I was very apprehensive going into this hardworking area of the office. I have very little political background – I only studied political history until GSCE level and a bit of political philosophy during my degree. I had become interested in UK politics during recent years as I got older and changes in government/bills began to affect my day to day life. As a country girl I was one of the many to march in Hyde Park about the hunting ban, and David Cameron is my home MP for Witney, so I was looking forward to learning more about this world.

I didn’t know what to expect in terms of work when I started three weeks ago. Clare was here before me and she told me about some of it and the clients’ accounts she worked on, but nothing prepared me. In my first week (first week of January) the buzz word was new business so I was doing lots of research into new ideas. I was also shown how to do some monitoring for press mentions about one of the clients and research for clients in the news.

PA deals with so many different aspects of client work that every day is different.

In the second week everything began to get very busy as I was asked to help with work for a new and really exciting client. I also asked if it would be possible to help on one of the new pitches and was able to do some research, so at least I can feel I helped, a bit!

With the General Election coming up there is work related to Parliament, with some work for Reed in Partnership where I was liasing with MP offices and writing biographies. David (the new intern) and I have also been asked to put together biographies to help the team in their preparation for the Election period. This is helping me to learn more and more about current UK politics and also about how the team works.

The team have been fantastic, when I came in Paul (my line manager) was on holiday and Lyndsey, Peter and Mark took care of me. When Paul came back he has helped me to get to work on some great clients and asked me who I would like to work on and if there is anything I feel I haven’t done yet.

Last night Spook challenged the office to a pub quiz – It was great fun as the  PA team are competitive and we did manage to win! No hard feelings ‘eh Marcus – but we did beat you by a little bit. Plus anyone who says there were too many PA related questions – our best rounds were Literature and Food and Drink!! It was a really good opportunity to get to know more of the team who have made me feel very welcome.

I’ve got four and a half weeks left with this team during the grad scheme and then it will be on to Healthcare (my last rotation). The new grads have started now – there are three more girls to make up a pretty good group of us, together with the interns David and Olivia (who I have met). I was very pleased that Francesca joined the grad scheme after being an intern at Corporate with me, and I wish Francesca, Erin and Maggie loads of luck.

Last week the Corporate team had the Christmas lunch – I think I was possibly the only person who left their present at home and had to rush out and buy another one. It was a great afternoon as we all hid in a pub from the snow with plenty of..water, honest.

The lovely intern at Corporate also got onto the next intake of Grads for January so I want to extend my congratulations to her – she’s been great to work with and I wish her all the luck the world.

So far whilst working for Edelman I have been in two totally different departments but I have enjoyed the challenges of all of the work. We are now halfway through the Graduate Scheme and we have done two rotations. I have been at Corporate and Digital. These teams differ in clients and type of work – for example at Digital you very rarely pick up the phone to call a jounralist.

At Corporate I have now also had the chance to work on some sport clients which has been very enjoyable, and I hope to carry on working on this in the New Year.

So, off to PA next! It will be a learning experience for me who has not studied Politics before. I have been interested in it, but as David Cameron is my home MP it is from a less objective stand point.

I  hope that everything is going well and that the teams are pleased with my work, especially as I feel I have learnt so much in the past 4 months.

I’ve now been in London for 7 months and it feels like years! Having come here in June to settle in before starting work I feel like I have gotten to know the city better (although there is so much I don’t know – the East, West and North for example!) I definitely think that I have made the right move, and although I miss home and the countryside, London is a great place to be.

I feel that within the Grad Scheme we are looked after and hopefully gaining the experience we need. I am still not sure what area of PR I would like to specialise in but I think that the next two rotations should help me to decide.

So I leave the office in 2009, when I come back it will be a new decade, possibly with a broken leg (I’ve never been skiing before!!). Have a great Christmas break everyone and a merry New Year’s!

Over the past two weeks there has been quite a bit going on over ths side of the office, and time has gone past very rapidly. The Get Safe Online Summit happened last Monday (I could not sleep on Sunday night hoping everything would go ok), everything seemed to go smoothly. I had spent most of Friday making name badges and had visions of them all being wrong!

This week, I have been selling in for a another client – something a bit different for them, and me – the arts contrasting and mixing with electricals. This is a very interesting project because it is giving me great experience of media relations. I think I have managed to move past my fear of speaking to National newspaper journalists…as long as my script is good.

Speaking of arts, we have been rehearsing for the panto – I have found myself writing stage notes at the rehearsals and chuckling about the impending laughs and fabulous acting! Over in the Corporate department there is a lot of dance talk – so I have high hopes!

