Diving into the pool of employment

Is my blog title a lame joke about an employee pool? Absolutely.

So, as you might have guessed, the outcome of my interview was that I am now a part of the DFES employee pool! This is an incredible opportunity and the possibility of continuing to work at DFES and advance my capabilities, is very exciting. The position went to a highly deserving member of the Media Team, who continues to support and guide me as an intern. 

Continuing my internship beyond the 20 required days has definitely involved honing my media release writing skills and getting a lot of practice with distributing alerts and warnings. 

This practice however, particularly with alerts, has also seen me make mistakes. Last week saw me upload information to the wrong section of the phone line, confuse two separate incidents as one and upload new information to the website before expiring old information. 

It seemed that on this one day, I couldn’t get anything right and I definitely felt really disappointed in myself. In spite of this, the outcome of these mistakes as been the determination to not make them again and, more importantly, recognise that they are a key part of the learning process.

As such, my advice to anyone in the same position is to keep your head high and not be disheartened when things go wrong. 

Coming into work this week and finding out that I was one of the team members of the week, really put into perspective that these mistakes don’t represent my overall contribution.

Team Member of the Week is organised consistently by the working team via email, with one person collecting people’s recommendations and announcing the winner. Although it involves just a simple message on a whiteboard, coming in to see that I had been chosen was very gratifying.

It showed that recognition doesn’t need to be extravagant, with a small message to say that your work is appreciated being extremely motivating. 

As such, it has really put into perspective the importance of internal communication tools discussed at university and just how simple it can be to make employees feel valued.  

There is no doubt that my internship with DFES has exceeded my expectations. It has provided so much learning and experience in the media and corporate communications specialisation, an area that ties in very strongly with my passion for journalism. 

Considering I was initially concerned that there was no working group specifically categorised under public relations, I have crucially recognised that the key elements of public relations, including communication and stakeholder engagement, are distributed throughout the diverse specialisations such as events, digital communications and public information.  

Although much of my learning at university has been applied and enhanced, the only learning which would be really valuable to have had prior to the internship would be with Outlook, particularly the calendar section. 

The Media Team use the calendar to organise meetings, the room in which it will be held, who will attend and how long it will go for. With the capacity to use this section to determine when people and rooms are free, being able to navigate this calendar would be a great way for interns to set times to meet with their supervisors.

As email has been a large part of my internship and is likely a common communication tool used by other organisations, having some further knowledge on how to navigate it would probably be very valuable.

Although I have thoroughly enjoyed all of the work I have been assigned, writing news stories for the DFES website has definitely been a favourite. This is largely due to the incredible stories and people I have encountered, the interviews and questions I've been able to ask and the different staff I've been able to work with. 

One of these stories I wrote will be published in the 2016 addition of the DFES magazine, 24seven, with my name detailed as a contributor to the publication. 

Overall, my learning has been extensive and the specific formatting of documents has definitely established a level of consistency and competency. 

As someone who has always wanted to pursue a career that involves helping others, supporting my colleagues and completing tasks like alerts that are keeping the community aware and safe, is very rewarding. 

The most exciting thing about heading into public relations is that, wherever I may choose to work in the future, the things that I will do, the way they are done and the outcomes they will have, will all be different. 

I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity that the Curtin and DFES internship programs have offered me. I am also very thankful to all of the staff at DFES who have been welcoming, kind and supportive since my very first day.

The prospect of commencing a career with DFES in the near future is a dream opportunity. Although I expect that there will be challenges, particularly during the upcoming bushfire season, the learning I have gained and the relationships I have formed leaves me with an enthusiasm and confidence to assist. 

Thank you all for following me on my journey with DFES. As my final post, my main messages would be to keep an eye out for employment opportunities, show what you are capable of, utilise all the feedback you can get and enjoy every opportunity. 

Take care and good luck!