My initial overriding sentiment was how fundamentally different the pace at which the workplace functions can differ from previous jobs I’ve had in retail. In retail, you can (to an extent) go through the motions without mentally checking in and as soon as you leave work, you certainly mentally check out. This would, of course, be different in a managerial position within retail, but as a young adult I never found myself in that position. Conversely, from day one onwards at Vista, the work you are doing, whether it be grounded in admin or creative work, seems to stick with you a little more out of hours. This isn’t to say it is intrusive, but I found myself often thinking “I must reply to that email” or “That’s first on my list tomorrow”, and that phenomenon was quite novel to me.

As I got more ingrained into my work practices, I found that this is because I almost instantly held a position of value in the company, my work was helpful, meaningful, and contributed to the targets and aspirations the agency has for servicing our clients. In retrospect, I’m very lucky to have not taken on the type-cast role of ‘tea boy’ and this has really helped in my development as an autonomous and active member within the team. This potentially shows the strength of taking on an entry-level role (with relevant higher accreditations) at a smaller PR agency. Much less of a pawn in the system and much more likely to have a tangible utility in day-to-day activity!

Beyond how things ‘work’, there are three important lessons I’ve learnt to be better and make life easier in PR! The first is to never take a quiet day as a reason to slow things down or coast a little because it is an opportunity to work proactively and take pragmatic action towards achieving long-term goals. When coverage gets a little quiet, that’s your opportunity for media outreach and proactive pitching! Using that period of relative respite to set your clients up with coverage going forward future-proofs your targets and gives you the best chance of satisfying the client. For the seasoned professionals I work alongside, this sort of behaviour is standard practice and comes to them naturally but is something I am training myself to do on impulse rather than needing the nudge!

Akin to the first lesson, I have realised that if all reports are up to date and coverage has been filed, they probably still aren’t fully up to date and some coverage will still be out there! Double check social accounts, check your flagged emails, don’t forget about print media… scrupulous attention to every single interaction you have had and are expecting to have is so important to ensuring the value of your work is shown and nothing is missed. A boost in business sales, notoriety, or anything of a similar ilk, is difficult to directly attribute to the work a PR agency does, so it is essential that we give those metrics we do use every bit of credit that they are entitled to. Oh, and having a physical notebook actually really helps (I’ve always wanted to use one).

Lastly… how to write a good email! Straddling the line of too salesy vs. too emotive, too detailed and busy vs. non-descript, too wordy (yes, wordy) vs. lacking in buzzwords. The list goes on. This is a skill I have by no means mastered yet, but I now feel a lot more receptive to the audience as well as far more time-efficient and confident in the emails thanks to my first one hundred days (and counting).

Corporate-speak aside, I have bloody enjoyed my time so far, and I really feel as if this is where I should be at this point in my life.