Work Experience
Eastside PR Agency
Placements in PR
In 2017 Birmingham City University started a PR agency called, 'Eastside PR Agency'. I am part of this agency which is made up of a small group of PR students from the university with Kelly O'Hanlon, senior PR lecturer, overseeing and guiding the agency. Within the agency we volunteer to take on the responsibility of different tasks that come our way. These tasks range from attending VIP openings and creating blog posts to writing up social media content plans. This is a great way for me to put the theory and skills I learn on my course into practice and continue to do PR work alongside my study.
During summer I spent a week doing work experience with Willoughby PR agency and developed a good understanding of how a PR agency runs. Throughout the week I was trusted to carry out tasks such as creating press releases, doing community research, attending meetings, writing promotional pieces for brochures and making press invites. Over the week I spent there I developed my professional writing skills and news gathering abilities.
As I loved my time there so much I returned to do a 2 week placement in January with WPR. I had the pleasure of being able to spend time with each different team: business to business, digital, business to consumer and lifestyle.
During December I carried out a placement at Target in Cheltenham. I gained hands-on experience throughout the week. Some of the projects I worked on included: press releases, web stories, social media posts and creating distribution lists. Whilst I was working with the team I also had the opportunity to sit in on meetings with clients which was an eye opening experience. These companies ranged from start-up businesses who were talking through strategic planning and creating a brand almost from scratch, to well-established ones being talked through the outputs and outcomes of the work Target had completed for them.
