The end of an internship....The begining of a season

 Hey all

I officially finished my internship requirements with the Perth Heat Baseball club last week. This has been a great experience for me, allowing me to do something I love in an industry that I am passionate about. Whilst I have completed my 20 days, I have decided that I will still assist the Perth Heat when I can during the season. I enjoyed my time in the office, and am committed towards ensuring that the communication plan that I drafted in place see's its way through a full implementation. It has been nice already seeing some of my suggestions included into regular operations.

It was also useful to work with other interns at the Perth Heat. We were all new to the organisation so we fed off each others confidence to create work that was of a high standard.


Here are some of the key things that I took out of my internship experience

1. Not all organisations are the same - I was lucky that I found myself in a very relaxed environment. On my first day I showed up in dress pants and a business shirt, only to find that everyone at the organisation dressed casually in shorts and t-shirts. I also found on my first day that there were no direct working hours. I would get there at approximately 10am (as that is when most staff seemed to arrive) and was encouraged to finish when I felt as though I had completed enough work for the day. A lot of the time this meant submitting work to my supervisor at 3-4pm and then going home. Eventually I adjusted to the nature of the office, and enjoyed the relaxed environment.

2. Communications is really a jack of all trades - I found that throughout my time at the Perth Heat I was completing work for a variety of departments, not just marketing and communications. Often I would do work relating to membership, sponsorship and even IT. I believe that the strong communication skills enabled me to complete these tasks head on and not be afraid about heading into unknown territory.

3. Sporting organisations are often hectic and detail focused - I know this may seem like a bit of a contradiction with my first point, but despite the relaxed nature of the office it was still a busy place, especially in the last few weeks leading up to the season. At times the office was more of a revolving door for meetings and briefings with clients. There were a number of occasions where I was the only one in the office, and had to handle phone calls and deliveries, and this was simply another new experience that I enjoyed. There is also a high attention to detail in the communication that is put out by sporting organisations.


(There was meant to be a photo here of me with the team, but there was an issue with the camera. I will still endeavour to get this photo for my own sake.)


So now that my internship is over with, and my final semester almost over too, I feel as though I am ready for the workplace. Sure I will miss the relative ease of university life, but am very excited about the challenges ahead and the opportunities that will present themselves.

For the last time
Simon