Dear All,
Last post on the last day of the semester. In a few more hours here at Curtin Sarawak, it will be the deadline for the Final Placement Report to be submitted in. What have we learn from our placements? I've learnt that working in real time which is after graduating and into the working world would be a harder task. That having a degree will not promise us a job directly after graduating. But with this placement, at least I am prepare what to expect and is mentally prepare to receive the work-load and potential conflict that may occur in the office.
If it weren't for this placement, I think I would be still thinking that being a public relation practitioner is an easy task. Yes, it is easy for someone who has all the right connection networks built up over the years but it will be a very difficult task for someone to start from scratch. Whether it is public relations or marketing, contacts and networking is very important. You are either somebody or nobody. During the internship, I was able to create good relations with some of the media because of my family background and at the end of the day, I figured that if I was someone they knew nothing at all, I may need to work very hard to even have them remember my name. It would have been even harder to ask for their help in promoting the cruise ship (on radio).
Through many experiences with many different characters of people, I think I've become more open in accepting the fact that nobody is ever perfect. Conflicts are bound to happen somewhere, it's how you deal with it that matters. I survived this internship and being able to think back and laugh about it. I hope that all of you are able to do the same thing too. To end my last post, let me say "Good Luck!"
Adrienne Marcus Raja
Curtin University Sarawak
2 comments:
Hi Adrienne,
I agree whole heartedly about what you said about by simply having a degree will is not enough to guarantee you a job. While I have been studying at Curtin (Bentley Campus) it has been constantly drilled into us that having a degree and formal education is merely the starting point. It is how you are able to network and make professional contacts that will ultimately help out in securing a role as a public relations practitioner.
Having completed my placement over a month ago I have still kept in contact with some of the people that I worked with and that has lead more work experience opportunities so I would agree that networking is an integral part of developing oneself as a public relations practitioner in this economic downturn.
Your point that nobody is perfect also resinated with me as I too found this during my placement. There were a few other people doing work experience for the organisation and sometimes I felt that we as a team let each other down. In a real business sense if we had of don’t that we might have lost a client or been able to work through these problems and issues together.
Thanks for you post! Good Luck for your future endeavours!
Frances
Oh I couldn't agree more. A degree is just a ticket but it's all up to you to get into the journey of working life. I also made a few contacts while I was doing my internship at the Hilton Kuching. The thing is to always be friendly and smile genuinely. During my internship, I have gotten offer from my supervisor, other staffs in Hilton and also The Borneo Post. But these offers didn't come easy. I had to prove I was worthy enough. I think sometimes to get a job easily you need to build your network. With the trust that comes with it, it won't be long till you land on a good job.
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