I am privileged to work with one of the leading pioneer company
within the tourism and aviation industry in Mauritius that is Rogers Aviation (RAV). It was
difficult to find a suitable placement because
•Little PR acknowledgment in Mauritius’ firms
•I am not Mauritian so it was
difficult to find and initiate the internship earlier
RAV is the parent company to numerous organisations and a partner to
a list of well-renowned national and international companies such as airlines
Air Asia and Etihad Airways. The PR/communications aspects of the company is
led by the Marketing department, fortunately my tasks are tailored to encompass
the PR criteria. This internship is putting into practice what we have inculcated over the years but customized to meet each organisation's wants.
Currently within the first week and a half I am working on;
-
https://www.instagram.com/p/BLcpqNXhXVH/?taken-by=curtinpr
- the Business Continuity Plan (BCP) which is the crisis management plan for RAV and their sister company in Mozambique.
- quality check on RAV’s website and subsidiary organisation resaplanet
- press releases for their website and Mauritian press
- writing blog articles and social media posts
- work on the event - Le Salon du prêt-à-partir
For these tasks I had to adapt to alternate terms for example BCP instead of crisis management plan, multitask for different organisations and adapt to different working environments.
To highlight my
first ever work experience in the world of Public Relations, here are some tips
for your successful start.
Basic
tips for first-timers as a PR practitioner
Searching for Placement:
Approach organisations that you know already has a PR department or what
appeals to you as PR aspects within their organisation. Note some firms are
clueless about the functions of Public Relations, take this opportunity during
your interview to pinpoint their current work and reference as a PR feature. In
your CV or cover letter elaborate on what you want to cover (PR-related) within
their organisation referencing potential and their existing PR work. This gives
your supervisor an overview and understanding of what is expected from you.
Internalise jargons: Prior
to initiating the internship, familiarize yourself with not only your company
but the industry’s abbreviations and idioms. A PR practitioner has to adapt to
an industry’s ‘culture’ and this differs from industry to industry. Ideally, the language spoken within the
Health sector would be different from that of aviation/tourism. For example,
abbreviating all flight destinations is common semiotic within the aviation
industry furthermore, the ‘Cockpit’ is the name given to our company’s
intranet. This also extends to the company’s font preference for documents. Internalising
these basics will facilitate interaction and note-taking. However, be careful
not to use these technical terms in official documents such as media kit or
interacting with other stakeholders that may not be aware of these terms.
Jot down everything: Public Relations
functions encompass a wide range of activities from multiple press releases, events,
blog posts and planning which is bound to numerous meetings sometimes in one
day. Organisation is vital and investing
in multiple planners, agendas or notebooks is ideal to keep track of future
events and note taking. It is ideal to jot down information whether it is from
meetings, online and traditional (newspapers) media relative to your industry
and tasks. This will give you a better understanding of the organisation by
gathering as much facts as possible. Since we write/blog a lot in PR, these notes will inspire your final content and give you more information to work with.
Self-taught PR skills: Aside
to the academic knowledge it is essential and beneficial to gain some skills to
better your professional capabilities and reputation as a PR practitioner. Familiarize
yourself with these self-taught online tools and list them on your CV.
Surveymonkey.com – design surveys and generate creative/organized
presentations.
Canva – simple photo editor, include a blog illustration or social
media tile with your article and await approval from your supervisor. Also
create and recommend a letterhead to your company if they do not have one.
Photoshop – most common photo editor which is requested by
employers.
InDesign - to create company newsletters or flip information
files for both online and offline.
Radius6 – social media monitor which compiles all mentions of the
organisation or key words online. Learn about implementing keywords used in SEO
and paid search.
These would not
only impress your employer but facilitate your work in a creative way.
Build a PR network: Include/add
a PR-related account to each of your personal social media presence.
Recommending; @PRPERFECT account on Twitter, PR lifestyle for the fashionistas
on Pinterest and most importantly networking and interacting with PR content on
LinkedIn. Aside to social media, use RSS
feeds or applications such as Pulse to stay-up-to-date with the PR industry.
Consider becoming a member of PRIA or other relative PR organisation. You’ll
get to say a thing or two or at least understand these corporate ‘lunch’
conversations.
Feel free to add
some more tips for first-timers in the comment section below!
3 comments:
Raissa,
First of all, Thanks for writing some nice blog post with nice insights
As you mention, we as students tend to forget the skills that we have acquired during our 2 to 3 years for most of studies.
One Crucial point that you mention is the jot down everything part as it is not only important for us as a reminder but also shows professionalism and dedication within our internship period.
The self taught skills too are important and at my placement its not only the photoshop but also script writing, copy writing experience and knowledge of how to make appropriate use of it.
I also do agree it is important to know the jargon and to always be up to date with the news as it is a crucial part of our jobs(for most) to come.
Good continuation with your internship
Hi Steeve
I'm glad you enjoyed my article. In which industry is your organisation? I am actually sad that I probably won't have the same opportunity to continue PR within Tourism/Aviation when I go back home, I am now use to this culture. Yet again, this is part of our job to adopt to different environments and clients if we work for a consultancy.
What exactly is script writing and copy writing? And how do you apply it at your organisation?
- Raissa
My Internship placement brought me into an advertising company thus marketing mix communication. I had some issue as I related at in my First post and from this post it actually inspired me to be more detail in my recent post
Copy Writing as per copywriter in an advert/communication company is the guy who prepares the text, concept and general idea of a campaign, he need to make all the require research, set tone of voice for document and write down the work to match the client mission statement, vision statement and corporate image.
Whereas for Script writer is basically writing down a script for television advertising or radio advert in my company case but you need to have decide of the storyboard, concepts to apply and already have the copywriter approved the general thematic of the campaign.
I totally agree with the fact we need to adapt and adopt of working environment both to understand the company profile and be able to communicate for it or them if you work for an communication agency.
Post a Comment