OF INTERNSHIPS & CAREER CHOICES
By Audra Kesumawati Roslani
9 months ago..
My classmates and I were feeling the heat of having to select a company for our internship program, which was part of the Semester 5 syllabus. The pressure was particularly immense on my part, as I wanted to make sure I made the right choice. This was after all, the stepping stone towards my eventual career.
Do I specialize straight away into a corporate company? Select a government office? Or get the overall view of the industry by joining a general PR firm? So many questions! It was however, a no-brainer and I eventually settled for the latter, Ogilvy Public Relations Worldwide - a major international PR firm in Damansara, Kuala Lumpur.
Naturally, I was flabbergasted when I heard some of my peers mocking those of us who selected to work in proper PR firms.
“Why did they choose to work in PR firms? Don’t they know the amount of work they would have to do? I want to work in a place with the least hours so I have a longer holiday.”
A+ for attitude and enthusiasm, eh?
6 months ago..
The days leading up to my internship were a mixture of excitement, nervousness and the need to make a good lasting impression. I often found myself day-dreaming about corporate KL - the trendy building I was working at, the sleek beautiful people I saw walk in and out of those doors the few times I was there for interviews, the coffee sessions at Strudels and San Francisco Coffee in the lobby..ooh la la! Who cares if this was an unpaid internship, right?
My first day of work and I was a ball of nerves. Standing uncomfortably in my new work threads and heels (every single day for four months mind you, trés horrible!), I was introduced to everyone and shown to my desk complete with a computer and phone. There were four other interns at the time, all with shorter stints than mine.
The first week was miserable. I had absolutely nothing to do! There were no on-going events, and quite frankly, they had too many interns at the time to delegate what little work there was between all of us. I learned how to compile news clippings though. Hurrah!
Chatting with my classmates on MSN, I started getting upset that I was not getting as much exposure as most of them had received during the first week itself. That and having to adjust to the unforgiving work hours, I fell seriously ill for a week. I kid you not.
Great start..way-to-go Audra!
5 months ago..
By this time, I had graduated from the school of news clippings and had progressed on to more serious matters like operating the photocopier, fax and binding machines. I had it down to a T. I figured, well hey, if all does not go well with PR in the future, I could always operate a stationery shop, no?
Slowly but surely, the workload started to pile up as the other interns started leaving one by one and the peak period for events started to kick off. From working with underprivileged children, to rubbing shoulders with international celebrities, I was lucky enough to have covered a wide variety of events. In a nutshell, here’s a brief summary of some of the events I had the privilege of covering during my four month stint at Ogilvy PR.
i) Mead Johnson Nutritionals 100th Anniversary Celebration
Worked with two orphanages to fete 100 underprivileged children by handing them savings accounts of RM100 each in conjunction with Mead Johnson’s centennial celebration. The press conference and actual celebration were both held at the KL Hilton. The children loved it, the food was great and it was definitely a heartwarming experience to see the smiles on their faces. You could tell it was something they would remember for years to come.
ii) Ford Media Social
One of our clients – Ford Motors, has really good ties with the media because they regularly throw functions for the relevant media to maintain good relations, particularly with the automobile journalists/editors. So this was an okay function, just a little get together for the media with good food, drinks and games held at TGIF, The Curve. It was also a sort of soft launch for the new Ford Ranger.
iii) Nokia Pusat Majudiri Y Leadership Workshop
Nokia – another major client, worked on its corporate philantrophy by contributing towards the hard of hearing society – Pusat Majudiri Y. I worked with some hard of hearing individuals who were participating in the YMCA World Leadership Camp. We invited motivational speakers to come in and help them with leadership, grooming and presentation skills. It was interesting to see how one handles deaf individuals and I found the experience uplifting and inspirational, a good event and an eye-opener of sorts.
iv) An Evening with Steve McCurry and the Nokia N90 workshop
We (and when I say we, I really mean my consultant) managed to rope in Steve McCurry, the American photographer famous for his picture of the Agfhan “Girl with Green Eyes” (who made the cover of National Geographic in 1982) for the launch of the new Nokia N90. There were two separate events:
An Evening with Steve McCurry held at the Ritz-Carlton ballroom, was organised for enthusiasts in the trade, as well as journalists and editors to share McCurry's experiences and listen to him elaborate on how he came about taking various pictures.
