The Search for The One

Credit: Anna Ginsburg (http://annaginsburg.tumblr.com/)

People often say applying for an internship is difficult, however I found the search for the type of internship the hardest part. In my first blog post, I wanted to share my experience with the processes involved in finding the right internship.

After interning around town and figuring out what I don’t want to be doing after graduation, the search for the industry I wanted to try next was proving a very hard task. With a PR degree there are so many options! From media advising in politics, to events management in fashion, and strategic planning for the government – the possibilities are endless.

The great thing about interning is that you can try out different fields (with little risk) and see where your interests lie.

After months of consideration (and probably procrastination and some help from this Tedx Talk), a couple of days before semester started I decided on the arts for my industry placement, and narrowed it down to performing arts. It gave me a lot more motivation once I figured out what I truly wanted to pursue.

I researched a little online, but figured that I wanted to work at an organisation that is less well-known in Perth.

With my interest in contemporary dance and the not-for-profit sector, I called up my organisation and asked whether they took on interns (knowing that an admin person usually answers and the standard response is “email us your CV”). In the email that went along with my CV, I pitched myself in a brief summary of my skills and exactly what I wanted from an internship with them, and didn’t beat around the bush.

I think a good tip is to research an organisation and kind of figure out what area they are potentially lacking in, and try and sell yourself for a position that would help with that, as they’ve probably realised they need help in that area too.

Anyway, discussing my role with the executive director was really interesting and has shown me that a lot of people see PR and marketing as the same thing (Maybe I should have shown him this) . It was good to clearly talk about my role beforehand and confirm exactly what I can bring to the organisation, what they can do for me and projects I would be working on within the PR department.  

Maybe you had a completely different process of going about finding your internship? Let me know in the comments! This is just some food for thought for future PR industry placement students, which I hope is helpful for the initial stages of finding somewhere to get experience.

Tl;dr: Don’t be discouraged if you don’t exactly know where you want to go, take time to figure out what interests you, research the industry and pitch yourself.  

- Aimee

Looking within and beyond!

Internal communications is of upmost importance during a time of change within an organisation; effective communication at all levels ensures employees are familiar with organisational strategic imperatives and that they have the information required to perform effectively in their roles in support of these changes.

In the beginning of the year, the Australian arm that operated international denim brand G-Star Raw known as Denim Enterprises (DE) entered voluntary administration. Across Australia, DE operated 21 mono brand stores and had approximately 200 staff within their business. Although stores functioned as per usual, on an internal level there was apparent disruption in communication during the handover to the administrators, and subsequently to new partners.

However by providing constant communication to the employees during the administration through the use of formal tools such as 'RAW news', the company's weekly newsletter, and top down communication from state managers to part-time associates, a sense of community was formed and more than 80% of the employees stayed on. In the next couple of months, G-Star Raw acted upon the change and took it upon themselves to continue to operate the Australian stores; similarly G-Star approached Denim HQ (the company I work for) to run the WA stores. To sustain the change and continue building relationships with its employees by encouraging a sense of community, they recently conducted the first of a series of training nights around the country. During my last days as an intern with DHQ, I was fortunate enough to attend one of these trainings and witness how the company has managed the change through communication points.

These points were:

1. Background of G-Star Raw in Australia and changes during administration
2. New operational teams and points of contacts
3. Communication points to convey to customers
4. PR and media campaigns
5. New products
6. Q & A

Denim HQ training night with G-Star representatives

Therefore it is with great sadness that my time as an intern with DHQ has come to an end, however nonetheless I am grateful for all that I have learned with this start-up company and incredible brand. Until next time! 

Kim 

Publicity for Perth International Jazz Festival and STYLEAID 2015

Throughout the past semester I have been undertaking two internships - one at Magnetize, the online marketing company in Subiaco, and one at Muse Bureau, a Public Relations consultancy based in Mount Lawley.  These have led to me partaking in very different roles as time passes, and in doing so I’ve realised that I find the umbrella of public relations very enjoyable and definitely what I hope to be involved in with my career.

