Arren J, Year 12 student:
I’m Arren, a Year 12 student studying media, business, engineering, and geography at Samuel Ward Sixth Form. This year, I need to decide what career path I’d like to pursue, which will be reflected in my university application choices. My work placement at Conscious Communications (CC) has really shone a light on what Public Relations (PR) is all about, and I’m certain it’s the career path that I would like to go down!
When I first arrived at CC’s office, I was greeted by the entire team and given a warm reception, making me feel immediately welcomed. I was then provided with a desk, laptop, and fully inclusive timetable that mapped out how I would be spending my time through the week at CC. In no time, I felt as though I was a real member of the team.
During my work placement, I was tasked with helping on a Cambridge City Foodbank campaign for its summer appeal. This included writing a full press release, creating advertisements for three social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook and LinkedIn), creating a promotional poster, and picking three potential figures of influence to back the campaign.
To support me with this, I had frequent scheduled meetings throughout the week with various members of staff and their respective departments. My first meeting was with Rick, who briefed me on what my project would be. I followed up the meeting by researching other foodbank appeals to figure out what went well, and what went wrong for other organisations.
Analysing and answering briefs is something that we are taught intensively at school on my media course, so putting it into practice in an actual work environment has really shown me the importance of the content that my school is teaching me, and how it is genuinely applicable to real work.
The highlight of my week was writing a press release. I am somebody who enjoys debating with my friends on various subjects, and in my arguments, I always try to go for an unbiased approach that considers elements from both sides. This, I feel, was useful to my writing, as writing press releases has a focus on being informative; the only thing I had to really focus on was making my words engaging, which I feel I did well with the guidance of the staff at CC, who were eager to help and support me.
Overall, CC has taught me what it really means to work in Public Relations. I love how it’s a sector that requires reading and being informed – every day here, I came in looking forward to reading the news in the morning. I especially love how all the departments of CC work together towards their common goals, and that everyone has the opportunity to connect face-to-face by working in the office. Hopefully, this is just the beginning of my path in PR, and I hope to reconnect with CC some day in the future!
