Making my first steps in the world of PR

Graduate Melisa Korkut shares her first week at a Scottish PR agency

Edinburgh PR agency photography, Melisa Korkut - PR intern

AS I am currently studying for a masters in Media, Communications and International Journalism at the University of Glasgow, I was thrilled to receive the opportunity to join the placement programme an award-winning Edinburgh PR agency.

I initially heard about the placement after Lucy, a current member of the Holyrood PR team, contacted my university. In her email to the department, she explained that she had graduated from the same degree the previous year and had been a part of the very same placement during that time. I was encouraged to see that such a work experience could lead to success after graduation, and was convinced that it would put me in a good position when the time came for me to wave goodbye to the safety net of higher education for good.

Upon securing the placement, I became curious about the world of PR as it is a potential career option that I had not yet explored. I’d only ever seen myself as a journalist, but the more social and personable side of PR made a strong impression on me.

This internship was to be my first work experience out with hospitality, so you definitely could have described me as a duck out of water.

I expected my first day at HPR to be pretty smooth sailing with a brief introduction to everything, but I was soon to be mistaken! By 5pm I had been exposed to software I felt slightly overwhelmed by, namely Asana, Canva, Dovico and WordPress. The day went by so unbelievably quickly, and I was never at a loose end with plenty to keep me occupied.

It was nice to meet every member of the team individually and to feel like they were all responsible for mentoring me in some way. I therefore didn’t feel like a burden to any one of them, which is a nice position to be in as an intern. Although I was given a lot of information, they were always on hand to clarify points or to reiterate aspects of a task to me. I was also humbled by the trust the team had in me as I worked on clients I had never even met before, and this spurred me on to do them proud.

During the tutorials the team gave me throughout the week, such as how to draft success posts and upload website content, I was amazed at how much I was learning compared to when I’m in my university classes. The hands-on experience has been invaluable so far, and I feel like I’ve already gotten a good glimpse into what working for a Scottish PR agency would be like.

Based on the team’s accounts of their own first week at Holyrood PR, it’s safe to say I am reassured that I will soon be much more equipped to handle the PR work that comes my way over the next three weeks.

I am most looking forward to working on more media releases and getting to know the wide variety of clients better. I’ve always been passionate about telling people’s stories that otherwise would not have been heard, so I think I’m certainly in with the right crowd at Holyrood PR.