Muse Bureau handles the public relations accounts for some major events in Perth coming up, like the Perth International Jazz Festival 2015.  I have been working on the publicity for this with my supervisor Megan Knox, and part of my work on this involves contacting various media outlets and pitching the event, then finding out if they would be interested in a feature on the festival or even an interview with any of the artists on the bill.  I have then liaised with the artists themselves, and been able to organise the interviews at all levels - location, date, time etc.  

I have enjoyed this work because of the interaction, both via email and telephone, with the various names in the industry, including features writers for The West Australian and Community Newspaper Group, and also talented musicians and the artistic director of the entire event, Graham Wood.  It was then very pleasing and exciting when the May edition of OUT In Perth (Perth’s queer community paper) published an interview that I had arranged with the artist and editor!  I love when tasks you have been working on for a long time come to fruition.  It is an incredibly rewarding feeling of success - so I can’t wait to be further involved with even bigger accounts.  See media clipping below.

Muse Bureau handles the public relations for STYLEAID 2015, which got onto the front page of the West Weekend magazine with a headline on the front page of The Weekend West and a double page spread inside the magazine.  As this is a charity event raising money for the West Australian AIDS Council, this sort of publicity is great for the cause, and I will be involved in calculating the publicity values of the coverage the event receives. 

I still find myself writing little scripts for the first couple of times I make phone calls, which I find makes me more confident and at ease - this is a simple thing to do but it makes my life so much easier!  Does anyone have another trick up their sleeve that helps them in their interning?  

Not long to go in the semester - keep your heads up!

Laura

Interning at Fremantle Press- Reflective Blog Post 1

Hey everyone ... first blog post!

As luck would have it, I was just beginning to look for an internship when I got a message from an old uni friend asking if I was in need of one. She was leaving her role at Fremantle Press, a book publishing company where she started as an intern and then worked part time from there. A few email exchanges later and an interview with Claire, the Marketing and Communications Manager, the role was mine. Yay!

Situated in beautiful Quarry St in Freo, Fremantle Press is a small non-for-profit company that publishes Western Australian books. When going for my interview, I was curious as to what the position would actually be. Sending out books to people? Reading? Even though I am in my final year at university, my scope of what jobs are out there for my degree is somewhat limited. A marketing role in this kind of organisation ...? I wasn't sure that even existed. And oh how I was wrong!

My first day involved Kate (who got me the position) running me through as much as she could before I started the following week (my trial day was her last day). Sitting down at a computer, we went through hundreds of folders on the computer, and I was steadily filling up my little yellow notebook aka work bible to remind myself of where to find things that I would be accessing. By the end of the day, it looked as though a four year old had written throughout, reading something like this.

"HOW TO SAVE MEDIA DOCS:
Resources > 2015 Titles > Book Name > Logs > Reviews > March 2015 > Newspaper Title > "

Easy right? And thats just to save a particular file ... for a particular book ... in that particular month.


It hasn't just been computer-based work either! In the time I have been at Fremantle Press, there has been a book launch and an awards night. Some of my tasks have included calling catering companies to organise food for the book launch, sending out bookmarks to schools and libraries, emailing schools and answering enquiries, writing e-newsletter stories, contacting and interviewing authors, contacting journalists and pitching news stories ... and this was on my first official day!

The book launch we had was for Alan Carter's new crime novel, Bad Seed, at New Edition bookshop in Fremantle. Claire asked me to take the reigns and run the event that night, which was really exciting. Picking up the food and heading down to High St, I was greeted by Allan who owns the shop. Together we set up the store, and before long the store was filled with over 120 guests.
The night was a great success, with close to 100 books sold and signed that evening alone.

I have been thrown in the deep end and it's been fantastic. Claire has been great to me, helping me to settle in and answering the 101 questions I throw at her each week whilst simultaneously juggling her 101 jobs.
I feel as though I have been given a fair amount of responsibility, and am not doing the typical filing/coffee runs/errands that I was afraid I may be lumped with when I was thinking the words 'intern'. Having the title as a Marketing and Communications Assistant and being introduced as this when meeting people is really rewarding, and although it has only been a few weeks I am settling in really well.

