Rest, relaxation and resumes

Ha, found this meme and it’s soo something I would’ve said a few weeks ago.

It’s been a week since I’ve completed my internship and I have definitely been catching up on the three r’s: rest, relaxation and resumes.

I’ve been thinking about my plans for the summer in terms of employment and ways to keep myself busy. The job market is not looking too good right now as I have no real interest in applying to the few PR/marketing jobs out there. These positions are either for random companies I’ve never heard of or in fields I am not too knowledgeable about like banking or law. I decided to apply to internships until something comes along, which I have started doing. I think I may also start applying to a few PR agencies though. I recently came across two account coordinator positions for two small agencies and have been preparing my resume and cover letter to apply. To be honest, although I enjoyed my internship experience at a small PR agency, I really do not want to work for a small agency. I don’t want to work in an agency at all, however, I figure it’s better than working my part-time job and will allow me to make more money while adding valuable experience to my resume.

Other than applying to internships/jobs, a few other things I will be doing to keep myself busy:

Blogging (duh!):
I plan on continuing to blog and have a list of topics to write about so stay tuned!

Volunteering:
I’m always volunteering for events and plan on finding other PR related volunteer opportunities. I already have a few places in mind that I’m sure would be willing to take on a volunteer.

Traveling:
Mostly to the cities around me but I love experiencing new things so I’m going to visit art museums, the Design Exchange (I plan on seeing the new Christian Louboutin exhibit – the opening party was last night!), going to new restaurants and a few other places. I will be writing about my experiences and sharing them so again, stay tuned!

Reading:
I’m a big reader but haven’t had the time to do a lot of reading lately. I bought a James Patterson book earlier this year and it hasn’t even been opened yet! Other than reading murder mysteries (my favourite), I’m going to hit up my local Chapters and library and catch up on some industry related material.

As for next week, I plan on applying to the many positions I’ve found so I can finally close some of my Internet tabs! I also need to create a “pitch” to include in the body of an email when emailing my resume. This week hasn’t been too productive so I really need to step it up.

Cue the break up music

My relationship with my PR agency has ended. It was a mutual break up … no tears were shed. It was a long two months but we have decided to go our separate ways.

My two month internship has officially come to an end. Saying goodbye to everyone was much harder than I thought. I purchased a few thank you cards (three are pictured above) and wrote little notes in each one. I couldn’t wait to hand them out but I wanted to wait until the end of the day.

This past week was crazy busy as I was finalizing everything. I wrapped up the pitching of a blogger outreach campaign and shipped all of the products to the bloggers so now the agency just has to wait for the reviews to go live. I also finished up a news release and assisted with a media list. I made sure to send all of my documents to myself so I have a copy of the work I have completed. I’m going to update my portfolio next week to include a few pieces of work such as news releases, campaign results etc.

The account managers took me out for lunch today and I’m still stuffed!

When I returned to the office and walked over to my desk, there was a white envelope sitting on top of my notebook. I excitedly opened it up only to see a cheque! I was not expecting anything and the timing could not have been better.

Afterwards I passed out my cards and said my goodbyes. I cannot thank them enough for the opportunity and the money. I’ve learned a lot these past two months. I will definitely miss my supervisor and her little comments and complaints about everything. She was so fun to be around and always had me laughing with her remarks.

Saying goodbye was not easy but I hope to keep in touch with everyone and update them on my whereabouts as soon as I find a position.

Dear Client,

I know you probably thought withholding certain information from us, your public relations agency, wasn’t a big deal but it kind of was.

You do realize it does more harm than good right? Imagine my agency’s surprise when we found out you partnered with a major retailer to hold an event and invited journalists. Thank you for informing us. We couldn’t possibly have known because none of the journalists were writing about it. I mean, they did not receive any material following the event. No media kit, no free product, nothing.

Thank you for also informing us about your faulty product. You know, the one you had us send to more than a dozen journalists. Imagine my surprise when I hear from one of those journalists that the product was now broken, only a week after receiving it.

