Love-Hate Relationship with Phone Calls

Greetings everyone,

Making phone call is not my forte as I have trouble with speaking and trust me, I was so nervous when I was given a task to make phone calls on my third day of my internship. I know I am not going to be better if I didn't train myself with phone calls. So, I took it as a challenge for me. Before I'm making the phone call, I learnt from the other intern, Joan on how they make a media phone call by observing.

As I get a grasp of it, I picked up the phone and dialled the number. My very first phone call was for Nokia Malaysia and my duty was to call the media and enquire if they still keep the Lumia 900 or Lumia 800 device and ask when is the right time to collect the phones from them. It wasn't that hard as I thought and I'm glad I received positive respond for my first few calls that I've made. 

Then, slowly I dare myself to answer every calls the company received and transferred the calls like a receptionist as Joan's contract almost ended so by default, I need to replace her spot as the 'receptionist'. Phone is like my best friend that can be annoying sometime as the calls keep coming in like every 5-10 minutes. There was this one time, I didn't even put down the phone and all I did was pressing the end-call button to make another phone call as there were a lot of calls to be made on that day. Yes, I made phone calls like Chris Gardner before he become a millionaire.

However, not every phone calls are positive. Its a challenge to every PR person to receive negative responder and its a must to remain subtle, calm and nice although deep inside your heart is burning and you feel like screaming and flip your table or throw away the phone. Let me share you my bad phone call experience. When I was in-charge to update the master media database, I called one of the media to enquire about their editorial team. The receptionist were so rude and not being helpful at all as they feel annoyed. Believe me, I wanted to explode but for the sake of the company, I just remain calm and spoke to them nicely and I managed to handle the situation. 

If you're hot tempered person, try to train yourself not to be one. Learn to stay calm and speak politely because you're not only representing yourself but a company. This is a must have characteristics/ skills in every PR person to protect the company's reputation. Once you blow up to the media, you're not the only one who is screwed but the company as well. My advice is, stay calm and be prepared.

All the best.

Best regards,
Fazar Ria Muneera
13761196/ 7D5B3504
Semester 1, 2013
Curtin University Sarawak Campus

PR is Not Just About Writing

Greetings everyone,

From the beginning of my internship, I was never been given a chance to write a news release and honestly I felt a bit depressed and worried at the same time as I have not enough work sample for my report. Until this one fine day before my contract ends, Nokia Malaysia consultant, Gan Kel Sern asked for help from one of us, the interns, as he need to upload photos of Nokia Lumia 920 phone on Nokia Malaysia Facebook page. So, I offered myself to take photos for him as I have passion in photography and plus I need to add up my portfolio. I was assigned to take photos with the following themes:

• Nokia as most personal smartphone
• Valentine's Day

He didn't provide me with DLSR camera and the only camera he offered was Nokia Lumia 920 phone. I was skeptical with the quality at first but I just give it a try to see if its turn out as phone reviewers said about the phone's camera quality. So, I took photos of the phone and I was amazed with the photo quality. After taking few shots of the photos, I passed the phone back to Kel Sern and he chose two best photos to be uploaded. 

The next day, I saw the photos I took were on Nokia Malaysia Facebook page and I was so happy. The links of the photos are below:

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=563284517017593&set=pb.113065628706153.-2207520000.1370542244.&type=3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=563802590299119&set=pb.113065628706153.-2207520000.1370542244.&type=3&theater

Photo is one of the medium in communications. I believe if you have more skills to offer other than writing and ability to speak properly, your value as a PR person is higher. I'm glad my skill in photo taking is applicable during my internship and after that day, they known me as an intern who can take a good photo. I'm glad to get positive feedback from FHKL about my skill. I feel appreciated.

Remember, never give up. 