 Some happy customers with their signed copies of Alan Carter's crime novel, Bad Seed.

New Edition Bookshop, where the Book launch for Alan Carter's new crime novel was held.





Next up is the Hungerford Awards, which I cant wait to write about in my upcoming blog!

Stay tuned and thanks for reading!


Anouka

Welcome to the first day of the rest of your (working) life

Day one. Let me set the scene for you. It’s 8.40am. I’m sat in the communications office room at the Pawsey Supercomputing Centre. My boss walks into the office with the greeting of “Good morning Kids!” to my second supervising boss and myself. This is the beginning of what I feel like will turn into a nostalgic tradition. I was not wrong.

He sits down at his desk, turns on the desktop computer, swivels his chair around to face me, and asks the second most profound question of the day “So, why are you here?” My reply consisted of something along the lines of  “To watch, to listen, to learn. I know I can write well, but I know nothing about science and supercomputing. This placement will teach me how to write about topics I previously knew nothing about. It will push my boundaries from the word go.”

Now, I’m not going to lie to you, I was rather impressed at my spontaneous response, which was the truth, but not something I had actively considered, no doubt because it scares me half to death. But then again, nothing worth doing is ever going to be easy.

My task for day one consisted of researching and writing an article for Science Network WA entitled “What is big data?” I’m not sure how many of you are familiar with the concept of big data, but I challenge you to do your research and compose a succinct definition that is both understandable for the less scientifically literate reader, yet comprehensive enough to satisfy specialising scientists and journalists.

The only comparative analogy I can give you to demonstrate the difficulty of this task, especially since I haven’t practised journalism since the first year of my degree, is the act of attempting to describe what an orange looks like to someone that has never seen one before. Here you can see the point at which I realise that I am barely doggy paddling through the deep end that I previously referred to as “pushing my boundaries”.

After expressing my struggle to my boss, he explained that you have two choices. He said you can either choose write a piece that dances over the topic and ticks the boxes, or you can get down to the in-depth explanation into what makes big data big. And with the help of some hand-drawn umbrella diagrams, he asked me “which approach do you want to take?” That was the most profound question of the day, because right there and then it made me question what kind of writer, and by extension public communicator, do I want to be? Well, I think I’ll have to get back to you with an answer at then end of day 20.

Both my bosses appear to be hilarious, welcoming, abrupt, kind, real, open, honest and intelligent. They hold the level of intellect towards communications that I dream of possessing. I know that I will learn more from them over the next 19 days than any unit could teach, and despite the doggy paddling, I also know that I will enjoy the next few months more than I could have thought possible.

Six things to do in your internship

Professional Practice 393 has been the most rewarding unit I have done at university. The placement with Corporate Sports Australia has been the highlight of my time at university. I’d like to thank all of the girls at CSA for guiding me and allowing me to give everything a go. We got on so well that I was even offered a job with CSA!

So as I graduate and head out into the workplace I would like to wrap up the six things that I think are essential in trying to prove your worth and for getting as much out of your internship as you can.

Jump at opportunities

When someone asks you to do something, even if it is out of your comfort zone, then get out there and do it! It is all experience and you only move forward.

Know how to write

...Press releases, email pitches, website and blog content. If there’s one thing in PR that you need to memorize it’s the structure and layout for a press release.

Pick up a phone

You need to be a good people person – it’s all about building relationships with people. Because at the end of the day it will be a person who decides whether their company is going to sponsor your event, or run your story, or give you a cheaper price for a job.

Get creative

Punchy headlines, cool designs and different unique ideas will get you noticed.

Be time efficient

Set deadlines for each task and get them done pronto! Every minute counts – don’t be one of those people who waste time on their phone or Facebook during work – not appropriate!

Have Fun

Be enthusiastic, friendly and have fun with everything!

