By FUNG Wing Sum, Sammi (BA English for Professional Communication, Year 3)

Unpacking my luggage, I wonder how fast time flies away. Have you been going on any trips this summer? I have had my last enjoyable summer break before my graduation. I joined an overseas internship programme offered by the English Department and worked as an intern for an international PR company - SPRG (Singapore).

During the internship, I was responsible for everyday news monitoring and media pitches writing. It was interesting to know that there were not many newspapers and magazines published in Singapore. The majority of the news, especially the leisure and entertainment magazines focused on the celebrities in Hong Kong. Singaporeans would use blogs as their major advertising platform, alongside with the local broadcasting companies in Singapore. Investors are willing to pay the bloggers to have their products advertised on popular blogs.  The massive income of advertisements could even make a blogger be the top richest person in Singapore!

Despite being new to public relations and the fast-paced nature of an international PR firm, I was given the chance to organize a business seminar. I wrote an email pitch to be sent to the listed companies in Singapore, inviting their CEOs and CFOs to attend a seminar on global investment. I also worked on final editing of the seminar invitation package for my team. An impressive number of respondents attended the seminar and there were considerable plans in place to bring forth new projects in the future. This valuable experience only improved my analytical and writing skills, it also opened my eyes to the social structure and formal etiquette in the business world.

Overall I have gained a better understanding of the PR industry, especially in the Investor Relations stream. One of the most important things I have learned is that flexibility and creativity are essential elements of success in the PR industry. Multi-tasking has become an important skill in the workplace. Joining an internship programme actually helped me getting prepared for my future career and enriching international perspectives of the workplace.  There are various summer internship opportunities offered by the COL, Department or even outside companies. Take your time, pay attention to internship programme announcements and plan for your next summer!