My first day at Zeno was always going to be slightly intimidating. Firstly, I had never navigated my way around the Underground before, and nor had I tried to navigate my way around London. Fortunately, I managed to avoid getting lost in either of these locations, but being unsure about the Underground stopped me from being nervous about my first day at work. There was no time to think about it, at least not until I arrived at the building half an hour early with very little idea about what to expect. This was my first real internship for a global company and I did not want to mess it up. I thought that walking into an office where I did not know anyone and was not entirely sure what I was going to be doing would be really intimidating, but when I saw that they had their very own pub, I knew I would be fine.
I felt as though I was thrown in at the deep end on the first day. Phoning picture desks in order to find out which photographers they would recommend was probably one of the most nerve-wracking things I have had to do. However, after picking up and putting down the phone three times before having the courage to ring someone, I got into the swing of things and actually began to enjoy calling people and talking to them; the only exception being when they were rude and unhelpful. Thankfully, this experience came in handy on my second day when I had to call trade publications to find out when their copy deadline dates were. These calls were made when we were looking for coverage of a consumer activation campaign for a hit between the 15th and 18th April. I felt as though I was doing something important, and was being given responsibility in the jobs I had to do, rather than being sent to make cups of tea and coffee like some of my friends who are doing internships for other big global companies. All of this gave a great insight into how press releases work, as well as how trade publications run. It took a while to get my head around the jargon used, but I got there in the end. I may have had to Google search what a media list was, but it was all part of the experience.
When I was not working on the beauty campaign, I carried out some research for a drinks company and a headphone brand that is currently trying to enter into the UK market. Looking into the competitors for the headphone brand meant researching the most popular headphones sold in the UK and highlighting those areas where the new headphone brand could match, or even outdo, the headphones that are dominating the UK market. I found this quite interesting as I do not know much about headphones, and I am keen when it comes to using the headphones that come with my phone. I learnt many facts about which headphones are better and why. One thing I can say about my time at Zeno is that I now know exactly where to look for specific information. I am surprised because my research skills have improved greatly, even though I thought them to be at a good standard as a result of spending the majority of my time researching for my course. When you are given a deadline and you need to find out as much information as possible, you learn the fastest way and the best places for achieving this.
One of the things that I found most interesting was learning about the new campaign that Zeno was doing for a beauty company. Whilst I cannot give away any of the details about the campaign or the brand, it was great to learn about how Zeno were using their renowned fearless approach and incorporating this into the campaign. I did not realise how much work or how many tables were involved in something like this. The media list alone, which I helped to compile, was huge. Researching previous PR stunts and other news stories to help gather a list of journalists who had previously covered similar stories meant that I was reading a wide range of newspapers every day. If you were to ask me anything about any of the big headlines from the last two weeks, I think I would be a bit of an expert.
These last three weeks have been particularly exciting and also very informative, helping me to realise exactly what is involved in PR. I have been carrying out real life tasks that have given me a better idea about what is expected, rather than being taught about PR in a lecture theatre. I have loved every moment that I have been working at Zeno. There have been moments of intense work mixed with some quiet moments, but the people who work there made my three weeks’ work very worthwhile. Being given different tasks to do each day kept things new and interesting, and I do not think that there was a single moment when I was bored or felt unhelpful. This could, however, be my own perspective and may be completely wrong. Everyone I came into contact with was welcoming and helpful; being able to spend some time with them outside of the office during my first week, due to some of the team doing a pitch and deserving a drink, made me a lot more relaxed and a great deal more comfortable about working for such a big company.
My advice about your first ever internship would be to research where it is you are going and to make sure that you have plenty of time to get there. You do not want to turn up at the office in a sweaty mess because you were running late, as it would not be a good first impression. Secondly, learn how to make a good cup of tea and do not be afraid of talking to other people in the office; building up friendships and connections over a brew will help you after university when you are looking for a job. Finally, do not be afraid to ask for help. As it is your first time working for such a big company, or perhaps any company, there will undoubtedly be things that you do not understand or things that need clarifying. The majority of the time, the people who you are working with will be more than happy to help you, as they know that you are there to learn. If all else fails there is always Google!
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