Best regards,

Fazar Ria Muneera Bt. Safree Zainudin

13761196/ 7D5B3504

Semester 1, 2013

Curtin University Sarawak Campus

Mass communications in PR

Media relations is the core of public relations as it is about liaise with the media to inform about an organisation or company we’re representing. Building a good relationship with the media is very important as they are the one who can help us to convey the key messages to the publics. In fact, the media also need public relations as it is their job to get a story or news for the publication they are working with. Hence, public relations and media need each other.

Press conference is one of the way to communicate with the media in mass. So, what is press conference? It is basically an event where the journalists from different media are gather in one place with company’s spokespersons. The aim is to have Q&A session with the media and to make sure they filled in with information about the company’s profile, programme and etc.

I usually watch press conference on TV news but this time, I was invited by Volvo Trucks Malaysia account holders to help out with a press conference event as well to witness it live. The press conference is called ‘iSTREC: Motorcycles and Trucks’ that aims to inform the media about their plan with governmental bodies to create an innovative solution to reduce crashes between motorcycles and trucks. The press conference was held on January 15th, 2013 at Volvo Trucks Malaysia headquarter in Shah Alam, Selangor.

Volvo Trucks Malaysia Headquarter in Shah Alam, Selangor.

Volvo Trucks Malaysia Headquarter receptionist counter 

The Managing Director of Volvo Trucks Malaysia, Mansoor Ahmed giving his speech.

Officiating the Signing Ceremony of iSTREC: Motorcycles and Trucks

Below were my tasks that I've done :

Before the event:

• To update the media list to ensure the invitation are send to the correct person.

On the day itself:

• Pack the goodie bag (media kit) for the media
• To call the RSVPs to confirm with their attendance as well to enquire whether they can find their way to the place.
• To ensure they register their attendance for us to contact them after the event.
• To take note of questions addressed by the media and answers from the spokespersons. Yes, I have to remember their name and which media they’re representing. I’m very bad in memorising people’s name but I can only remember those who are unique to me. Thankfully, I remembered most of them.

One of the items in the goodie bag.

Media Registration booth.

I was very surprised as press conference is very different from what I’ve watched on broadcast media. At first, I thought one question should be answered by one spokesperson but I was wrong. I asked my colleague, “Is press conference supposed to be this way where one question will be answered by 2-4 spokespersons?” and she said, “yes, in case one person missed one of the important point but it should not be more than 2 or 3 persons actually as things will be a mess”.

How press conference can be a mess? Having so many spokesperson to answer can be misleading to the press as one point might be clash to another. Plus, not everyone can think likewise. The journalist can be likely to include information that may change the publics’ view on the company. Thus, it is crucial for PR practitioner to make sure that the spokesperson are briefed and understood on what should they do for Q&A session with the press.

Remember the Q&A document that we need to prepare for our PR 250 (Media) assignment? That is one of the document that we need to prepare for our client including few other documents such as interview details and tips. The document basically to guide our clients so they know how to handle with the media.

After the event, we need to send out the news release to all of the press who attended and contact them to check if they have received it and will they be using it. When the media said they won’t be using the news release, it is our job to ask why and seek for advice in order for them to accept it. Sound pushy but that is the most gentle way to push in order to get more media coverage as well to improve the media release quality to match with the publication’s preference.

Best regards,

Fazar Ria Muneera Bt. Safree Zainudin
13761196/ 7D5B3504
Semester 1, 2013
Curtin University Sarawak campus

Stepping into the world of PR

Salutations to everyone,

My name is Fazar Ria Muneera and I’m in my final year of Mass Communications majoring in Public Relations stream in Curtin University, Miri. I’m currently doing my internship at Fleishman-Hillard, Kuala Lumpur (FHKL) since December 2012 and my I'm finishing very soon. I apologise for delaying my post.

PR Awards trophies won by Fleishman-Hillard Kuala Lumpur shown at the office entrance.

