Idealism v/s Reality

The D-day of the start of the internship finally came! Overthinking was completely hitting every single idea or action relating to that internship. It would have been my first professional experience in the public relations field. Consequently many expectations were tied to that first experience – a great mix of high, ideal and somehow low expectations. What I did not expect was the relative disillusion I would have felt during the first two weeks of the internship…

To be honest, I should admit that, at some point, I was expecting challenging and stimulating public relations work right from the start. The ideal situation would have been to participate in frontal public relations activities within the first week of the internship itself. To discover the job as soon as possible. However, reality did not actually reflect the high expectations. The first two weeks of the internship were mainly about trying to deal with impatience and eagerness to learn the profession. It was all about keeping motivating myself to think positively and reassuring myself that the internship would surely be a great experience in the end. There were a few weeks remaining after all.   

By ccarlstead 2011

The first two weeks were mainly shaped by media release translations and media monitoring activities. These were certainly interesting tasks to achieve; they introduced me to real life public relations publishing and follow up works. I guess that the repetitive nature of the latter tasks throughout the first two weeks was behind the above described disillusion. Monotonous lifestyles have rarely proven to be stimulating and encouraging in the end. However, these first weeks somehow finally allowed me to reach a level of maturity and reflect upon the logical flow of having work experience.

In any new job, one has to prove oneself to one’s employers before gaining the latters’ trust. One has at first to familiarise oneself with the new assigned tasks, with the company values and lifestyle, and with the colleagues. Expectations should not be high right at the start as disillusion would surely happen at some point. Being able to understand and accept that more significant tasks will come gradually throughout the internship is important to keep motivating oneself to continue the experience positively.

What I learned through those first two weeks is that experience and a diverse contact list are key components for public relations professionals. A significant part of public relations is building one’s networking in order to disseminate the tailored information to the right people and consequently to the right media outlet or platform. Being an effective public relations professional will take time and complete dedication to build a diverse and efficient business network.    

Thanks for reading my insights :) 

Sonia Monty.

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