Steve McCurry
The Steve McCurry Nokia N90 Workshop was held at Chinoz on the Park in KLCC for a very select group of media. McCurry gave them a few pointers on what made a good picture and later demonstrated what could be done with the N90. Each member of the media was then presented with an N90 phone and given time to take pictures at the KLCC park and indoors with the N90. The pictures were then printed out for McCurry to decide on a winner.
v) PRIDE Art Exhibition and the Walk With PRIDE Gala Charity Dinner
Pink Ribbon Deeds (PRIDE) is an organization chaired by Puan Azrene Abdullah (daughter-in-law of Prime Minister Dato’ Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi) and patroned by Datin Paduka Seri Endon Mahmood.with the aim of raising breast cancer awareness.
PRIDE was perhaps the project that I am most proud of and would like to consider my ‘baby’ in terms of having worked on it from Day 1 until its execution. I was the only intern working on this project with one senior consultant to manage a steady flow of media coverage three months prior to the event, which meant organizing interviews, press conferences, numerous press calls and sending constant press release updates. I even had the honours of preparing Datin Paduka Seri Endon Mahmood, Puan Azrene Abdullah and Datuk Michelle Yeoh’s questions and answers sheet.
An art exhibition was held at the Residences at Ritz-Carlton to raise funds for the cause prior to the dinner. Works included art by breast cancer survivors as well as more renowned artists. Lorraine Hahn of CNN and the Pointer Sisters were among the international celebrities who were present for the event.
Lorraine Hahn
The next day was the actual Walk With PRIDE Gala Charity Dinner which saw the likes of Jackie Chan, the Pointer Sisters, local celebs such as Sheila Majid, Bernard Chandran, Camelia, Shazfinas, the Malai sisters and Anita Sarawak gracing the event. Shamser and Lorraine Hahn were the emcees. Ms Cherie Blair QC was supposed to have made an appearance based on the earlier press conference but due to the recent turn of events, was unable to attend. Each seat was priced at RM10,000.00. A small price to pay to have celebrities and ministers as dining company, and for a very good cause at that!
Post-event, I compiled a report to be presented to Datin Paduka Seri Endon, which was met with much satisfaction and enthusiasm from my consultants.
A month ago..
What..I was done? Already? Just as I was getting the hang of it too. It was a bittersweet experience, really. For one, I was glad that I could finally get my eight hours of sleep time back. And of course, my feet were relieved too. I was however, slightly disappointed that corporate KL was not what it was hyped out to be.
Don’t get me wrong. I met and learned a lot from people in the industry. I owe an immense amount of gratitude to a certain Ms. Tham Choy Lin for having been more than just a consultant teaching me the ropes of PR and journalism. She was also a confidante when it came to my future qualms regarding my career choices.
The reality of working life hit me like a tonne of bricks. Did I really see myself doing a lifetime of this? How self-fulfilling would it be? Coming from a family of doctors, I felt miniscule. Would I make a difference? Could I save the world? Those old questions I had before I started work were being replaced by more complicated and detailed ones, and the questions only kept growing and evolving with each passing day.
You may think that this is just aimless rambling from a confused twenty-something, but I believe I am not the only one stuck at this crossroad. Many of my peers have these same questions and fears.
I have spent many an hour pondering about what I had to offer based on my skills and interests. And suddenly, it all makes sense. The beauty of PR is that it is applicable anywhere and everywhere. If you are having doubts and think you may have made the wrong choice, fret not - it is not the end of the world. With PR, you could work in a hospital, a dance academy, a TV station, a ministry, a fashion house – for the lack of a better phrase; the world really is your oyster.
What I’m trying to say is, take everything you do into consideration. From your extra-curricular activities right down to your third language degree requirement, never make an uneducated decision. I now see PR as the stepping stone to eventually doing front line work in a particular organization that I currently have my mind set on. Obviously I would need to equip myself with other necessary qualifications before I get there, but at least it is work in progress for now.
At least, that’s one question put to rest.
Idealism is what precedes experience, cynicism is what follows.
David T. Wolf (1943)
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