Phones, Drones and Teamwork - My Internship with Holyrood PR

One of Holyrood PR’s latest hotshots spares her final thoughts of an eventful PR internship with an award-winning Edinburgh PR agency

By Emma Lourie

COMING to the end of my four week internship with Edinburgh PR agency, Holyrood PR, I simply cannot believe how quickly time has passed. If I thought my first week whizzed by, the last three have been a whirlwind blur.

Every day in the office has been different: from the tasks and clients, to the varied workload and assignments that have kept me busy and focused at the same time. I was amazed at the cross section of industries covered in the client base at Holyrood PR including Care, Food, Health, Property and Tourism PR, all providing vital learning experiences.

One big nugget of information to take-away from my experience here was never to create a Mackie’s montage before lunch time!! It really does make you hungry!

A key goal during my internship was to improve my communication and inter-personal skills. As luck would have it the opportunity arose in my last two weeks when I was involved in telephone interviewing and writing coverage for an event that took place in my very own town. I was extremely keen to be involved with this project, and as Katie knew I lived nearby, she got me involved straight away. Coming from a small town (which no-one has ever heard of, Bo’ness), I never expected to be writing about a local event, but where there is a Bield residential home filled with interesting people, there will always be a story!

When the moment came to make the dreaded first call, I was very nervous and apprehensive but knew I was here to learn and had to do whatever it took to get the job done. After my first call and after a bit of encouragement from the team, I was no longer a victim of the ‘phone phobia’.

I also got the opportunity to accompany our videographer, Seb to a Bield residential home in Blairgowrie, to film for advertising and a social media campaign. It was a great experience to understand how a drone works and how it can be used to take footage. Seb also trusted me to take some photos with his professional camera and it’s fair to say, I may need more practice. My iPhone camera skills just don’t quite cut it…

One of the most memorable moments of my internship was when Cat turned to me and said, “Have you seen the coverage for the Bield release you wrote?” On the first day of my internship, I never imagined something I had wrote on behalf of a client would be picked up and published in the media. I felt proud but also thankful to Holyrood PR for trusting me to do “real work” and not just run of the mill admin duties.

Having worked at the CIPR Awards in 2016, I noticed one organisation being continuously nominated and winning awards. From that evening, I knew where I wanted to start my enquiries into gaining practical experience. Read Emma Lourie’s first week blog here

Holyrood PR really value teamwork and have a very friendly and collaborative working environment. I particularly enjoyed team meetings and brainstorming sessions where I was able to understand first-hand how everyone in the office completed their own task, but in a way to contribute to overall success of client account management. Being able to experience how much the full team wanted to help each other with their tasks made me feel at ease. When the professionals are still seeking advice and prompts for new ideas, it emphasised that day to day everyone is still learning and improving. The office environment is extremely different to what I expected; everyone is friendly and really wants the best for their colleagues, whereas I thought it would be extremely competitive.

As my time at Holyrood PR comes to a close, I know the experiences gained will be of enormous value to my career going forward. I have improved my communication, writing and software skills, and have learned how a high performing, high energy team operates and collaborates in a way to deliver overall success for the entire team.

I am so grateful to Holyrood PR for giving me the opportunity to learn and develop, and I thank them for everything they have taught me. They have made my internship with Holyrood PR such a beneficial and enjoyable experience.

I am proud to have been part of the team, even if only for a few action packed weeks!