During the recent school holidays, we welcomed undergraduate Imogen into the TALA and Elan offices for a week’s work experience as she was considering PR as a potential future career path. Read her blog to discover what she got involved in, how she found working with us and whether she still thinks public relations might be for her!
Monday: getting my head around media lists
I was so excited to start my week’s work experience with TALA. I was met in reception by Dec and taken to the office. I met some of the team who were all so lovely and made me feel very welcome. Dec gave me my introduction booklet which had some key notes on TALA along with my tasks for the week.
At 10am I had my first meeting on Teams with Beth. She gave me an overview into TALA’s work with Uniphar and what she would like me to help with during the week. All the tasks looked so interesting, and I was so excited to start my first bit of work in the PR world. After the meeting was finished, I had a nice chat with Dec and Sarah and then got to work on my first media task. I worked on a media list focusing on sustainability titles and contacts, which was fun as I have never done one before. Before I knew it, lunch had already come around – I couldn’t believe how quickly the morning had gone.
After lunch I did some more work on the media lists and then I had my brief with Jessica on an influencer project for Do It With Cans. This consumer-facing sustainability project really fascinated me and I was so excited to get started! However, because the media lists were taking me a bit longer to do than expected I spent the rest of the afternoon researching the different journalists and editors, adding this to my excel spreadsheet.
Before I knew it, the end of the day had arrived. I loved my first day and getting to know the world of PR better.
Tuesday: helping to put war correspondents’ stories ‘On The Record’
The office was a lot busier today! I met lots of the TALA team, including Andew which was lovely. The day started with a team meeting where everyone shared recent updates on their projects and the aims for the upcoming weeks.
After the meeting was finished, I had a meeting with Claudine, TALA’s Content Manager, who ran me through the ‘On The Record’ campaign that I’d be working on this week. ‘On the Record’ is the UK’s first national memorial which commemorates UK journalists who have been killed on the frontline. My role was to research senior individuals in the UK’s top media organisations who could be potential fundraisers for the campaign. I was immediately drawn into this project and couldn’t wait to start working on such an amazing cause.
While starting my research for the fundraising list, Heather asked me to help her with transcribing a conference for an upcoming meeting. After completing this, Heather very kindly invited me to sit in the meeting with her to brief a freelance contact working with us on the project. Not only did this give me a further insight into Uniphar, but also the complexities of time management to produce high quality work whilst meeting the deadlines for the client.
After doing some more research for ‘On The Record’, I moved on to my project for ‘Do It With Cans’. I initially did some brainstorming on the different platforms I’d use to find the best content creators which fit the criteria set by Jess. With there being so much content online, I had to be very particular with what I was looking for, sifting through lots of different videos. I really enjoyed this task, although it definitely took some time and patience!
It was a busy day today, but I really enjoyed myself. I’m loving having such a variety of tasks to be working on, all of which are really interesting. I have written a list of all my outstanding tasks and set personal deadlines for when I want them completed by. This should (hopefully) keep my days organised and give me a clear structure to follow.
Wednesday: digging deeper into sustainability and content creators
The office was a bit quieter than yesterday but still had a nice buzzy feel to it. I started my day by doing some further research for the sustainability media list. I have started to document key themes I have noticed throughout my sustainability research, which I will later write-up for Heather and Beth. I then moved onto my next task for Uniphar which was researching the forward features for various magazines and news outlets. I identified key themes within the topic of interest, making notes and pulling out articles for reference. Although I do not have a medical/healthcare background, I have really enjoyed researching and learning more about the pharmaceutical world in relation to PR.
I had a really interesting conversation with Andrew about the ‘On the Record’ project, learning more about the timeline and amazing objectives they have set. I can’t wait to see this project come alive and for the incredibly brave journalists to get the recognition they deserve.
After lunch, I did some more digging into social media to try find the best content creators for the ‘Do It With Cans’ campaign. As the creator must have below 40K followers, it takes time to find the small, independent profiles which still provide high quality videos. Because of this, I set aside some more time that afternoon to complete and review the task, before sending it to Jess tomorrow. I finished the day off with some more research for the sustainability and finance media list before heading home.
Thursday: taking things international
I can’t believe I am over half-way through my time here at TALA – it has gone so quickly! I started the day off by quickly reviewing my ‘Do It With Cans’ project before sending it off to Jess. I then moved onto my research for the ‘On The Record’ campaign. I’m really happy with the information I have been able to gather and hopefully this will help with reaching the fundraising target.
At 10am I had my meeting with Heather, where she briefed me on the next project I would be working on. This was for TALA’s International Network – a group of trusted international PR agencies and specialists who collaborate on global PR campaigns for various clients. My role was to research PR companies which could potentially be brought into TALA’s network. I began my research focusing on the USA, specifically looking at PR agencies on the East Coast. I wanted to make sure that the agencies held similar values to TALA, along with their key areas of expertise.
After lunch, we had a group LinkedIn Navigator meeting. We learned about the complexities of LinkedIn and how it can be utilised to be an effective tool of networking and communication. This was incredibly insightful and definitely reminded me that I need to update my LinkedIn page!
Before I got started on my next task, I quickly made a checklist of everything I had completed and then made a plan for the late afternoon and Friday. Lots of my tasks are nearly complete but I wanted to allow some extra time to review it all before sending it off. I ended the day by finishing my forward features off for Uniphar.
Another busy but fun day in the office complete!
Friday: looking to the future (over a drink!)
Wow – I can’t believe this is my last day!
I started the day by sitting in on a meeting with Beth and Andrew, going through TALA’s pitch deck. It highlighted to me the importance of critically reviewing work, making sure everything is done to a high standard.
After the meeting, I did some more work on the international network, focusing on European PR agencies. At 12pm, I had a meeting with Heather to go over both the Uniphar and International Network projects I had been working on this week. I summarised my key findings and Heather discussed how my work would be utilised by TALA in the upcoming weeks. We had a lovely chat about my future, and I spoke about how this week of work has confirmed that I’d love to go into the world of PR after I leave university!
With the weather being so lovely, Andrew very kindly took us to Soho Farmhouse for a drink after lunch! This was such a lovely surprise and I had the best time!
When we came back, I finished off all the outstanding tasks that I had left to do on my various projects.
I have had the best time working here! Everyone has been so friendly, and I have learnt so much about public relations. All the projects I have worked on have been so interesting and I will be very sad to not be coming back next week.