Being a small agency, we don’t normally agree to work experience as we feel we can’t give the young person the time and dedicated support they need during the week. However, when your 17-year-old niece asks, you have to bend the rules a little and we’ve had a great five days, showcasing our world and hopefully what it is like to have a career in
PR.
As an agency, we’ve also learned a lot and have finally delved into the world of TikTok thanks to Julia’s help. Anyway, here is her own take on the five days.
My name is Julia Handford and I joined Russ and Joan at Cucumber PR for 5 days of work experience. I arrived on Monday at midday and jumped straight into the life of a Public Relations specialist with a zoom call with a manufacturing company where Russ asked me to make notes of any questions I could think of. The call itself was surprisingly quite interesting as it gave me an insight into what PR was, as, before I came, I was in the dark when it came to understanding the sector.
The next two days gave me a real taste of what PR entailed. On Tuesday, Russ and I went to the Big Venture Centre’s local community shop opening in the heart of Wolverhampton. At the event I was given the opportunity to interview one of the volunteers for an article I later wrote up on Thursday. I was also able to help Russ and Jim the photographer to position volunteers and members of the community for the official ribbon cutting. Against my better judgment I also agreed to be on TV celebrating the opening – apparently you ‘have to do what it takes to get the story over line!’.
Wednesday entailed Russ and I catching a train to Birmingham for a meeting with Pull the Pin marketing agency. I was able to ask questions and sit in the meeting. Along with getting a better understanding of PR, it also allowed me to learn about digital marketing and the difference between the two. After the meeting I was even treated to lunch at the Slug and
Lettuce.
Thursday was in the office, and I was given the time to write up the case study about the volunteer from the community shop opening. Russ also gave me the big responsibility of selling in a story to multiple different news outlets. Within the hour three news titles had got back to me and published the article, so I was feeling very motivated. I was again treated to lunch at a local café.
On Friday, my last day, Joan talked me through pro bono work and how Cucumber PR commits to providing 100 hours free to local charities, community groups and good causes. I also finished up selling in the story from Thursday and caught up with emails.
In conclusion, my week at Cucumber PR gave me an in-depth understanding of what public relations is and really helped me distinguish the difference between marketing and PR, which is something I didn’t previously understand. Both Joan and Russ not only treated me very well and went out of their way to make my week as good as it was, they also helped me decide whether PR is something I would like to do as a job when I’m older.
