My work experience with Reflection PR

This May, I’ve had the opportunity to work alongside Suzy Pettican and Hannah Freeman at Reflection PR, learning the ins and outs of a PR agency.

As a final-year ‘Culture, Literature and Politics’ student at UEA, the real world is fast-approaching and I need to start thinking seriously about my future. For some time I have considered careers in journalism and PR as I love writing and interacting with people and Reflection PR has really strengthened my ambition to explore public relations as a career.

The past few weeks, I’ve had the chance to work with the leisure and tourism sector, writing blogs, press releases, media reports as well as researching potential competitions and using the PR media database, PR Max. I’ve even helped to update a client’s new website, which will be launching this weekend.

Last week, Reflection PR also hosted a Twitter workshop, where I learnt new ways to interact with customers and other business online. This includes the benefits of #FollowFriday and the use of contact lists, which is incredibly useful for my job as a marketing and social media assistant.

Before I started, all I really knew about public relations agencies is that they provide reputation management and write press releases. But it’s so much more than that.

I’ve learnt about the importance of research and constantly maintaining awareness of a client’s media opportunity as well as how to document and compare successful PR campaigns. Above all, I’ve learnt how to help companies grow, particularly in terms of website and blog content and ideas for competitions.

Every step of the way, I’ve been trusted to fulfil tasks, encouraged to try new approaches and provided with advice for future improvement. Even my suggestions, both in client meetings and in the office, have been taken on and considered, which made me feel that I’ve really contributed to the company.

I’ve been making calls to journalists, as well as creating and editing documents that will actually be published and contribute to a client’s business. I’ve been treated as though I’m a part of the Reflection PR family, and not just a clueless amateur!

Having Suzy, the managing director and founder of Reflection PR, look at my work and actually tell me that it’s good and that I have potential, has really driven my career aspirations forward.

As someone who barely knew how public relations agencies worked on a day-to-day basis prior to this placement, I’ve come away with a vast amount of knowledge and confidence – thank you, Reflection PR!