We’ve been hijacked by the work experience kid… Archie’s outtakes

Our blog has been hijacked by the work experience kid… Archie, a grade 10 student from Kawana State High School shadowed our Public Relations Director Peppi Bueti for a week’s worth of long lunches, coffee dates and all that other stuff that PR people do. Here are his outtakes…

On day one of my work experience with Sunny Media I arrived at the front door and was greeted by all staff. Before being greeted I was very nervous about the first impression I would make on all of the workers but they were very welcoming to me.

After my greetings I headed into the office I would be working in with Peppi, my boss for the week. He set me several tasks including reading books and writing down notes about media training and presentation. Peppi also gave me practice on researching and writing media releases. The media releases were good practice on how to write on a difficult task and pushed me to go out of my comfort zone with researching. I also learnt that all journalists use the same structure of writing.

On my second day in the job at Sunny Media I had a lot more confidence towards my workmates as I knew them a bit more now. Today Peppi asked me to join in with the team’s weekly WIP meeting. During the meeting everyone explained what they’ve been getting up to in the past week and what they will be doing during the next week.

Later that day, we went to a client meeting on Ocean Street. I listened to Peppi and his client discuss websites and social media strategies for their business. Peppi’s client Mark was a very interesting man with an intriguing opinion. I soon went back to the office and continued some client research for Peppi while he spent the rest of the day out at various client meetings.

On my third day in the office, Peppi pointed me towards a huge pile of newspapers on a shelf in his office. At that moment I knew exactly what he wanted me to do. I had to sort through all of the papers that had saved up over the past five years and save the articles that were about Sunny Media clients. This was a huge pile so I knew for sure it was going to be hard day. I learnt from this task about the sort of lifestyle this job enjoys, I saw many photos of Peppi and others in the workplace in the social pages at many events.

On my fourth day I arrived at the office to find Peppi in a bad mood as Italy had lost their first game in the European championships. So without trying to laugh at the result I moved on. I still hadn’t finished my filing of the newspaper scraps from the day before, so I moved on with the Mount Everest of paper scraps. After finally conquering the mountain I followed Peppi to my next task.

My next task was photocopying all of the articles I had cut out from the newspapers. When I finished I showed these to Peppi to check. I had made a rookie error on the photocopying as I hadn’t copied all of the words on the article. So we started on the photocopying again. Peppi taught me a new rule named ‘Prime first time’. This rule teaches you to always double check work before handing it into your boss or client.

Later that day, I got to travel with Andrew from Sunny Media to watch a TV commercial be filmed. Andrew told me that the three major tips for making a successful advert is to tell them who you are, where you are and what you have to offer.

On my arrival to Sunny Media on my fifth and final day at the workplace I walked into Peppi’s office with some gratitude in my hands. I had bought a variety of cakes and slices for the very fantastic team that had welcomed me into their work environment this week.

Peppi asked me to come with him to Ocean Street for another client meeting. We sat at a café and Peppi bought his client a coffee while they talked business. After this meeting it was our turn to do a lunch run for the team. We went to the Plaza and brought back a Mexican feast for everyone. While we ate the delicious food we all chatted and I got to know a little more about the team.

It was good to finish my time at the office on a high and it was a great last day. I learnt some great lessons from Peppi;

Peppi’s Rules

  1. Always spellcheck documents before sending them to a client.
  2. Turn off mobile phone in all meetings.
  3. Plan your Friday lunch early in the week.
  4. Always shake the hand of a person you meet and look them in the eye.
  5. Always bring a notebook (or laptop) to every meeting.
  6. Try to start most conversations with small talk to get to know the other person better.
  7. Always read emails properly.
  8. Prime first time. Always check work before sending it to a client.
  9. Understand your target audience before you begin marketing to them.
  10. Don’t put all your eggs in one basket.

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