Hello everyone!
This second post is about my first week at the headquarters of the ECCEA. The area is very much peaceful with a beautiful scenery and a huge garden. The day I was heading to work, I was actually very pleased with the charming surrounding. But I soon lost notion of what is around me when I was introduced to my second task which was the setting up of a newsletter. As easy as it is to say newsletter, as difficult it is to produce especially when you do not have any other PR staff. The newsletter was expected to be completed by A to Z and to really reflect the organisation.
I was given files which contained media releases and other documents related to past events to write articles. This also included writing articles concerning Rodrigues education sector and the events that were organised by the ECCEA (Rodrigues is a constituency of the Republic of Mauritius). Sometimes I could be writing three articles within three hours and sometimes due to the lack of guidance, I could be writing one single article for 3 hours. The process of looking for photos was even more tiring because the government filing system consists in contacting several people to have information and seek approval about the information that is going to be made public.
Also the theme of the template, the colors and the placement of the articles was very important. I had to do a newsletter three times so that it corresponded to what the Director was seeking. These were the times when I missed University, my friends and my PR lecturer because believe me, when the task that you have been assigned to takes half of your time and you dedicate all your hard work to make it up to the standard and at the last moment your supervisor does not appreciate the work, it is very disappointing. The approach at university level is very different to that of the workplace. The newsletter took me up to two weeks to complete but the motivation that it was actually going to be published kept me on the edge.
During these stressful days, what I found as an escape in this internship was to do media clippings. I volunteered to do the media clipping of the day and I was given a pile of newspapers to read and to find anything related to the Ministry of Education. The related articles would then be photocopied and filed accordingly.
Yes, media clippings can actually turn out to be something fun to do!
Regards,
Divya.
5 comments:
Hi Divya,
This is true that media clipping can be an escape at times but on the long run it becomes quite boring because it is not the most interesting task to do in the PR field. I do understand that it can be a savior particularly when your supervisor makes you stress to get the perfect newsletter. In your post, I can relate to the section when you talk about the importance of the colours and the placement of the articles as it is something I learnt during my internship. I am an intern in a PR and advertising company and I learn that some companies have specific colours that represent their branding. One day I was doing media clipping and they asked me to put the articles in a flip file that would be send to the company. You know what! Even the flip file was based on the colour of the company and the articles needed to be in chronological order. That day I learnt that when you work for a client you need to respect each detail that represent its company and work till he/she is satisfied with your work.
Hello Divya,
I have the same thought too. It was quite stressful during the first day of intern because you don't know what kind of people you will bound into. But think in another way, that's the opportunity for us to grow up and to learn something new, especially in public relations, there are always challenges we have to deal with so cheers! Have a nice day!
Regard,
kim
Hi Divya
It is true that the workplace can never replace the university classroom but during the internship you learn so much about how PR is practiced in real life. For example in one of my post i underlined the how professional the media clipping is done in the PR agency i was doing my internship.
Also when i was doing the media clipping one day, it was interesting to see how the same articles is written different ways in Newspapers.
Hello Divya!
I did make quite the same experience. Though, it was not exactly the same. I reckon my boss presented a project and he asked my colleague and I to work on it. We were asked to promote a company on social media.
I was so thrilled that I was finally giving an opportunity to do a REAL job. And then, he got so serious that my excitement turned into stress.
He had that serious look on his face and he stressed that "this is a real job that involves money " which I understood meant this is serious business and not some silly things for "wannabe PR professionals. So either you tell me that you have what it takes to do the job or I give it to someone else".
That is the moment that you realise that you have no right to fail. One thing which is very different from university life...What I mean by that is if you do not do well in an assignment for example, you can still try to get better grades in the next one. As for the work, you get only one shot. You do a tiny error, and it can cost you your work.
I must sound quite dramatic but that is how I view things. I think university does not really prepare us for that. It is only through an internship that you grasp the full impact of your actions...No more fictional PR plans or client brief. Every little thing really counts this time.
Regards,
Anne Marie Deborah Perne.
Charles Telfair Institute.
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