Wow, OK, two weeks of work experience and one month to be accepted somewhere.
“This will be fun!” I said sarcastically. I spoke these very words before I started here at Liz Lean PR, where I luckily managed to gain a work experience position. I have now finished my time here and can safely say it was much better than two weeks of school. Honestly, it was one of the best experiences of my tender 14 year and 10 month old life. (Apart from the two weeks in the Seychelles…!)
I am very lucky to have been given this opportunity and it will be with me and on my CV for the rest of my life. In this post you will hear about: what I thought would happen, what actually happened and my overall view on these fabulous 10 days.
Monday 22nd February – 6:45am (bad start, forgot to turn off school alarm)
The first day, it felt a little like the first day of school. New clothes, new bus times, new everything. I was scared and nervous but also bursting with excitement and joy. The first problem I encountered was what to wear. Do I risk going too smart or too casual? I spent about an hour worrying about first impressions that I ended up running late. I packed my bag, grabbed my lunch and headed out the door. Despite waking so early I somehow managed to miss the bus, so I ran home and my brother took me. To school taxi man! I mean work…
First impressions you say, well everyone was really nice and welcoming, even if it was a little manic, it being Monday morning after all and I think everyone had a lot to do. The office environment was much more relaxed and informal than I thought it would be, which was a major positive. I personally do not work well in a stressful and formal environment, like school. So it was a nice change to the strict environment I was familiar with.
Once there I began furiously throwing myself into every job and diligently filling out my work experience diary dished out by my school. At the start you have to fill out a ‘first feelings’ page and on this page I claimed to be feeling: calm, exited, grown up, tired, confident and enthusiastic. So, pretty much a jumble of emotions that contradict each other.
Throughout the rest of the next couple of days I wrote press releases, researched and drank tea to my heart’s content. Despite my rocky start I began to settle in and enjoy myself a little more.
Some jobs I have done include:
- Sitting in on meetings
- Writing press releases
- Looking for news coverage, online and in the newspapers
- Researching social media
- The infamous famous Friday Social Flash
- Taking photographs
- Scanning in and saving coverage for clients
- Conducted interviews on fellow employees
- Compiling a database of celebrity contacts
- Making tea and cleaning the kitchen
- Odd jobs
These jobs may seem mundane but they were actually enjoyable and they made a change from the tight timetabled days I am use to at school.
A highlight was probably in Wednesday 2nd March. I was happily typing away when I heard my dad and my mum…down stairs. At the office… what a moment of embarrassment! They came to surprise me by taking me to Rick Stein. One of the best lunches ever, and we have already reserved another meal there in the near future.
On my last day, Friday morning, I found myself grovelling at my parent’s feet. I was very sad. I have enjoyed my time here so much and will be distraught to have to see it go. Yes this includes recycling two-weeks’ worth of magazines and newspapers. Yes that includes making tea and cleaning the kitchen. All work and all fun.
This whole experience is just been so good and I wished I could keep on doing it. Considering the fact that I didn’t really know what PR was when I first came across Liz Lean PR online, so I didn’t really know what to expect. But after some research and some digging I found that this could be a potential career for me in the future. Thankfully I was able to have two weeks off and have more time to do more things and more jobs. This way I was able to make better friends with the lovely bunch of people I had the fortunate luck to meet.
As if I was conducting my speech for winning an Oscar.
Can I please just take this moment to thank Beth for making sure I was always busy, Louise for her daily updates of her chickens, Cat and Alice for letting me grill them on the office life, Shona for even reading and accepting my email about work experience, Liz for letting me be here and the rest of the team for their all-round friendliness and acceptance of me in the office. Thank you Bryher the office dog for your support in the office I will miss you dearly. 😉
The whole experience was great including the cakes and chocolate. The hour lunch break and the walks on the beach. These two weeks really were fantastic.
Thank you all very much,
Charlotte x