In the future, we would appreciate a heads up. Let us, help you. We appreciate the fact that you’re trying to lighten our work load but really, we don’t need the help.

Signed,

Ain’t nobody got time to clean up your mess

—-

Dear Client is based on real client experiences during my internship at a public relations agency

THE INTERN DIARY: productive day

I’ve been meaning to blog about a few topics but just can’t seem to find the time. I’m hoping to post them this weekend.

My day was pretty interesting and productive. My boss treated everyone to lunch today so we all sat in the boardroom, eating, talking and laughing.

As I am now on my second blogger outreach campaign, I finalized my media list and started pitching. We have a specific number of products to ship out to the bloggers so this will be a bit time consuming. I don’t want to pitch to everyone on the list and end up getting responses from all and have to turn people away so I will have to pitch a few people at a time. So far I have three people on board which is great as they all responded within an hour of receiving the pitch. I realized I actually love pitching. Creating the pitch to cater to your target, personalizing each one and then getting an email from the target, thrilled to hop on board with the campaign is kind of exciting.

I have one week left of my internship and I think I might speak to my boss so I can continue interning, except only part-time. With quite a few people leaving to go on client business trips or on vacation, I want to finish up everything I’ve started. I would really like to see the results of the campaign I’m working on. The senior account manager that I report to will also be swamped as she has to manage two other accounts while one account manager is on vacation for almost three weeks. I’ve just started applying to jobs (horribly late, I know) so I really won’t expect to hear from anyone calling for an interview for a little while so I might as well keep myself busy

Tomorrow is going to be extremely busy for me as I continue pitching and begin a holiday news release, about three other writing tasks and a few other things.

I should probably get some sleep as I am beyond exhausted and have a long day tomorrow.

Toodles!

Adrienne Bailon launches Fingertip Fetish collection

 Former 3LW group member and Cheetah Girl Adrienne Bailon recently launched her Fingertip Fetish “Made in NYC” nail polish collection in New York.

Fingertip Fetish is inspired by Adrienne’s New York roots which is creatively shown through the nail polish colours. Whether it’s “Trendy Soho” pink, “Lady Liberty” blue or “Hail a Cab” yellow, no matter what the colour is, you will definitely see her NY roots throughout. Fingertip Fetish is the perfect addition to the “Made in NYC” collection.

The line of nail polish is 100% vegan, which means it is free from harmful or toxic chemicals and it is not tested on animals.

The launch event brought out bloggers, artists, reality stars and even publicist and Kim K’s pal Jonathon Cheban.

The collection can be purchased online on the Fingertip Fetish website individually or you can purchase the “The 5 Borough Package” or the entire collection.

Adrienne looks amazing and I’m loving the nail polish colour she’s wearing (Lady Liberty). As of now, there are only ten colours available. Although I like the idea of the New York inspired collection, the only colour I’d actually wear is Lady Liberty. Hopefully more colours will be added to the line soon, I look forward to seeing the names of them. Also, I love the “ABOUT” section on the website, I just wish the site was a bit more fun and interesting … it’s just black and kind of dull.

“When thinking of my city – my mind is brimming with colors: A rich Yankee blue, a bright taxicab yellow, or even the soft seafoam green of Lady Liberty…  In my collection, we capture the eclectic and ever-beautiful lifestyle that is New York and transform it into unique paints made right here in the city that inspired them. Made in New York, inspired by New York, this line was created for those who are proud to live as artists from fingertip to fingertip.  With individuality, style, and the inspiration of the city I love, Fingertip Fetish’s Made in NYC collection is born” – Adrienne Bailon.

THE INTERN DIARY: the end is near

I can see the finish line. I officially have two weeks left of my internship and I’m so excited! I’m definitely ready to move onto the next stage and begin my career, that is if I can find a position of interest to me. I’m finding myself looking at agency positions even though I would like to try in-house or corporate PR. Working at an agency is not as bad as I thought it would be and there are a few agencies I would not mind applying to. For now, I’ll continue to make my list of PR professionals I would like to speak to and set up informational interviews.

