Blog: Welcoming work experience student Summer from St Aloysius College

This week, we welcomed Year 10 St Aloysius College student Summer to our office for work experience. Summer is the daughter of Hughes consultant Bec, and like mother, like daughter, she did a wonderful job being part of the Hughes team. Summer attended client meetings and the team WIP, learnt about different areas of the business and worked on a task of her own to give her further insight into Hughes activities. Read more about her week below, as written by Summer.

Overview of Work Experience at Hughes PR

Work experience at Hughes PR has been beneficial to me because it has helped me understand who I am and what I am passionate about. I now have a clearer idea about future pathways that would be of interest and am grateful to Hughes for offering me this opportunity to experience ‘work life’.

When I arrived, I was greeted kindly by all employees. Everyone was kind and patient, and each took the time to explain what their jobs entailed and the process of helping promote organisations and their causes. I was able to join in most meetings and noted how the workers identify problems and provide creative solutions to help promote businesses through social and marketing strategies and public relations. I was interested in the issues people had and how Hughes’ employees developed approaches based on budget. I was impressed with how everyone worked together to come up with new ideas and creative perspectives on a problem. I was able to offer advice in attracting the attention of teenagers as a target audience for a wildlife organisation because I am familiar with what interests people my age.

I have learnt what a communications calendar is and its importance in mapping out actions at certain times in the year by considering the organisation’s communication objectives, key messages and target audience. I have learnt that it is important to research about an organisation before meeting them because it demonstrates an understanding of their company’s values and conveys genuine interest in contributing to their success, while painting a credible, trustworthy and professional image of yourself.

I have learnt that it is important to work as a team because teamwork improves productivity and efficiency and builds trust and friendship by combining everyone’s skills and strengths. I have learnt that it is vital to be open to new ideas in order to find unique and creative solutions. I have discovered that the most effective solutions have a multiple-prong strategy. I realised that to best achieve an organisation’s goals you need to have clear and open communication. It is crucial to respond respectfully to constructive criticism when a company is uncomfortable with some solutions that are offered.

I have discovered that to capture the attention of specific audiences you must put yourself in the customer’s shoes to better understand the goals they are trying to achieve and tailor content to target the audience. I now know the difference between paid and organic media. Organic is when you use your own media channels (social and digital) and paid involves advertising. Organic is effective because it has story telling opportunities. 

Overall, work experience at Hughes PR has been a great opportunity to experience the workplace environment. I enjoyed the independence this experience offered. Working at Hughes PR helped guide my decisions for the future when deciding what university course would best suit me, my passions, strengths and weaknesses. From this, I have discovered more about who I am and who I want to be. I have gained an understanding of the world of work that’s not usually accessible to secondary students.