One of our “responsibilities” as Edelman grads is to write a regular Edelman grad blog. I suppose this is to give some sort of insight to any potential future Edelman grads out there, so I’ve bitten the bullet and decided to kick off this whole Edelman grad blogging adventure! I warn you in advance, I’ve never done this before so I apologise if this turns into some kind of waffly mess. Two degrees later I seem to be pretty good at waffling!

Let me start by introducing myself, I’m Rachel and I am one of 5 graduate newbies. Please don’t be put off by those pictures… none of us are really that scary looking. It’s a dodgy camera honestly (I hope). We’ve been at Edelman for just over 3 weeks now and I’m happy to report we’re all still smiles.

It seems to make sense that the first blog should start at the beginning, so that is where I will start! If you’re looking at this page to begin with you may be thinking of applying for the Edelman grad scheme. I remember “um-ing” and “ah-ing” over the prospect of another application form and then deciding that one more couldn’t hurt (besides it was definitely more exciting than whatever uni work I was doing at the time). Several weeks after submitting the form I received a call (whilst I was in my university library… yes, I was the annoying one pretending to whisper but actually just talking at a normal volume in a whispering voice) asking me to take part in a telephone interview. Now I don’t know how many of you out there have had telephone interviews in the past but they’re definitely the best kind of interview. At no other time will you ever be able to do an interview in the place of your choice, wearing whatever you want, with all your notes surrounding you… Imagine being able to go to a job interview in your pyjamas, with no make-up on, on your bedroom floor (obviously any guys reading this may not fully appreciate the “no make-up” part, but you get the gist). Several days after the wonderful experience that was the telephone interview, a big envelope arrived in the post inviting me to an assessment day. Now, I’m sure those of you who have never been to one of these is imagining something horrific…I know I was, but actually the Edelman assessment day was anything but horrific. It was (I won’t lie) slightly draining and a little stressful but it was also, in a funny kind of way, quite fun, especially getting to meet a lot of people who share similar interests to you. A couple of weeks later my job search was officially over! One of the best things about the timing of all this was that by April I had a job secured for September… trust me, it really takes the pressure off! Finally no more nagging from my parents about when I was going to get a job and earn some money! As the end of the summer neared the nerves steadily began to set it… when did I become old enough to start a real job? I guess the wise wise people in HR realised that we would be feeling nervous because the Friday before we started they organised a grad lunch where we all met each other and last years grads. This definitely had a calming effect on me! At least now when I walked in on Monday morning there were a few faces that I instantly recognised as friendly. Suddenly the prospect of starting work didn’t seem quite as scary!

My first 4-week rotation is in Healthcare (and it will unfortunately be coming to an end at the end of this week). To be honest, I really didn’t know what to expect! My scientific knowledge reaches as high as GCSE Double Science… I enjoyed it then but my strengths always lay in the Arts (I’m sure there are things to be said here about the English school system but I’m not in the mood for that kind of rant luckily for you). I’m pleased to report that my somewhat lacking scientific knowledge has made absolutely no difference! As everyone in Healthcare seems to say… people in this department have backgrounds in all different sorts of things! I suppose the grad experience is pretty similar across the departments… media monitoring, researching, and generally learning how the department works. Thrown into the mix is a very detailed and really useful training schedule, which just helps you understand Edelman, and PR in general, a little bit better…. I’m sure one of the other grads will go into this a bit more in another post. Overall the first few weeks have been pretty good, so no complaints here!

I guess that’s me done for now! Hopefully it hasn’t been too long and rambly (is that even a word?)… tune in next week for another exciting instalment exploring the lives and loves of an Edelman grad!

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