Monday, May 18, 2015

Learning New Lessons

So far in my internship with Skye Gilligan Consulting I have learnt many new things about working in communications and PR.  I am learning that this area of work there is a constant turnover of things to do and your job is never quite done, that so much time and effort goes into pieces of writing that others don’t have a clue about such as newspapers and blogs and the number one lesson I have learnt; proof read, proof read, proof read!

In my last few internship sessions I have been working on updating company newsletters, social network monitoring and doing so working around a clients expectations – some clients are very specific and want things certain way while others are vague and prefer you to present to them your work and they will tell you what they like and don’t like. Both of these approaches can be restricting but I have found they have their own positives and negatives. Social network monitoring has proven to be difficult in that there are so many rules around what companies can do on Facebook that change so often that you have to be vigilant to keep up with them as well as monitoring comments and posts of followers, to make sure that everyone is heard and squash negativity where you can.  Lastly newsletters, there are so many different things to consider to put into a newsletter. Content has to be informative as well as interesting and relevant to the reader. In a multinational company this can be difficult.

While I am finding out about the positives and negatives of this job, I am still enjoying the atmosphere and fast paced environment.


Bring on the new challenges!

1 comment:

Sam Money said...

Hi Gillian,

Great to read that even though there are restrictions and challenges from various avenues that can create a distasteful internship, you have persevered through these hurdles and come out on the other side seeming even stronger. It is certainly hard to be able to keep up to date with everything in regards to all the continuous changes to policies and requirements. That is where you have to be open minded and prepare or expect the unexpected to ensure you are always one step ahead. It is never good to become complacent in whatever you do because thats when mistakes occur. If you are kept on your feet then you will constantly be thinking of new options and will be able to perform at a better level.
Also working in an environment that is so demanding can certainly be daunting, but also be very rewarding for future jobs in fields that are similar. It sounds like you were given many tasks to complete whilst you were doing your work placement, which is good in a sense that you can provide a sound understanding of what to do through your studies at University. Incorporating what you know is also hard because being in the real world of business, you do question yourself to the point where you start to lose confidence in your knowledge of the game.
For you it does sound interesting and also a major eye opener. Thankfully I was in an environment where I focused solely on one particular event. It was a very large event but there were no sudden changes or alterations that caused negative outcomes. Gillian good luck for the future, I hope your time at your placement was rewarding.

Sam