Today was the end of my work week as I have requested tomorrow off (the agency has given me a few “personal days” and I haven’t used any of them yet). I was extremely busy as I wanted to make sure I wrapped up everything I was working on. I believe I mentioned last week that I was barely given any writing tasks as there wasn’t much writing to do but that was not the case this week. I had four writing tasks this week, which included three media releases, so I spent all day today finishing them up and editing. I am now pleased with the work I’ve done as I have a variety of writing samples to include in my portfolio. I was reading a blog the other day and the writer had said that she was surprised that she had to write quotes for her boss, well I was too when I was asked to include a quote in each media release from the owner of the agency. I originally had asked him for the quote and when I told my supervisor I was waiting on it so I could send it to her, she told me that we usually write it and send it to the person to review. It was not easy trying to write a quote, hoping it sounded real. I kept trying to think of what my boss would actually say.

I feel like I still have so much to do and so little time. I have to start a blogger outreach campaign next week and two weeks is not enough time to wrap it up. I wanted to see it through but I won’t be able to. My agency will definitely let me stay on longer if I need to so I may ask to work “part-time” and work a few days a week.

In the mean time, I will enjoy my long weekend and catch up on my sleep!

THE INTERN DIARY: good company, good food, good conversation

Today was a pretty easy day.

We have our weekly meetings every Tuesday so when I arrived at work, I made sure I was prepared to discuss what I was working on this week. The meetings are suppose to be half an hour but they end up lasting up to an hour so it didn’t end until after 10. Afterwards, I had a meeting with the owner and two senior account managers to discuss two campaigns for one client. Since I’ve been actively doing a blogger outreach campaign, I was assigned the task of doing another one for another client. Thankfully the campaign is targeting bloggers that I’ve already reached out to so I’m going to compile a list of the top ones and start pitching by the end of the week. This is a great way to continue building the relationships with these bloggers who I’m sure will be more than happy to work with me again.

After the meeting I did a little bit of media monitoring and worked on a project I needed to complete by tomorrow. I didn’t have much time to work on it though as I had a lunch meeting with the owner of the agency I’m interning at and my uncle who works in the industry (he got me my internship as my “boss”/the owner and him often do business together). We headed into the city and met my uncle at his work. We then walked around the corner to this really cool restaurant my uncle recommended. It was such a fun “meeting.” It was nice to get out of the office to do something like this. I listened as they spoke about the industry, chiming in here and there – most of the conversation was about business as my “boss” is looking for more clients. I loved just sitting and listening to them speak. The food was great and the environment was relaxing.

When we finally parted ways and headed back to the office, I had only an hour left of my work day. Seeing as I basically did nothing all day and still had to complete a writing project, I decided to stay an extra hour to get everything done.

Today was definitely my favourite day as an intern. I wish every day consisted of relaxing lunch meetings ..

“10 things you should expect in your first PR job” – Ragan

What a timely article for me.

Ragan posted this article two days ago and as a public relations intern at a PR agency, I can definitely relate to almost everything on the list. The “10 things you should expect in your first PR job” article posted 10 challenges one can expect to face in their first PR job. The challenges listed that I’m most definitely experiencing are:

Fatigue: I’ve never been so tired. It’s extremely difficult for me to go to bed early and I congratulate myself if I’m in bed by 1. Because of this, I only manage to get 5 or 6 hours of sleep a night. Add on the fact that I have a part-time job and basically work 7 days a week, I’m pretty sure I’m sleep deprived. I was fine when I had my college classes but working a full work day is taking a toll on me. I work longer hours at my part-time job sometimes but being stuck behind a computer for most of the day, every day is not easy.

Stress: Being an intern can be quite stressful at times, especially when you’re the only intern. I have four people sending me things they would like me to complete. Although I love being able to work on a variety of different tasks, it makes it extremely difficult to meet deadlines. I always manage to pull through but like the article stated, it can get intense.

