By Anna Broadley, 3rd Year History Student
"Away from dreaming spires, I enjoyed spending my summer listening to the chimes of Big Ben.
I began the vacation with a two weeks of voluntary work experience at Mindshare, a media agency, courtesy of BNC alumni, David Pullan, who I met at this year's ‘Brazen Futures' media careers event. David is global head of the Unilever account and kindly offered me the opportunity to understand his work. I gained a real insight into the corporate world while assisting on a pitch that involved working with a team in Kenya and it was a fascinating way to see the practicalities of global business.
For the majority of the summer I interned in communications and lobbying, after successfully applying for a position at Political Lobbying and Media Relations (PLMR). They are a team of experts in public affairs, press relations, crisis management and media and work with a whole range of clients, specialising in particular in health and social care, education and charity.
Over six weeks I was given a range of responsibilities and tasks allowing me to learn about the industry and PLMR's clients, while honing my writing and presentation. A typical day might include: researching a planning application for the first fully funded state boarding school in the UK, writing a press release for a care home provider about their team members who had scaled Mount Kilimanjaro to raise money for charity, and badgering Will.i.am's agent to see if he'd get involved with a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) initiative at another pioneering state school.
I was also able to help draft PLMR's response to the government's controversial Lobbying Bill. Critics of the legislation argue that the bill fails to properly regulate the industry by limiting its scope to a narrow class of ‘professional' lobbyists who work full time representing clients to Ministers. In reality the lobbying industry is diverse and includes firms, like PLMR, whose work encompasses PR and public affairs services, and who mainly advise their clients rather than making personal representations on their behalf. The Bill also neglects the importance of lobbying by trade bodies, unions and charities.
A final highlight of the internship drew on my work in Oxford with the JCR Committee (our undergraduate student body) in opposing unpaid internships. Earlier this year students voted to write to Andrew Smith, our MP, and to ask for his support against unpaid interns and we were delighted to receive his supportive reply. I wrote a blog on the topic for PLMR, who are committed to paying its interns at least the national minimum wage. The blog was republished by the industry trade association, Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA).
The eight weeks of work have meant that September has been very busy ploughing through the primary sources for this term's final year exams, while squeezing in some thesis research, but I am so glad I got the opportunity to work for both PLMR and Mindshare and feel much more confident as a consequence about my prospects in the wider world after graduating next year. I really recommend students apply for some work experience after their second year, and both the College Development Office and the University Careers Service are very helpful resources and provide excellent guidance for your applications and interviews."