfolio.
This journey also taught me to stay positive if something goes wrong especially when job searching because the bad events are not forever, and new experiences are always awaiting. After I graduate, I look forward to finding a job and I believe that there are many lessons that I learned during this summer internship that would be beneficial for me next time in the future.
Lastly, this chapter also talked about preparing oneself for interviews and staying persistent about finding a job. I think that I can use these tips in the future, such as reviewing websites to better prepare myself for what a company might ask during an interview. Many of the things learnt can be used to touch up on the skills/expertise that I currently have or might not have.
That was all from me. Thank you for reading and I hope all of you are having a blast at your internship placements as well.
Started from the bottom now we here.
It has been a summer of growth. Not in terms of the number of email account I check daily, although that number has also grown, but with my social media skills. I say this because my girlfriend now trust me with her Instagram account and she’s been asking me to write all her captions! Now, let me share with you some of the things I do in work and how is it amazing.
Everyday is different. Sometimes it would be using photoshop to edit pictures, craft banners for our client’s Instagram, or write a listicle. The client that me and my colleague worked on was also very new, so we had to make sure everything was going according to plan as we did not want to disappoint our client. Then we would discuss online on which ideas fit our client best. Sounds simple right? Well, that was because I had a superb mentor, Ms. Tiffany along the way.
Yes, Ms. Tiffany was everything you could ask for. She and her co-worker Ms. Agnes were super helpful throughout this internship. Have you ever heard the quote about how a single grain of rice can tip the scale? If you have, then this is exactly what I am experiencing right now. Agregory PR has never stop adding new people into the team and they treated each of us as valuable team members. I say this because even as an intern I got to make a big difference. Some of my works were even posted on various social media sites and my instructor never fails to give me the best advises. It really made me fall in love with working and I truly hope you guys are feeling the same with your internships.
Well, that was all from me. Stay tuned for the next blog and take care !