As part of my 201MAPA Portfolio Plan project, I have been enquiring about potential placements within the public relations industry as this is a field which I am interested in starting a career in and therefore would benefit from work experience. As of right now, I have not been able to undertake any actual placements due to restrictions caused by Covid-19, however I have been ensuring that I am ready to undertake any placements offered to me and have been actively pursuing placements which I could partake in during the next academic semester or at another time in 2021.

Cover Letter Mock-Up:

As practice for writing a cover letter in the future, I created a mock-up in order to understand details which I would need to include in a professional cover letter. Additionally, I wanted to test my structuring of a cover letter by using a format of introduction, skills, interest in the company, and interpersonal skills, as I believe that this covers a variety of areas which employers would be interested in knowing more about. I based this on a scenario in which I was applying for a Social Media Manager role at a company.

WhistlePR:

For a separate project, I interviewed Monira Matin, the Account Director from WhistlePR. After the interview, I spoke to Monira on a Zoom call about placement applications to WhistlePR as I Monira spoke in the interview about crisis management, an area I have interest in. Monira stated that placements are currently restricted due to Covid-19 (this was prior to lockdown measures introduced for November 2020), however she was able to give me a contact that I could email in the future to check the availability of placements. This contact was Claire Saltmarshe, WhistlePR Office Manager, and my current plan is to email Claire when the situation with Covid-19 has become more clear and when placements may be more readily available. This follows Monira’s guidance to contact Claire later on as WhilstlePR would have more clarity about their placement situation due to regulations and restrictions surrounding Covid-19, whereas currently they may be unable to give me any information due to the ever-changing climate of this pandemic.

Advent Communications:

When looking for placement opportunities, I researched local PR companies to find contact details and send an enquiry email about placements. Advent Communications, a local PR consultancy, was one company I was interested in working for during a placement as I was impressed by the examples of their work available on their website. As a result, I sent the company’s information email address an email to give them some information about me and show my interest in placements.

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Profound Media & Management:

Profound Media & Management is another local company with a PR department. This company interested me not only on a professional level, but also on a personal level due to clients such as Planet Rock Radio being brands that I know and am a fan of. As a result, I sent an enquiry email about placements similar to the one I sent to Advent Communications, however this time I detailed my personal interest as this would allow me to show that I was not only looking for any placement, but that I was passionate about the work I could do for this company.

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Century PR:

I sent an email to Century PR, a PR agency based in Leamington Spa, as this is a nearby agency to me and would be practical for me to work here for a placement during weeks away from University (e.g. over summer). Additionally, this agency has an impressive list of clients, such as Jaguar Motors, and therefore would be a reputable environment for me to develop as a professional.

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Next Steps:

As I have not yet received any responses to my prospective emails, I decided to get in contact with Clare Bumford from the Coventry University Talent Team. I sent Clare an email detailing my attempts to find placements, and how using sites such as LinkedIn have proven difficult as I cannot find any placements nearby in PR, nor can I find any that would allow me to study at the same time as each opportunity would be full-time. My aim is to learn how to find opportunities and not have to rely on prospective emails to companies, and I believe that Clare may be able to offer me some advice on how to proceed with this. My goal from this process is to secure a placement in PR during my second semester as this would allow me to gain valuable experience before I begin looking for careers as this could potentially give me the edge over other candidates in a competitive job market.

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Clare replied to me with a number of points which I found useful. Firstly, she suggested some places that I could contact which have given Coventry University students work experience in the past. Next, Clare gave me insight into a role outside of PR which, whilst it might not be my career goal, it would give me transferable experience in a media industry which I could then use to secure a PR role. Finally, Clare attached an email guide for speculative applications as this would allow me to communicate properly with companies thus allowing for the best chance of them replying to me.

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