I don’t think any of my friends know what their dad’s jobs entail. Until this week, I was also in the same situation. I knew my dad worked in PR, but I was completely clueless as to what it was, even after extensively Googling ‘What is PR?’ - which did left me with even more questions.

Work experience week has definitely been the most-anticipated week of college. Finding a placement proved more difficult than excepted, until my dad suggested that I could work with him for a week if I needed to. I agreed, not really knowing what I would be doing. If someone were to ask ‘What did you expect?’, I really wouldn’t be able to answer, because I was so unsure of what PR was. Following this week, however, I can semi-confidently give you a rundown of ins and outs of PR.

Throughout the week I worked on a variety of press releases and blog posts for different companies, as well as providing my dad with my expert (young person’s) opinion on updating his website. 

For some, this may seem boring, but I can assure you that I thoroughly enjoyed it. I suppose that could be partly to do with the fact that I picked English language as an A-Level, but who knows? 

For the most part, I’ve been focused on writing all week. I can tell you now that it is a lot harder than I expected. Each piece has to be well-researched, has to have a good structure, has to reach the word count, and so on. Whilst it was a challenge, I found it extremely interesting, and actually learned a lot about a variety of topics.

Another thing I found with PR is that it is a lot more flexible than I expected. Yes, there are deadlines to be met and there is a lot of work to be done, but I found that I wasn’t constantly sitting at a desk all day in silence. Switching tasks offered me a break if needed, and I could easily revisited a piece after half an hour if I needed to – with a fresh focus.

My dad also provided me with lots of support: if I was stuck on how to begin a piece, I could always ask and almost immediately I’d have an opening paragraph and would be able to continue the rest. 

This week has definitely opened my eyes to the world of PR. Even though it isn’t the career path I was looking to go down, I think that a lot of the skills I’ve gained and rehearsed this week are skills that are useful and are completely transferable, regardless of the career. 

Understanding how to run successful and engaging social media platforms, and practising how to write for specific target audiences has proven to be useful and has provided me with a skillset that I can now take into whatever I pursue next.

So, whilst I may not be fully able to explain exactly what my dad does (and to be honest, I’m not entirely sure he could either – see his blog from October 2020) I’ve enjoyed my week working with him and have found it extremely beneficial.