Unfamiliar Territory

I must admit, I found the very idea alone of an internship incredibly scary. What will it be like? Will they like me? Am I prepared for this; am I good enough; will I be able to do what they ask of me? Not content with that challenge, I decided to double the fear factor...and undertake my internship in Sydney. On my own. So here I am, blogging from Surry Hills, Sydney in my own tiny house/room in a long stay hostel. I say house/room because literally everything I need is right next to me; my bed is touching the desk, my bathroom is two feet away and my fridge is two feet away from that! Compact living at its best (or perhaps worst?).

I arrived in Sydney on a Sunday night, primed to start my first day in the PR field the next day but it was safe to say my nerves kept me awake a good portion of the night. Location of said internship? Zadro Agency – named Top 5 PR and Marketing Company by Spice Magazine. Just to add to the pressure right?

Before arriving at the agency, I was told by my contact Debbie that the week I arrive would be quite busy due to multiple members of the team being on leave. She wasn’t wrong. I arrived at the quaint townhouse that had been converted into an office, to staff furiously typing away. Debbie was the first to stand and greet me, introducing me to Jacqueline who would be my contact for the next month. I was then introduced to each member of the office, a team of 15 people in total working in the areas of public relations, marketing, digital and social, design and internal communications. After a quick tour of the office area and receiving my Zadro goodies (including Zadro rock candy!), I was put to work straightaway.

My very first task was a media release. I couldn’t believe it. My first thought; this is a dream come true. My second? When is the last time I actually wrote a media release? Turns out these learned hypothetical skills do stick with you and, just in case they don't, there are thousands of other examples on the hard-drive or as we call it here, the Z-drive (clearly, I am an early-adopter of office lingo). Luckily I’m not the first intern to have been dropped into the real world of PR at Zadro Agency, with Jacqueline easing my nerves in saying, “it’s okay, we don’t expect you to know everything yet - the real world is different to uni”. With the aid of the Z-drive and a bit of a Google background search, I completed my first media release and sent it back to Jacqueline. From there it was edited twice, once by herself and then again by Debbie. I was rather surprised at the editing stages of a single media release; you expect it to be edited of course but I had never stopped never to consider the time that goes into the entire process especially in the workplace. This editing process is the norm for all work at Zadro Agency as they strive to provide the best for their clients. Hopefully, I can rise to the challenge and provide my best for the Zadro team as I progress throughout this internship. 

Bye for now

Bella