Before I start, let me introduce about FH and its office in Kuala Lumpur. Fleishman-Hillard is a strategic communication firm that was first based in St. Louis then the company grows and now has 80 offices around the globe. FH has expanded its office in Kuala Lumpur on 1999. FH is no stranger in public relations industry and I feel honoured to be given an opportunity to join the company.

My e-mail details given buy FHKL office manager, Shirleen Ooi.

On my first day, I was assigned to do a media monitoring for Volvo Trucks Malaysia. Its exactly like what we’ve done in PR 250 media clipping assignment. The difference is we don’t need to flip through the magazines and dailies that much as we have news and advertising monitoring agency to do it for us. However, we still need to do a cross check in case they left out with some of the news regarding with the company. I learnt something that never been taught in class, every releases has its own PR value which is thrice the advertising value (AD Value). The news that we need to monitor is not only on the company news but we need to monitor the competitor(s) as well as the industry itself. Every morning, I need to send a media monitoring report to respective account holders via e-mail together with the news clipping(s). I noticed that different client has their own preferences on news monitoring report format and we as the PR person of their company need to follow it. Thus, that's explained why PR assignments do not have specific format like other business units.

One of my challenge when doing a media monitoring is to summarise non-English dailies especially Chinese language dailies. Yes, I have to admit that although I speak Malay language at home with my family, I still have a bit of problem (ok, just a bit) translating Malay to English. Google translator is not being helpful but I’m glad I have another intern to help me out with Chinese translation. I guess it would be better for PR practitioner to know more than one language. It would be an advantage that can bring us further. My advice is, learn as much language as you can and embrace your own mother tongue. It's time to read and speak more.

Best of luck!

Regards,
Fazar Ria Muneera Bt. Safree Zainudin
7D5B3504/ 13761196
Semester 1, 2013
Curtin University, Miri Sarawak campus

Confessions of a PR Intern: So You Think You Can Do PR?

Hi everyone,

I’m guessing that with the report due tomorrow, most of you would have completed your internship. In that case, congrats! For most of us, it’s never an easy transition going from school to working full-time. I’m surprised I haven’t bailed! Just kidding.

I might have been relatively confident about my PR abilities while I was in school, but working alongside the pros all this while has made me realise that there are always bigger shoes to fill.  (It’s a slow climb up to the top, isn’t it?)

At the end of this journey, I guess it’s time for us to take a step back, evaluate our experience, and ask ourselves: Am I well suited to a career in PR? Is PR what I want to do? How did I do?

Okay, maybe I should slow this down. First - what skills does a PR practitioner even need? Here is my list:

1. Work under pressure

I’ve doubted my ability – ever so slightly – to survive in the fierce and unforgiving PR industry, especially in recent weeks where the stress of tight deadlines and never-ending work almost got to me.

So I’ve come to admire some of my colleagues who can handle anything – I mean, anything – under stress. The ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines – to me, that’s one skill I’d love to have.

2. Good writing and oral skills

Very standard – this is even in our Intern Appraisal Form. (By the way, did you peek?)

That said, of course no one will be expecting an intern or even a fresh graduate to write and speak like a pro. This is a skill that needs to be learnt and practised over time, which brings me to my next point…

3. Attitude

My previous point – that oral and writing skills can be practised – makes it easy for anyone without a PR degree and communications background to wiggle their way into the PR industry. Doctors, lawyers, indian-chiefs! Zzzz.

So I firmly believe that while all the PR theory and jargon we’ve learnt can help us excel in our PR careers, at the end of the day, our attitudes towards our work count for more. In my opinion, aside from being diligent and responsible, we should be quick to learn, and always curious. With the right attitude, I'm sure we'll find ourselves at the top one day.

4. Social skills

The ability to relate to people is an important skill to have in this industry. In the course of our work, we’ll have to meet people – media, clients, vendors... Networking is an important part of PR, fortunately or unfortunately.