Unsupportive friends: Just to be clear, all of my friends are supportive but a few are not that understanding. I’ve been bombarded with text messages and phone calls about vacations and activities they would like to go on this summer and seeing as I am on the job hunt, I don’t think I should be making these commitments. What if I find a job? I obviously will not be able to take vacation time and depending on the timing, the trip money may not be refundable. I also can’t spend money like I used to seeing as I work such few hours. I would love to do everything and go everywhere but I have other priorities right now.

Multitasking: This ties into what I mentioned in “stress” – multitasking is extremely important. I could be working on a task for one client when I’m given an assignment for another client due EOD (end of day). I spend the beginning of each work day prioritizing my “to-do” list – numbering them so I know which is the most important and needs to be completed first.

Criticism: To be honest, I love criticism. I always want to improve and by seeing others remarks on work I’ve submitted, it allows me to see other ways I could have worded or written something. I look forward to seeing the account managers’ comments on my work.

I’m sure I’ll experience all of these challenges once I actually begin my career.

“5 major differences between agency and in-house PR” – PR Daily

I came across an article today, written a few months ago, and decided to share.

I’ve been battling with “agency vs. in-house” for quite some time now and PR Daily’s “5 major differences between agency and in-house PR” article provided some insight on the differences between the two. Last month, I would’ve definitely said “in-house all the way!” but after reading a few of the differences I’m a little confused.

Client vs. Team setting
As a PR intern at an agency, I do like the variety of clients and being able to work with many different brands but to be honest, I don’t know if I’d enjoy dealing with clients. I’ve heard of many client horror stories and have seen the expressions on the account managers faces when coming from client meetings. I think I would much rather work within a team and have everything revolve around one brand but the article and comments mentioned that you’re often asked/told to do different tasks that may not even relate to your job title. It also states that you’re often in and out of meetings that are not always important to you.

Workload
Based on the article and the comments, the workload seems to be similar which I don’t mind. I’m often swamped with work at my internship but I don’t mind it – I’d much rather that than sitting around waiting for work to come my way.

Experience
Lastly, when working in-house, you’re able to experience just about everything. You’re able to get to the core of the story and gather information. Agencies must work with what the client tells them. As someone who loves investigative shows such as Criminal Minds, I’d love getting to the bottom of things. Being able to use my resources and head to different departments to see what is going on is definitely an advantage over agency.

Career wise, my next step is to find an in-house pr position. I’d love to experience the differences between the two and I’m hoping I’ll fall in love with in-house.

Article link: http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/5_major_differences_between_agency_and_inhouse_PR_13582.aspx#idc-cover

What do you think about the article?

THE INTERN DIARY: Fun, food and family

What an interesting day.

I started my day off stressed as I had a competitive analysis to complete for one of our client’s and four competitors. I was supposed to have it completed yesterday but it was a large analysis and my supervisor knew it would be difficult to complete in two days. I actually enjoyed writing and researching for the competitive analysis. It required a lot of research as I went through everything each company had done since January. I feel so informed now as I know what others in the market are doing/have been doing.

I was able to relax throughout the day because my “co-workers” can be quite funny – we were all just giggling at our desks. It took my mind off of the deadline and once I relaxed I was able to enjoy doing work. Being the only intern is not easy though – especially at a small agency. Deadlines are no joke so having everyone come to me to help them out can be distracting.

My supervisor scheduled a lunch meeting for the two of us and we ended up going to this amazing burger place we both had never been to. We discussed what I’ve done so far, what I’d like to do more of and talked about the industry. I’m thankful that I have an uncle that has a very high position at the company he works for (in advertising) so when my supervisor told me about this up coming event my uncle’s work was throwing, I emailed him and was able to get an invite for myself and a friend. It will definitely be a great networking opportunity.

Now that I’ve finished the competitive analysis and another clients event, that I mentioned in a previous post, is canceled (we were able to talk them out of it), I can get to the many things on my “to-do” list tomorrow.

By Friday my list should be cleared and I’ll be ready to start some new projects/tasks on Monday!