Love it or hate it

Hi there everybody!

Hope everyone is doing great!

Today my blog is about media list updates……ohhh dear! I think it is one thing I dread most when working at a PR consultancy. I have been updating the media list since day one at my internship. I was explained the procedure and the significance of it by my supervisor and got told that this would be my main, and biggest task before I finish my two and a half months there. Media list, from what I learnt is basically the “bible” to a PR consultancy. It is what they refer to everyday for all their media contacts, and media is critical in any public relations consultancy.  

Although I know its significance and need for it to be updated, I absolutely dread sitting down, staring at an excel sheet for hours and making uncountable calls. And the worst part of it was when the receptionists didn’t take me seriously. Initially, I would not manage to get the details I wished for as they were hesitant on given private details such as phone number, emails address and so on. I talked about this difficulty with my supervisor, and she taught me tactics to overcome this problem. I learnt that I had to sound convincing and give them surety that they could trust me. I did that by providing them with the previous information which was detailed, so that they would know I am speaking from a genuine consultancy, for a good reason.

I finally got the hang of how to update a media list efficiently, when I got asked to update another list simultaneously! It was the stakeholder list for Perception Management’s sister company Mentor Communications. Mentor Communication carries out seminars and workshops aiding their clients to manage their stakeholders better. The stakeholder list consisted of more than five hundred stakeholders! To add on, the information needed was indeed confidential information, the contact name, phone number and email of the company’s human resources manager. This led to great difficulty in extracting the information out of the stakeholder’s company receptionists or other officials. I chose to “attack” the never ending list alphabetically, and tried to update each alphabet a day. This method did make it much quicker and therefore easier.

I learnt from this experience is that at workplace you will end up with all sorts of tasks, some which you absolutely love, and some that you absolutely hate. It is not right to say you will give your all in the tasks you love and do a mediocre job at those which you do not like. It is in overcoming those tasks where quality lies. I might not have been able to overcome the challenge completely but it is something I need to keep in mind for future, to not be disappointed with tasks I don’t like. But think of ways of making it interesting, and if that cannot be done, the  come up with ideas that will allow me to finish it quickly, but never losing its quality.