You can take a look at this article here, too:

• “What qualities and traits do companies look for when hiring for PR positions?” by IPRS

So... Do you have what it takes? I’m not sure about myself, to be honest! But this internship has made me all the more determined to go out and conquer. I love PR, and despite the stress, I love my job. For one thing, I know for sure I won’t be switching careers anytime soon... What about you? :)

Got your own list? Shout out in comments!

Cheers,
Cheryl

15062105 / Curtin Singapore

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> To learn more on how I ended up at FH, see "Confessions of a PR Intern: Just Getting Started!"
> Some lessons you just can't learn in school. See "Confessions of a PR Intern: What School Doesn't Teach You"
(Opens in a new window.)

> Mistakes, mistakes. What happens next? See "Confessions of a PR Intern: Oops! I Did It Again"

Confessions of a PR Intern: Oops! I did it again

Hi everyone,

If you are an intern like me and relatively new to the “real PR world”, I expect you’d have made some mistakes in the course of your work by now. That’s normal and part of the process of learning.  

In fact, I think if you went your whole internship – which in my case is 19 weeks – without making a single mistake, while submitting flawless, well-written, content perfect reports and press releases, your bosses would be falling over themselves in a rush to get your signature on the perm staff list. Wouldn’t that be fun to watch? I wish.

It’s not just interns who make mistakes, too. A colleague told me the learning curve is steepest when you first do something new – the transition from school to your first work internship, a mid-life career change, an inter-company department swap, et cetera. And along with that steep learning curve comes the mistakes. It’s like a 2-for-1 package deal.

An intern friend of mine also shared something that I thought made sense, too. It’s not always your fault when you get something done wrong. Maybe you weren’t briefed properly, maybe you needed more guidance, or maybe, more time. It can be really frustrating for both parties when one doesn’t get the other.

I’ve had days where I feel pretty dumb for messing up and wish I had the guts to kick myself in the shin. But after a couple of breaths, it also helps to know that won’t do much for the situation except to leave an ugly bruise on my leg.

So… I’ve established that everyone – and I mean, even Donald Trump – makes mistakes. The question is, how serious was the mistake? Was it an honest mistake or could you have avoided it? And, what did you do after you’d realised your big boo-boo?

My dilemma

Within my first two weeks at FH, I’d made my first mistake, and it was a pretty serious one. Also no one else’s fault but mine.

I spelt the brand name of a client wrong. That spelling error was splattered throughout a pitch e-mail that went out to a journalist.

Media. I know. (Buzzer goes off; fade in music; cue horrified looks from audience.)

Just penning this whole episode now – three months later – still makes me cringe.

How did I find out? I was sitting in a meeting for that account, and finally took my first long, hard look at the company logo. I remember thinking, “Something doesn’t look right here. Is it supposed to be spelt like that?” Three seconds later, “Oh, %&#@! Oh no, oh no, oh no.”

As soon as that meeting was over, I rushed out of the room, face pale. Checked my ‘Sent Items’ folder on e-mail – ta-dah! There it was! My glaring error plastered all over the pitch note.

The whole team was copied on that e-mail, but no one had realised it yet. My immediate dilemma was if I should tell someone so they could rectify the error. Obviously, I’d considered that in doing so, they might also reach for my neck and the nearest penknife.

Do I tell them? Admit to it, run away and never come back? Do I hide? Where do I hide? Who do I tell? When? Have I even completed 21 days here?!

It seemed like a long time to me, but I made my decision within the next five minutes. I told the two Account Managers on the team and apologised. Their reaction surprised me, actually.

One: They left my neck intact. Two: After the initial shock, they laughed and said they’d both read through the e-mail, thought I’d done a good job writing it, and never realised the error. Whoa. Of course, they also told me to be careful, but that’s to be expected.

My point is: I felt that the whole incident was an ethical and moral dilemma for me because I knew it wasn’t a mistake small enough to be overlooked. And in my mind, the incident could have been bad if the journalist had copy-pasted my e-mail into his story. I don't know. I can be pretty imaginative.

