Next stop...modelling career

Once you know the symbol for Programmed you see it everywhere you go. You see it on cars, on the shirts of tradesmem, but most of all on the guernseys of Fremantle Dockers football players. As a major Freo sponsor, Programmed appears on pretty much anything Dockers related. 

Pav rocks the green symbol

 In April I was lucky enough to be part of a photo shoot with some players.  Not only did I assist the photographer with taking photos and video for a new campaign, but I was asked to be a model alongside some well-known faces.The shots, which include players like Chris Mayne and Luke McPharlin, will appear in the next Dockers membership newsletter.

The Freo and Programmed team huddle

Unlike my coworker Brett (an avid Freo fan), I was able to keep my cool around the players. In the PR profession you are likely to come across people you admire. This experience made me realise the importance of maintaining a professional demeanour at all times. After all,  everyone is there to get a job done.

Recognise these blow-up anchors (below)? Every major Dockers sponsor gets one match per season to advertise their organisation. Every year on their day Programmed volunteers blow up over 15,000 anchors and hand them out to fans before the game. At half time the crowd is asked to wave their anchors in the air and the Programmed chief director walks out on to the oval and chooses a lucky fan to win a prize. 

Freo fans with their Programmed anchors

It all sounds like fun and games, but with my supervisor being the only communications employee based in Perth, there is a lot to do. The next few weeks will involve a lot of preparation, including trying to find 50 volunteers for the day. Busy busy busy!

Get with the Program(med)

I spent the second half of 2014 as an exchange student in England, frolicking in the snow and sashaying across to Europe on the weekends. As you can imagine, getting an internship was the last thing on my mind during this time. When I arrived back in Perth, just weeks before the start of semester one, I suddenly realised that I needed to get moving.  After a frantic search I landed a placement at Programmed.

If you have no idea what Programmed is then never fear, I still wasn’t sure even after my first week working there. Basically, Programmed is a recruitment company that employs staff and tradespeople across a range of industries, predominantly in resources and property and infrastructure. 

 The Programmed logo

Across Australia and New Zealand, over 10,000 people work for Programmed on a daily basis. They have offices all over but their head office is in Perth, where I have been working. My supervisor, Kate, is the only Communications employee based in Perth, so she has a lot to do. Programmed is also a major sponsor of the Fremantle Dockers, so a lot of the work she does revolves around this.

In assisting her, my roles have included writing articles for the quarterly newsletter and intranet, organising corporate dinner events, producing website content for the renovated website and organising sponsorship events and competitions. 

To be honest, when I first started I thought working here might be a bit dull. So many blog posts tell of internships at exciting music festivals, in the fashion industry or at big events. However, there's so much diversity in the jobs I do and I've learnt so much about writing and sponsorship already.

Although it’s no match for gallivanting around Iceland, so far I’ve really enjoyed it and I’m looking forward to the next few weeks!