PR Internship blog by Alice Tofts

How did I, as a French and History student about to start my final year at university, find myself at YouView for a three week work experience as a PR assistant? After undertaking various jobs and roles linked to the communication industry, I wanted to explore the PR industry. I came across YouView's offer of a PR internship on targetjobs.com and I felt that this would be an interesting opportunity. Unfortunately I was not successful in landing the internship position but I was lucky enough to be offered a shorter placement.

As a self-confessed PR beginner, I was initially nervous about how I would manage working in PR. My education has so far been lacking any theory that many PR students would have gained. Fortunately both Vicky and Graham, in the YouView PR team, took this on board and were willing and patient enough to answer my thousand and one questions. As soon as I arrived I was impressed by the variety and number of tasks that my work experience entailed. Too often interns are fobbed off with menial (but still vital) tasks such as coffee making and photocopying, therefore to have specific aims and objectives for my work experience gave me confidence that this would be a rewarding experience.

A Great Welcome

Coming into any new office is a daunting experience but thankfully I received a warm welcome. Graham and Vicky both took me out for lunch on my first day which was a great opportunity to get to know them and to feel more settled in the office. Compared to other jobs and work experiences, this was definitely the best welcome I had received.

My Role

What I appreciated most about my work experience was the variety of work that I did and I think this was down to working with such a small team. I was given responsibility for daily tasks and I enjoyed a certain level of freedom in executing them. One of my daily roles involved monitoring and updating YouView's Facebook, Twitter and Linkedin accounts. Although there were prescribed subjects and themes for these updates, I was happy to have the opportunity to come up with my own ideas relating to TV.

Thanks to my varied list of tasks, I had several opportunities me to step out of the office on some exciting excursions. I went on two recces to possible event venues. It was interesting to visit these venues and assess how they would be suitable for YouView's media campaign.

Lessons and Insights

Despite the brevity of my work experience, I definitely feel that there have been both long and short-term benefits. I have not only learnt a lot about the world of PR, but also that of journalism and broadcasting. From having a deeper insight into PR, I am even more eager to gain more PR experience within different industries. Furthermore, I have learnt so much from just discussing PR with Vicky and Graham PR such as its strategies, its importance and its role and as a consequence I believe that I will be better prepared for further experiences in any other PR and communication roles that I will hopefully hold.

I wish new summer interns at YouView the best of luck and I hope that they have the same enjoyable and rewarding experience. A big shout out to Vicky, Graham, Amy and Jaime, in the PR and marketing teams, for making it such a fun three weeks.

This blog was written exclusively for youview.com by Alice Tofts who recently spent three weeks as a PR intern at YouView. This week marks the launch of YouViews first summer internship with 10 students and graduates joining the company for 10 weeks.

LINK:	http://www.youview.com/news/2014/06/25/pr-internship-blog-by-alice-tof...
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