But it was a wake-up call to me to not take my awesome spelling skills for granted and check next time instead of assuming I’d be right. Complacence, you see.

At school, we learn the basic Code of Conduct for journalists and PR practitioners - being honest and truthful when telling a story, acting in the best interest of our company and our clients, respecting privacy rights, declaring a conflict-of-interest, et cetera. While this dilemma of mine involved none of the above (thank god), the act of owning up to my mistake wasn't an easy thing to do too.

An internship teaches you more than just work skills. Along the way, if you’ve got the willingness to learn from your mistakes, you might also pick up some life lessons.

For me, I was impressed with the way the two Account Managers handled things. They accepted that it was sent, that nothing could be done further, and they dropped the matter quickly. It’s one of the things I love about FH – the open, comfortable working culture helps that I’m not afraid to ask questions and own up to mistakes. I think that’s an important trait to remember when we become supervisors ourselves and have to manage a team.

Here are some articles by the experts, for your reading pleasure:

• “You’ve made a mistake. Now what?” by Amy Gallo

• “10 things you should do if you made a big mistake” by Calvin Sun

• “Owning up to my corrections” by Randy Cohen

Got a "Oops! I did it again" moment? I'd love to hear about the mistake and how your colleagues reacted. What did you do in the end?

Till the next time, cheers!

Cheryl 

15062105 / Curtin Singapore

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Still don't know the Code of Conduct for PR practitioners? No worries! See, PRIA's Code of Ethics here.

> To learn more on how I ended up at FH, see "Confessions of a PR Intern: Just Getting Started!"
> Some lessons you just can't learn in school. See "Confessions of a PR Intern: What School Doesn't Teach You"
(Opens in a new window.)

Confessions of a PR Intern: What School Doesn't Teach You

Hi everyone,

I’m into the 15^th week of my internship! I do think I’ve accomplished quite a bit in such a short time. Without a doubt, the practical assignments I’ve done for school has helped me cope with the transition from school to work so easily. This is why I was drawn to choosing Curtin in the first place – I think hands-on experience beats 100% theory tests hands down.

Of course, no amount of school assignments will prepare you for the real world! What goes on in the “real PR world” has to be experienced, not taught. So I thought for today’s post I’d share the little things our PR classes have left out.

Again, to emphasize: It’s not the fault of our PR teachers and UCs. Our syllabus is probably already pretty comprehensive. The below pointers are really just realisations that hit me through the course of this internship.

Numero Uno

What they teach you in school: Small, impractical ideas can get you As

Keyword: Can.

School lets you get away with too much. My awesome team mates (and also BFFs – shoutout to Dawn, Lisa and Xin Ying!) and I have rushed PR reports out the night before, and still manage to sneak away with a HD. How?! No idea, really.

I imagine our report was alright. Practical and workable ideas, so content wise, I would think it was not too bad. Grammar, formatting, punctuations – probably all in place. Appendixes – included. It was also nicely stapled and bound… Like I said, it was alright.

Looking back though, I have to say we were lacking in one major factor that would have killed us if we were an actual agency pitching for a new client.

Our proposals lacked The Big Idea.

From the start, our PR classes have taught us the difference between “strategies” and “tactics”, also the difference between “goals” and “objectives”. Still, it might be difficult for a PR student, or anyone inexperienced for that matter, to properly grasp the concept.

While we had a strategy, it probably wasn’t concrete enough. And we tended to jump straight to the tactics – it’s more fun to write about carnivals, social media campaigns, et cetera (the small details, basically), than to think of a solid direction of your proposal.

What they don’t tell you: The pros brainstorm on the big idea for two hours

My first ‘Brainstorm Meeting’ at Fleishman-Hillard lasted two hours. Two hours, more than a hundred minutes, discussing nothing else but The Big Idea. I think we took less than 10 minutes to decide on our strategy at school – it was like, “Are we all okay on this? Awesome, let’s go for lunch.” Hmmm.