Good luck to everyone with your final reports and best wishes to those about to start your internships!

Steph Price

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Things aren't always Rosy!

Along with all the great achievements you do for companies or events in PR, there will be days where things go wrong and you might have to cop a bit of abuse from people. I think it is important to be exposed to this now so you are better equipped to handle it when it is your responsibility to do so.

The second event at Corporate Sports Australia that I have been working on during my internship - Perth Garden Festival - was last weekend. The event has had a overhaul and been spruced up since last year. The first thing to note: people do not like change. So there was a bit of backlash against the this change and in turn a lot of complaining visitors!

When working in events you are dealing with an extremely large mass of people, where you cannot ensure each and every person has the best possible experience at your event - as much as you would like too - it just isn't humanly possible when such a small team are putting the event together.

I admired the poise in which my mentors at Corporate Sports Australia managed the complaints, hearing everybody out. This can be very mentally taxing having people shout at you for something that is not solely your fault.

I feel I am going to be able to handle situations very well now that I have experienced it in my internship before full-time employment.

What I learnt

• Preparation is key


Always have your back covered by preparing for a crisis before it happens. The girls the office have template press releases set up for the worst possible outcomes you could imagine for events in order to make sure a response is given quickly if something goes wrong.

• Nip the problem in the bud before it gathers momentum


When there are complaints, it is important to speak to the unhappy people and resolve the issue before they go to social media to voice themselves. When negative comments are posted on the Facebook page responses are written up for each possible issue (i.e. parking complaints, ticketing, etc). All of the responses at the very least include thanking the complainant for their feedback and then telling them how you are going to rectify the problem. 

• Have a thick skin 


People like to let their anger out on someone - that someone might be you - do not take it personally, you are just a face. Once people have vented they feel better, once they have felt they have been heard and acknowledged. Just by hearing them out you are diffusing the situation. Talk to them as a human-being!

But along with the bad you have to remember all the positives, good feedback and happy visitors!

Top left - floristry workshops, Top right - Peppa Pig show, Bottom right - me and a crazy lady on The Project!

I feel so much better equipped to handle crisis situations in the future after being exposed to it now in my internship. Try to get involved in the not so nice tasks now so that its easier in the future.


Steph
Events Assistant
Corporate Sports Australia

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You never know what you'll be doing next working in PR!

I have been at my internship for a few weeks now and the first event - Bupa Bike Hike for Asthma - is finally here for Corporate Sports Australia.

A great thing about working in the PR and Events industry is that you are not sat at a desk day in day out, you get to go out on site and do exciting, unexpected things. And this is definitely what happened to me!

Two days until event

With two days to go until the event we ran a collection point at Langley Park where participants would come and collect their ride number and official ride shirt.

After being on the help desk all day helping participants who had lost their e-ticket or wanted to make a last minute registration, Sarah - our Marketing and PR manager - called me over, “Steph you’re going to be in our segment on The Project Metro WhipAround!" With nervousness and excitement I went along, pulled on a Jetts Fitness shirt (one of our sponsors), jumped on a exercise bike and pedaled behind our presenter 92.9fm’s ‘Hot Ross’ as the Channel Ten TV camera was set in place. 

After a few practice runs the 30-second live segment was filmed and over in a flash.

But I can now say I have had my fifteen minutes 30 seconds of fame on TV! I have been exposed to so much I would never have been able to without this internship.

Event day

The Bupa Bike Hike for Asthma ran on the 23^rd March and was an absolute success with almost 8000 people riding in the event. Csports pulled off a successful closure of all the roads and a very successful finishing festival in Langley Park.

Bupa Bike Hike for Asthma finishers.

On the day I helped run the Bakers Delight Breakfast Marquee where riders could come and have a delicious cooked breakfast after the ride.

Throughout the day It is so amazing to see every little individual thing we had been doing in the office come together to make such a massive event run with out a hitch.

It was a huge task for Corporate Sports to ensure all the operations ran smoothly with the closure of the Kwinana Freeway and making sure Perth people were well informed to avoid chaos on the roads!

