Auburn PR Blog

As I am counting down the days to the end my college career ( well at least classes) I become overwhelmed with feelings of sadness, excitement and nervousness. I will not be graduating in August like the rest of my classmates… I will be interning. I meet with my internship “mentors” this Friday. As I have already posted previously, I am interning with Comfort Care Hospice. When I first tell people where I am interning, I get varied reactions. What I don’t think people realize is that I will not ever come in contact with patients….. I am actually working with the Marketing/PR aspect of the company. I didn’t realize exactly what hospices were until I found this internship. Now I am recognizing them everywhere I go and realizing what a competitive market this is. Greenville is a very small town in Alabama yet we now have two hospice services. The competition is a large homehealth and hospice service that is known and used statewide. Comfort Care on the other hand is fairly small and new but is rapidly growing. The fact that it is small is intimidating, but exciting. I believe this leaves a lot of room for new ideas and opportunities. I have many ideas and am sure I will have even more once I begin my internship. My biggest fear though is expressing these ideas and then coming off as overly aggressive or a “know it all”. I feel as though this internship will give me the chance to use all of the things I have been taught in my classes. My biggest question is how do I express these ideas and suggestions without being offensive?…… after all I am intern.

Deadlines. Technicalities. Legal Stuff. These are all things we run into during our PR lives. And procrastination is something we learn to hate and avoid from birth….but then about junior year in high school, it becomes our friend. Then about senior year in college, it’s our middle name.

The deadline: “by the end of today”
Technicalities: “today” — which doesn’t end for another 36 minutes!
Legal Stuff: this is the first chance i’ve had to complete my blog posts….SUE ME! hehehe j/k, Robert!

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This is my thank you and farewell post to all my blog friends i’ve made so far this semester. My favorite friend, Jeremy Pepper, and my favorite teacher, Robert. You guys have taught me so much and i will continue to blog, post, and keep in touch and look forward to learning much more in the near future!

Everyone else: Keep on being one anothers “Push - ups, Padding, and Extra support”!! Let’s be ready to catch each other when we fall. “Grace!”

Look out PR world, there are 6 hot new items on the menu!

I always write about how the PR practitioners I have encountered are on each others’ side….in fact — there are no sides! Everyone is on the same team (our career field’s team) and is constantly ready to leand a hand, an ear, or even their voice!

Robert’s Podcast Site is a perfect example of this!

What should one do when they have gone to school for 4 (sometimes more!) years at an outstanding university…studied countless hours…and finally have their degree…a Public Relations degree!…resting in their hot little hand.

Your first real job. Your first real assignment. The resident CPA asks you to design an ad. “No problem! Right up my alley!”

After spending countless hours brainstorming and creating, you now have in your hot little hand your ticket. Your ticket to success! Your ticket to fame!

Turns out…it’s your ticket back to your office because your ad is “confusing” to the CPA…when clearly it is brilliant (if you dont say so yourself) and beautiful…..

I can hear you now! “Get over it! Move on! That’s life! Brace yourself girl…..you’ve got somethin’ coming!”

Okay, well — blowing my cover — the jig is up. This is a true story. About me.
Here’s my question….

Should I have explained the ad to the CPA or just cashed in my ticket back to my office to re-brainstorm, re-create, and re-evaluate my education?

Food for thought!

This is one of those things where you read it and say, “yea! right on!”