This blog post was
done on 10 August.
My internship at AECOM commenced on 1 August 2012. A
short introduction on the company; AECOM is a global provider of professional
technical and management support services to markets such as transportation,
facilities, environmental, energy, water and government, and has approximately
45,000 employees around the world. AECOM is also a Fortune 500 company, and serves clients in
approximately 130 countries; was named one of the World’s Most Ethical
Companies for 2011 and 2012 by the Ethisphere Institute.
AECOM in Singapore does more of infrastructural and
building engineering, alongside with master-planning commissions; mostly in
transportation and governmental projects. Noteworthy projects include the
Benjamin Sheares bridge, MRT lines, Suntec City, Resorts World Sentosa and
Singapore Sports Hub. Seeing the interesting nature of the business, I decided
to take up the internship offered to me. I was attached to the Marketing &
Communications department, under supervision of the Assistant Manager of
Marketing & Communications South East Asia.
Having worked in agencies before, I picked a company
which provided a more corporate environment in order to help me make my career
choice after graduation. Due to the fact that AECOM does not have a Corporate
Communications department locally, the Marketing & Communications was the
most similar department possible. After checking the job scope, the function of
the Marketing & Communications department was more slighted towards the
public relations end, with many public relations functions.
On the first day, I was provided materials with regards
to the branding and communications elements guidelines. However, due to the
extensive amount of materials, including differing guidelines for differing
materials, the understanding of the company became rather taxing. Also the
company has many business lines, which range from building engineering to water
and urban development; this variety of services calls for varying levels of
communications. Technical jargons used in engineering and related fields also
make it difficult for communication materials to be written or spoken. This is
one of the reasons why communication towards external stakeholders has not been
efficiently done.
However, communications amongst internal stakeholders
have been done regularly and effectively, with many internal publications and
events done to facilitate it. Such publications include a bi-weekly Asia
Overview, weekly World Weekly and frequent Project/Award Wins and New
Appointment announcements. Events are also done at each office by the Employee
Engagement committee, which I was tasked to help out with.
Apart from the reading materials provided, I was tasked
to research on the competitors’ media coverage to have a brief understanding of
PR in the local engineering firms. The competitors include Arup and Meinhardt;
it was noted that both competitors lacked media exposure and coverage as well.
A run-down of the pending Marketing & Communications
projects included an information sheet for clients, a new website branch for
AECOM in Singapore and the D&D function happening in December 2012. I’m
definitely looking forward to working on more projects for the coming three
months.
On a side note, we had an enjoyable National Day
Celebration in office by the sharing of cupcakes as well as a short quiz on the
National Flag! J