So as the last few riders left Langley Park and the event team congregated in the breakfast marquee to pick at the food that what was left, we here a voice “So, where are we at with Perth Garden Festival?” from Csport's Event Director.

The team has to now refocus their attention to the next event with less than a week to go until the Perth Garden Festival!

Steph Price

Events Assistant 

Corporate Sports Australia

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Inevitably Grey

Last post
What I did for the week:

1. Competitive analysis for client Lasalle
2. Deliver the Sacoor Brothers' pin for ambassadors: The client wanted the ambassadors to wear the brand's pin on its clothing but things cropped up. Hence, the manager made a quick decision to deliver it manually without troubling the shop assistant. 
3. Transcript focus group responses for client Ferrero Rocher
4. Edited Harry's Bar PR proposal
5. Prepare QATAR Airways' PR presentation slides to be presented before the client
6. Sat through internal meetings with different departments and CEOs to discuss what can be done for QATAR Airways and Pind Balluchi
7. Construct a mindmap for Tanzania to allow a better understanding before coming out with PR strategy for client
8. Meet up with fashion stylists, actors, brand ambassadors, fashion bloggers and fashion magazine editors 

What I'd learnt:

• Competitive analysis are often done before PR ideas could be formed. Hence, it is not just for marketing purposes. 
• Some of the competitors need more publicity to be done because the brand awareness is poor. 
• Public Relations practitioners need to be spontaneous, take initiative and always have stakeholders in mind.
• Perfect is never perfect so editing is common.
• Sitting through meetings are not just about witnessing the entire communication and execution process. Speak up when needed. 
• The CEOs also lead the team by being involved in sharing of ideas and not just demand what they want. <- Good attribute
  

Keeping this short because I’d like to talk about handling office politics.

Politics is everywhere.

There will always be people who like and dislike you even if it is for some reasons you do not know or because you are close to people they do not fancy.

But whatever.

The key is to ignore. Do not confront unless it is necessary. 

In public relations, we learn about handling issues before it turns into crisis. 

Gossips are like issues except that sometimes that issue is not with you.

“So, you’re telling me that I can’t be too close to some people in the office?”

“So, you’re telling me I fancy someone just because we are seen discussing about work o having lunch together?”

Ridiculous as it sounds but yes.

Be who you are, true to yourself and ignore the rest. 

Alike media, they are giving you publicity be it good or bad. 

Remember, "Any form of publicity is publicity itself". 

Don't be depressed. Tell yourself that they just want your attention or are just unhappy how you managed to gain liking from others.

My suggestion will be for them to look into their issues and manage it before it turns into crisis.

My thank you speech:

I am really grateful to have a manager that I can click with and given me plenty of opportunities. 

Our crazy self makes it easier for us to get along. 

Everyone craves for acceptance and we are all unique in our own ways. Therefore, I am glad that some people accept me for me. 

Throughout the months working, I'm thankful that I didn't leave Grey when I initially had nobody to report to. Many people suggested leaving because it did not allow me to fulfill my internship requirements. If I'd left, I wouldn't have met wonderful people who brighten up my internship days, be it an intern in the office, a cleaner, a production lady, a manager, account executives, account planners, receptionist or the creative head. The creative agency also allows me to further embrace my craziness and bring out a stronger me. 

I'm grateful for every opportunity I was given no matter how tough and time-consuming some of the tasks may be. I see it as a learning point and am genuinely appreciative. 

I guess the month of March tested my perseverance and patience in staying on and believing that miracles will happen. I was promised a manager in June but thankfully, my PR manager came in April. It was impromptu decision by the CEO. 

Everything is wonderful. Once again, I am thankful towards my colleagues who made my internship a really fruitful journey. If it were not because my manager is leaving, I'd have considered going back.

Thank you Grey Singapore for the employee welfare and chance to know lovely people. 

To mark the end of this journey, I shall share my internship motto:

"What has to be done needs to be done, regardless circumstances"