A four-week roller coaster ride – Living the PR fast life

An attempted break-down of my busy, busy time at Holyrood PR

By Angelika Muzyka

THE TIME has come to finally get down to writing my last week blog post, and I honestly don’t know where to begin.

The past four weeks were a whirlwind of tasks and challenges and never-ending to-do-lists – yet somehow I really am struggling to remember what I’ve done.

And I don’t mean it in a bad way, quite the opposite actually. It really does prove the cliché that everyone says about the big world of communications – no day is the same as the other.

So let’s dive into it, shall we?

The Experience

My time at Holyrood PR has been one big adventure. Travelling from one corner of the PR world to another, I’ve only just started scratching the surface of all its secrets awaiting my discovery.

Nevertheless, I cannot describe how eye-opening and educational this experience has been. I truly feel like I’ve grown as a person both in the professional and personal sense, and somehow managed to fall in love with communications even more.

I think one of my biggest achievements was getting over my phone-call phobia. I have never liked conversations where I’m not able to see the other person’s face. So, when I was assigned with a task of creating a media contact list to gather information about competition formats within various newspaper and magazine titles, I will admit – I was terrified. With time, however, you begin to realise that the person on the other side of the line is just another human like you.

One of my highlights has definitely been a team brainstorm for a new client campaign proposal. Taking a break from our computers and spending some time discussing and bouncing creative ideas off of one other was great fun and really showed me how HPR work tightly as a team. One of my suggestions ended up in the final proposal, which was great – it really made me feel like my input was being valued.

I also got a chance to put my design and photography skills to the test. One of my tasks involved designing various graphics for a blog post on Scotland’s first peanut butter tap at Mackie’s 19.2 ice cream parlour, as well as creating social media memes for Castle Community Bank.

Additionally, on my second-last day at the agency, I went on a day trip with our in-house videographer Seb to Glenview Court in Motherwell – one of Bield’s retirement housing developments. There, I helped Seb take photographs of a weekly befriending session, while he took charge of video. We got a chance to meet a group of ladies with a fantastic sense of humour and observe them making bird feeders for their garden. Let’s just say the banter was constantly flowing.

We left the development in really high spirits and plan to use the footage to promote Bield’s volunteer programme and the amazing tenants at their developments.

Beyond that, I got to compile various written pieces and be an expert on a different subject every day. From press releases to blog posts, I have written about local reminiscence groups, wind farms, strangest courier deliveries (from racing pigeons to frozen rabbits – trust me, I couldn’t believe my ears), egg hatching and inheritance tax. You definitely learn something new every day.

The Tips

I don’t really have any out of the ordinary tips for anyone who is looking to do an internship like this. The most important thing is to challenge yourself every day. You may think that writing a piece on the current trends in the housing industry might be beyond your skill set, but believe me when I say that as long as you put your heart into it, you are half way there.

Be ready to learn something new every day and always prepare yourself for the unexpected. Be flexible. I’ve said it before and I will say it again – to-do-lists are a must. It’s simply too easy to get lost in the different pieces of work that land on your desk. In a good way, it keeps you on the edge of your seat and looking out for “new adventures”.

Be positive and get close with the team. I believe that the environment you work in has a great impact upon the work you produce, and I found that simply discussing my work every day with other people in the office often helped me to get even more excited about each project.

The PR world might seem scary at first, but as soon as you’re surrounded by like-minded people, you realise that you are all in it together. And honestly, there is no better feeling than being enthusiastic over a story and putting it out into the world.

The Future

I don’t know what the future holds, but I know that I will always keep this experience close to my heart. The team at Holyrood PR really took me under their wing and I will definitely be sad not to be able to spend every day in the office anymore. One thing I know for sure is that a career in communications is something I definitely want to pursue and I am looking forward to more challenges coming my way.