A couple of weeks ago the three of us Grads were asked to shoot the new video for the website, and I have to say well done to the former grads who got involed and those who helped out – it looks really great.

I have settled in with the Corporate team now and I’m finding the work easier to get my head round. I’ve been doing little bits for lots of clients, including VisitBritain and Sime Darby, and then bigger bits for Get Safe Online, Starbucks, Reed in Partnership and Mitsubishi.

Whilst I have been here I’ve helped out with the Tweetminster event and hopefully a few more before the end of the year.

We also had some Grad training last week in Crisis Management which sounding fascinating; it would be so interesting to be on the frontline of the breaking stories – some late nights and early mornings though I’m sure.

The next few weeks are going to be hectic with the panto, work and the countdown to Christmas…a month! I’ve managed to buy wrapping paper and a few cards (none of which have been written in), I just need to actually buy the presents now!

On a bit of a sad note it’s Jason Mical’s last day with us today – drinks were great on Friday, going to miss you loads Jason, take care!

The last couple of weeks have focussed on introducing all 3 grads to each department. With many clients crossing different practices, it is important to know how the company works together to achieve such fantastic results.

We have also been trained on lots of household matters, such as finance and time sheets, so no excuses now not to fill them in.

Highlight of the week for me, is receiving a round of applause in my first company meeting for volunteering my help to organise the Christmas party. Embarrassing definitely, but also an indication of how Edelman really values its employees and this only added to me feeling very welcome and even more settled.

In addition to the obvious benefits of free booze and food, we’ve enjoyed kick-starting our professional careers in Edelman’s brand new, rather swanky offices. Our jaws almost dropped when we first arrived back in September to be confronted with lots of stylish black leather, interesting features and acres of glass. I remember one visitor asking, ‘are these the offices of a new design company?’

In our new offices you’ll find not only a stylish bar where Friday’s free drinks await, but also a delicious subsidised café where free breakfast is held and various meeting rooms for all requirements (our twice-weekly subsidised massages are usually held in one of these rooms!) I’ve added a few photos of our new office to this blog post to provide you lovely prospective grads with a feel for our beautifully decorated working environment.

Moving on from Edelman’s snazzy interior design, we’ve also been enjoying the chance to rotate around Edelman’s main London departments as well as attending a jam-packed varied training schedule. These rotations and training sessions are set to mould us into well-rounded PR consultants by equipping us with all sorts of necessary media and PR basics and experience.

In fact, it’s the PR experiences, or rather the two client events I’ve attended so far, that I’ve personally found to be the most rewarding and interesting of all the perks of PR. A few weeks ago the Corporate Department kindly took me along to watch Lee Evans at the O2 in one of our client’s corporate boxes. Not only did I end up crying with laughter, but this occasion provided me with a fantastic opportunity to meet one of Edelman’s clients in a friendly, informal and fun atmosphere. Since starting work at this company I’ve started to realise that meeting clients and journalists in an informal social situation is paramount to establishing a strong and enjoyable working relationship.

This last point was reinforced when I attended the match100 event for match.com. This event was set up to celebrate the fact that match.com has made over 1bn connections on the site and in some cases allowed people to meet their future husband/wife who have subsequently gone on to have lots of beautiful ‘match-babies’. It was lovely to not only hear people’s interesting stories, but also gain the opportunity to meet the lovely Adele Parks and some journalists from top publications. Again, by fostering a fun and informal atmosphere, this event encouraged people to relax and engage in an interesting conversation about the client, which, essentially is at the heart of what PR hopes to achieve!

Best of luck with all your applications!

If you’ve not thought about it yet and have somehow, inexplicably stumbled across this glorious blog, take a look at the graduate scheme website here.

If you’re still not convinced that this is the place for you then find out a bit more about what Edelman is like to work for here.

If you’re still umming and ahhh-ing, perhaps swing by one of our other blogs. Typed (sadly, gone are the days of ‘penning’ things) by the Public Affairs department, despatchblog.com is a regularly updated thinkpiece on everything public-affairs related. From ministerial candidates to public policy, this blog spans the entire gamut.

Further to this, and if you’re really keen to learn more, take a look at the oft-lauded blogging brainiac-cum-techno-geek blog prblogger.com. Run by our very own ‘northern monkey’, Stephen Davies, this eclectic blog is a one-stop shop for new-media and technology talk and lots more besides.
Northern MonkeySouthern Fairy

Tom

That’s about all this ’southern fairy’ has got to say for now – happy browsing!

Anyhow, among a number of interesting projects I designed (initially) a Bebo page (all my Myspace skills being put in practice) and got to write some Wiki entries for another client. However, no sooner had I started, bombarded my pod with a million questions than it was time to move on.