Sunday, April 20, 2014

This is the story of my endless search for an internship!

Hello people,

Okay, I have to say that ever since I knew I would start a Curtin degree at the Charles Telfair Institute, I was overly excited for the internship I would have to take while finishing my studies. Following the orientation session with our lecturer, we were told to send applications as soon as possible. After updating my CV and application letter, I shortlisted nine Public Relations, Media and Communication organisations and companies where I sent my letters. I had to wait for weeks until I finally got a response from one company where they wanted to hire a full time intern and as bad luck would have it, classes were resuming the following week and therefore, I had to let go of their offer. At this point, I was devastated that I had to refuse an offer from such a prestigious company. People started replying my emails giving me the “Thank you for trusting our company, but right now we are not hiring interns, we are keeping your CV…” speech and that was when the stress reached its peak. I started calling other companies and organisations but in vain. Some people were confusing Public Relations with Human Resource or Guest Relations! I was very disappointed with the PR professionals in Mauritius and I felt like they did not honour the PR profession at all. 
One day, I stumbled across an advertising/communication agency and a phone call later, they told me to send the director a mail. The reply of the director was instant and I got an interview the very next day! I then attended the interview and the director was totally fine about having a part time intern! This is the story of my endless search for an internship and I have to say that my first couple of days at Mamba Advertising have gone on smoothly. The team is great and they are very friendly and we are all on first name basis! The agency mostly deals with advertising and this is one of my fears about having my internship there. But at this point, I really am happy and grateful to have gotten this internship!

Until next time!

Kritina Sungkur

15886486

Charles Telfair Institute

5 comments:

Elodie Lamarque said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Elodie Lamarque said...

Hi Kritina,

I had somehow the same experience. It took perhaps 2 months before I got my internship. It is for sure difficult to find PR internship in Mauritius where this title is not this much valued. I am finally intern at Logos Publicity where it also mainly deals with advertising but after 10 days, I can say that I learned a lot concerning PR.

I really hope that you gain the best PR experience at Mamba Advertising :)

All the best

Elodie

Tom Kiely said...

I can definitely relate to that, I got knocked back a few times for various reasons. Mainly because the company didn't have the right position for me, or my timing was off in applying!

Certainly applying is good experience in itself as it mimics what it might be like in the real professional world in trying to acquire a job!

Anne-Laure said...

Hi Kritina,
I can relate to your story, it took me 3 months to find the perfect internship.
I am glad you finally found your internship, I am sure you are going to learn a lot in the PR industry, it is a great opportunity so make the most of it and keep on learning.
I am eager to read more from you Kritina.
I wish you all the best for your internship!
Anne-Laure

Kritina said...

@Elodie
Hello and thank you commenting on my post, I hope your internship has gone well and that you learned a lot of things. Indeed, it was not easy finding an internship. My internship has just come to an end and I have to say I really had a great experience at Mamba! :)

Thanks!
All the best to you too,

Kind Regards,
Kritina


@Tom
Hi! Thanks for commenting on my post. I’m relieved to know that I was not the only one finding difficulties finding an internship! As you have rightly said, the experience we had applying for an internship will certainly benefit us when we’ll apply for a job later on. Although I’m hoping that once I graduate the replies for the job applications would come quicker!

I hope your internship is going on successfully.

Regards,
Kritina


@Anne-Laure
Hi Anne-Laure, thanks for commenting on my post! My internship has given me a lot of experience. Indeed I have learned a lot about the PR industry and in fact my last post would be on that. I know your internship has been a very interesting one.

All the best to you, see you soon!

Regards,
Kritina