2010

Happy New Year

and all that. It’s the second week of the year and my fifth week in Esente Communications. Here I was hoping that the New Year 2010 would be ushered in with something special for us and for me in relation to the working environment, but no – the workload of the first week was already a burden for me to bear. As usual, I do media monitoring, research and some administrative work here and there, not forgetting the media calls.

I don’t know why, but this wasn’t the field of PR that I was acquainted with. I had my impressions, I had my expectations. Back in university we had constant guidance; no one ever left us alone, even if we had done things the wrong way. And we still learned to do it the right way, we were given precise explanations. The working world, on the other hand, is a dog-eat-dog world. People are ready to justify themselves and deny their liability because they have been there for a long time, before we interns ever came in. Miscommunication abounds, and if you lack the alertness and the ability to cope with working life, the blame will be put on you. And for all this, they call it public relations for Pete’s sake.

Nobody is perfect

, no one will ever be. As interns, we’re here to learn and we make a lot of mistakes (aren’t we all meant to do so?). This is our first working environment and from what I’ve heard and been told, there will be a lot of guidance, support, fun. Pfffffffff, I don’t see it.

What duties are a PR professional responsible for?

Since starting my placement I have seen my boss  asked by people across all parts of the organisation to write up statements and organise things for them. Which has made me wonder in regard to in house public relations, what exactly are the duties of PR professional and when is alright to say no? 

Is it the duty of PR to write up marketing strategies and any other forms of letters on behalf of the marketing and internet communications team? 

I don't know the answer to this but it seems that it's as hard to define Public Relations as it is to define the duties of the job itself. 

I have never thought about the ambiguity of PR but I have seen my boss complete many tasks that I would never even dreamed of having to do in PR. These tasks seem unnecessary and can at times impinge on other more important tasks that need completing but they do come under the PR umbrella such as writing emails on behalf of the CEO and writing up statements for the marketing team as well as proposals in unrelated departments.  

Can you say no to these tasks or do you complete them given that they are communications driven? And if you were to say no, then who completes them?

-Liz