Hey guys,

Well im well and truly into my work experience at Synergy and I would have to say there has been a few things I have noticed in relation to the organisation itself and its structure. These couple of things I thought I would share becuase it could be a useful insight for those of you ho have not experienced a larger organisational culture and were considering getting into in house consultancy.

Firstly I have to comment on the position of public relations within a company. Firstly I find the department quite underappreciated. Currently there are several PR segments in the Synergy office. The two I am involved in include corporate affairs and branding and image management. To start with the communication between the teams is minimal, especially considering the offices are situated on different floors. Currently Synergy s undergoing 'BT' or business transformation to prepare itself for possible commercialisation. Howeve the BT experts ae brought in as external consultants. Therefore the existing PR employes will have minimal if any input into the development of the new website, new software, brand positoning etc. I think this is really bad internal culture to promote and will extremely limit the experienced input of those failiar with the current organisation. It also develops a sense of rivalry and resentment which is not healthy within a business. Essentially the inhouse PR group is not functioning well with the external consultants and this is not really being addressed. This reaches accross the board in Synergy. PR isn't given much funding and constantly has to pitch and compete for it.

After paining such a glum prospect I must balance it with the perks of working in a large in house PR firm. Firstly I am mainly working in corporate communcation which is essentially internal, media and political relations. Being in intenal rlationsis a really fun experience. You get to know most people in the company on a very intimate level and have the opportunity to nework and build strong relationships throughout the company. So far at Synergy I have more friends than most of the permenant workers . Not only does it mean you are invited to all sorts of functions and lunches it is a very pleasant way of life and for PR inclined poeple, who ove to socialise, it can be very fulfilling. Working at Synergy to start with was very overwhelming. I had little knowledge on the electricity and gas industry and started right after the Varanus Island explosion and throughout the Garaut report. Making these friends in specialist fields meant I could call on them to ask technical questionsand give me a hand. Now I am a fountain of knowledge of most subjects or topics in the elecricity field. The perks involved in working for a large company are often generous which can also be a lot of fun :)

Does anyone reading this have a placement at a smaller company. If so I'd love to hear about the role of PR in the company or the pros and cons of working in a smaller group!

Thanks guys,

Erin