Hello my PR 393 peers,
I’m Houmaira
from the Charles Telfair Institute (CTI) in Mauritius and I’m currently studying
for a BA in Mass Communication with double majors, Web Media and Public
Relations from Curtin University. Like most of you, I’m in my third year and I
will soon begin my final semester, hence the last stretch before obtaining my much-awaited
degree.
It’s been a
little bit more than one week since I’ve embarked on my Internship at Blast Communications, one of the leading PR firms in Mauritius. I chose Blast
Communications because I really wanted to conduct my PR 393 Internship in a professional
consultancy and I firmly believe that it will be extremely helpful in my PR
learning journey and also a good start for my PR career.
A few days prior
to the beginning of my internship, I went through all of my PR 220 slides (media releases, newsletters, speeches, etc...) because I wanted to be well prepared before stepping into Blast's office for the first time. The people there are incredibly
nice and they’ve greeted me with the warmest welcome. They have been helping me
a lot with my tasks and I’m still learning the ropes. I’m trying to pay as much
attention as I can and I’m writing down every little thing that I’m being
taught.
From the very
first day, I’ve thrown myself into work and I actually thought that the first
week would be “light”, but I was wrong. Work has been keeping me busy and my
first week was rather hectic but that’s only because I’ve been assigned a lot
of work from my colleagues. I’m trying to imagine working during the midst of
my semester; it’d have been extremely difficult for me to juggle studies and
work. Anyway, I’m glad I’ve started my internship during the holidays and I’m
expected to finish it during my 2nd week of classes at CTI.
I’ve been firstly
introduced to the media monitoring which is at the core of Blast
Communications. I’ve had to familiarize myself with all of Blast’s clients as
well as their competitors before getting my scissor ready to cut out newspaper
articles on these companies and make a compilation of media clippings. I’ve
been told to write summaries of the newspaper articles, sometimes translating
the articles from English to French or vice versa, so as to send media alerts
to Blast’s clients and this had to be done in a specific way.
I’ve also conducted
extensive research to draft some interview questions, to make a list of
database for contact persons of various companies and for a campaign that Blast
is working on. I’ve even had the chance to share and propose some of my own ideas
for the campaign during brainstorming sessions and my colleagues told me that
my ideas were very pertinent and useful. Furthermore, as per an urgent request,
I’ve had to prepare a fact sheet of questions asked in the media surrounding a
controversy linked to one of Blast’s clients, by monitoring all media portals
in the past few months.
For a first
week, I believe that I’ve done quite a lot of hefty tasks and I’ve been able to
prove myself to my colleagues. So far, I love this internship, thanks to the
positive work environment that I’m surrounded with, and I really want to make
the most of it. Every day is different; I’m learning new things each and every day and
the only thing that becomes monotonous is the daily media clippings.
I have to admit
that the PR profession is not that easy and it is indeed really challenging
because it requires a lot of time, devotion and patience and you have to be
really alert and circumspect but at the end of the day, you know that you’re
doing a great job as you can help make a positive change.
Well, that’s it
for my first blog post. I’m glad I shared my first week’s experience with
you and I can’t wait to read yours too. I wish you all good luck with your internship and hope that you will find it to be an enriching experience. Stay tuned for my upcoming posts!
Houmaira Ramjaun
15102108
CTI, Mauritius
3 comments:
Hello Houmaira
I came across your post and while reading it your experience reminds me so much of mine.
Just like you, I believed that my first days at IMS would be rather light yet, I was totally wrong. On my very first day, I had to conduct a research work. IMS had to prepare a news release for one of its clients. Therefore, I was brainstormed on the requirements of the task and my role was to look for useful information that could fit or help in the writing of the news release. This was quite challenging because never before in my internships was I given a task to complete on the first day itself. However, like at Blast my colleagues were ready to help although the task itself had to be completed by me.
Furthermore, just after that I had to work on a team building activity that IMS was organising for one of its clients to enhance employee relations among the team. Again, with the information provided I had to contact relevant persons and help in the proper delivery of the event. From this involvement, I felt that my opinion and work were valued by the organisation and consequently I felt valued.
After my first week at IMS, I realised how PR domain is difficult and demanding. My placement helped me develop my PR skills but most importantly get a better grasp of the role of PR in real life.
Hey Geetika :)
Appreciate your comment! I wasn't really fond of the media clippings, unlike you because I felt like it was a huge responsibility. Not only I had to look for positive and negative articles on Blast's clients but also articles on their competitors. I had to become well-versed with their clients and competitors beforehand and then make sure that no article pertaining to these organizations and the industry was being left out. So, it was quite stressful!
Hello Sandra,
Thanks for sharing your experience! I can tell that it was quite difficult for you because you were already assigned a task on the first day itself and you had to stick to a deadline. I can relate somehow because even I on the first day, had to translate a long text from French to English and I didn't have a computer and or my laptop at hand. It was really challenging plus I had to submit it by 2 PM on that day but thankfully, I managed to complete it in due time. Indeed, the PR Profession is very difficult and demanding because of the strict deadlines that have to be met. The job of a PR Practitioner doesn't really end at 5 PM. Sometimes,they have to stay up late to finish the work at home. I haven't experienced that yet but I know that my colleagues go through this occasionally.
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