Key Takeaways:
- Transitioning from university to the corporate world brought uncertainty and excitement.
- TEAM LEWIS stood out for its global presence and unconventional approach to communication.
- Colleagues’ warmth and support fostered a positive internship experience.
- Practical learning sessions surpassed university education, enhancing understanding of PR fundamentals.
- Embracing mistakes as part of growth was a key lesson learned during the internship.
My university experience was confusing, I went from being a design student to media student and only actually “experiencing” university in my final year of my degree, meaning the idea of finishing university is something I craved. Until I got there. All I could think about is what do I do now, and did I make the right decision in the degree I studied.
Something about me is that I enjoy learning, but it’s something that I felt lacked in my media degree to a certain extent. This caused me to be terrified of applying for jobs as I had no idea what I was doing due to minimum practical work in PR, and I didn’t even know if I liked PR yet!
Even though I was scared, I began my job search and found TEAM LEWIS. Very frequently, I have been asked why I chose this agency – firstly, I was intrigued that they are a global marketing agency and by the number of services they offer within the communication space. Next, it was the questions they asked during the application and the interview process that hooked me, as they were not stereotypical questions, which made me want to work here even more.
My First Day
My first day at my first corporate job – feeling petrified was an understatement. One thing I learnt quickly at TEAM LEWIS is that everyone is friendly, inviting and funny, which not only made my first day amazing but made my entire internship a wholesome experience. It was the best welcome I’ve ever experienced at a workplace and that’s when I knew I made the right decision in choosing this agency.
Greeted by my “lewy swag”, there was a lot to take in my first day, the biggest learning being the terminologies! PR professionals will use acronyms for anything, and it will make anyone who doesn’t work in the space feel like a boomer trying to understand Gen Zs’ slang.
The People
Something that made my internship genuinely fly by was the people. One thing I noticed is everyone is there for each other. Everyone is constantly helping each other or reaching out to one another to either pick up workloads whilst others were away, or sending a meme to brighten everyone’s day. They collectively made me feel comfortable, provided constant laughter (a lot) and, most importantly, the team made me feel supported because at the end of the day it’s PR not ER.
Lunch and Learn
Lunch and learn was something that made me feel like my whole university degree was a waste, because I learnt more in those sessions, and throughout my internship, than in the three years I spent at university. The sessions started from the beginning of signing a client and what to do next, to the best practices of PR and managing client expectations.
“Don’t be sorry for learning”
This stood out to me throughout my internship. Since it was my first job in PR, naturally there are a lot of mistakes to be made. The first month I was almost embarrassed, after completing three years of university and not knowing how to pitch or write commentary or do majority of the day-to-day activities – because simply I had not learnt these things up to that point. But the team didn’t make me feel that way – if anything they encouraged mistakes as a way of learning and didn’t expect me to know everything. As long as I was trying and developing, that’s what mattered to them the most.
Overall, my internship here is something I will always remember as I loved learning from the team, and they made me realise that I made the right choice in choosing PR. I wanted to say a huge thank you for the experience, not only because I developed a lot, but I can genuinely say that I enjoyed coming to work which was something I thought I would never experience.
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