My last week of sixth form was swapped for a week of work experience at AD Communications. Having had a part time job already, I remember stubbornly asking ‘What more experience do I need?’, but my mum, a friend of Shireen’s, kindly asked if it was ok for me to spend a week at a PR agency. I went into the office having known zilch about PR and I can now leave knowing I’ve learnt a great deal more.
My first day in the office was a little scary and I felt very much as I did when I first started secondary school. However, that was soon changed as Louise made me feel welcome straight away. She introduced me around to everyone, which gave me more of an insight to the people and the place, although trying to remember everyone’s names was at first a bit tricky.
I was then given a ‘welcome’ presentation by Lucy O’Dea, which helped to increase my awareness of PR and what AD Communications is all about. My business A Level came in handy, when I soon learnt and could understand that AD Communications provided integrated communications services for business to business brands (I originally assumed that PR could only be business to consumer, so I was proven wrong straight away).
One of the most insightful things I found was learning about the individual roles within the agency, which are all equally important. One that stood out to me was Kirsty’s job of Campaign Planning Manager, who deals with advertising and event planning, something that I found easy to understand. I even got to share some tasks and responsibilities with the Account Executives, Cerys and Louise, such as prepare coverage and social media reports for clients.
Overall, the experience has proven very helpful even for my personal interests. For example, I was able to take away information on metrics and performance measurement that I could then use and apply to improve my fashion blog and possibly even increase my number of followers.
I am confident that my experience at AD Communications will take me one step closer to being able to study Fashion Marketing and Promotion and hopefully, having this internship on my portfolio will make me stand out as a candidate.