For the benefit of those that have never sat through a Brainstorm Meeting before, you go in armed with research. Competitive scans, interesting case studies, and what have you.

And then, the pros discuss the issues and tackle it head-first like a raging bull. At least, this is what happens at FH. The other agencies should probably get out of the way. #justsaying

Numero Dos

What they teach you in school: How to prepare for a press event

Preparing for a press event obviously takes a lot of time and effort. As students, we’ve all been warned, haven’t we? Everything that can possibly go wrong, will go wrong; prepare for the worst – preparing to fail if you’re not prepared, blah blah blah.

In class, we’re taught: Press events are held for product launches, an important announcement, as part of crisis management… We’re also taught other fundamental information too – that PR practitioners give out press kits, door gifts, et cetera. In my head, I imagine a glamorous event with media flocking to interview spokespeople, cameras clicking; the event starts and end off with a big bang. Awesome!

What could possibly go wrong? Mic doesn’t work. Someone falls unglamorously while walking up. The food gets delivered late. The spokesperson fumbles through his speech.

All of that can be prevented by being prepared. Right?

It almost sounds easy.

What they don’t tell you: Good luck getting media to just RSVP

What we all know, but possibly never have a chance to feel it till we work on one is that, it’s exhausting and annoying. The sheer amount of effort that goes into planning and organising an event alone is massive. Every last detail has to be looked at, pffft!

When the media invite is drafted, finalised and sent out at last, you wait. And then, you wait some more. Six days before the event, when no one has RSVPed, you scramble and you start stressing because media attendance makes all the difference between it being a success or a complete failure.

I was thrown to help on that account that faced such a problem. For a few days, it was making calls to journalists, following up with e-mails, then calling them again. And again. And again.

I think I can remember their phone numbers by heart.

We were so far from meeting our KPI of 12 journalists attending that everyone on the team was scrambling. It was top priority for a while, and the team held constant meetings for call down updates – morning, afternoon, end of day. Zzzzz.

You can try your best to pitch your event to them, and tell them why your event is different from the other 1,765 things happening that afternoon, but the choice to attend it is still theirs alone (or their editors).

Yup… Good luck! :)

Numero Tres

What they teach you in school: Press kits are a superb idea

Press kits. The pre-packaged set of promotional materials compiled by an organisation and given to media so they additional information for their story. Usually this includes a press release, fact sheets, backgrounders, profiles of spokespeople, panelists, or the management team. Sometimes, they even include a CD with a soft copy of all the media materials that’s already in the folder.

It’s the basic tool for any PR practitioner, as we’ve learnt in class.

What they don’t tell you: Compiling 100 of them - #pleasejustkillmenow

I stayed till 1am on Monday compiling press kits for the Philips Asia Media Summit 2012, which involved journalists from all over Asia attending seminars and product carousels in Singapore over two days. Basically, it is a large event that is held annually and involves all of Philips’ business units: Consumer Lifestyle, Lighting and Healthcare.

Building a fortress around my table in preparation for the
Philips Asia Media Summit 2012 Healthcare Seminar.
Not very fire-proof, unfortunately.

I also stayed till 10:30pm yesterday to pack press kits for a product launch. Just know that 25 kits alone took close to 4 hours. 4 hours! Wow.

The printer ran for hours, printing sheet after sheet of paper. My colleague finally figured how to make the printer staple the document for me so I don't have to. Someone from Finance came over and wondered why the one-page document she printed 15 minutes ago was not out yet. The printer's toner waste cartridge - I know right, what the hell is that?! - demanded to be changed when there were 20 pages left to be printed... Life.

Time really flies when you’re packing. But knee-deep in paper, it’s not that difficult to start thinking, “Oh god, death might be a better option”. Also, “How many trees have I just killed?”

Some work-in-progress pictures:

The remains of 3,456 trees.

All that paper goes in here. Neatly.

(I really think I don't take enough pictures.)

To end, the hours can be really long sometimes, and I miss how being a full-time student gave me time to pursue my other interests, like Yoga. It can be pretty stressful too, but at the end of the day, I'm glad I've had a chance to be involved in so many activities... It's valuable experience you can't learn in class.

Hope your internship has been as fulfilling as mine!

Is there something else that you learnt in your internship but never had the chance to learn in PR class? Shout out in the comments below! :)

Cheers,

Cheryl

15062105 / Curtin Singapore

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> For my first post "Confessions of a PR Intern: Just Getting Started!", click here. (Opens in a new window.)

Confessions of a PR Intern: Just Getting Started!

Hi everyone,

I hope you’ve been enjoying a fulfilling and fun-filled internship!

I’m Cheryl, currently a final-year student at Curtin Singapore studying for a BA in Marketing and Public Relations.

I’ve been at Fleishman-Hillard Singapore for about 14 weeks now, and I must say, time really flies! For those who haven’t heard of FH before, the agency is one of the best in the industry globally (a word of caution: I might be biased!).

Fleishman-Hillard International Communications, based in St. Louis, Missouri, has a network of 80 offices worldwide. FH is under Omnicom Group, a holding company that also manages numerous other agencies – Porter Novelli being one of them. The agency’s capabilities stretch across multiple areas of PR; including, branding, web management, CSR, crisis management, media relations, et cetera.

At FH, the emphasis is on “old-fashioned client-comes-first” customer service, creative solutions, relationship management and hiring the best talents. Since I’ve been in the agency, I’ve seen how committed everyone is to delivering their best for our clients, even if this means keeping insanely late nights. Pretty inspiring, I have to say.

Before I jump in and share more about what I do, I’d like to share my story on how I ended up at FH.

I’d already worked for a small, local PR start-up before commencing my studies at Curtin Singapore and was quite insistent on not going down that route this time. I wanted the challenge of working at a reputable agency, and I knew getting in to one was not going to be easy.

It started with a quick search on Google for internship opportunities in Singapore. I found one from FH almost immediately, calling for interns. Bonus - strong command in Mandarin not needed. Of course I jumped on the chance!

Here, I thank PR220 for teaching us how to prepare for job applications – résumé, cover letter, a decent passport photo, gathering whatever assignments I thought showed my writing capability… I think I stressed myself (and my friends) with the somewhat-massive list of things to do.

I sent that first and only internship application to FH. It must’ve been God’s grace that they called back almost immediately. Within two weeks - post-interview and writing test - I was offered my 19-week internship with the Technology team at FH!

My job scope involves me supporting the various accounts I’m on – Philips Consumer Lifestyle, Philips Lighting, Philips Lighting Digital, MSIG, TLL – though also helping out with new business proposals and pitches, research, compilation, et cetera.

What’s really exciting to me is the many facets of PR – being on five accounts isn’t quite as boring when the expectations and requirements of each is different.

For example, supporting the Philips Consumer Lifestyle account gives me a glimpse into product branding and promotion; MSIG lets me practice first-hand what I’d learnt in PR360 – internal communications and employee management; and being placed on the Philips Lighting Digital team has proven to be a great chance to learn about a very ‘hot’ area in PR – social media, web and community management.

Tasks I’ve been involved in so far include editorial pitching, editorial development, research, organising media drops, compiling monthly reports and daily monitoring and posting on social media pages… Are you thinking there’s something very common not in that list? Yes, I’ve been one of the few lucky lucky lucky interns not tasked to do media monitoring – three cheers, hip hip hurrah! :)

I’ll share more about my time at FH, and what I've learnt through this internship in a bit. If you have any questions or would like to suggest a topic you’d like me to touch upon in my next blog post, shout out in the comments below! I love fan mail. :)

Have a great week ahead!

Cheers,
Cheryl

15062105 / Curtin Singapore