Summer work experience - PR work at Nobrainer agency

In coming to the end of my second year at university, I had become increasingly aware of the importance of finding an interest in something that could lead to a job post higher education. Having found it difficult to narrow down my interest in academics as a LANS student, I turned my attention to my favourite extracurricular activity - radio broadcasting. Having started a weekly breakfast show the year before, I had completely fallen in love with it. The freedom to talk about things I was interested in but also that were topical and current felt very refreshing.

PR seemed like an excellent way to continue this interest with its close links to journalists from all sectors. Not only this but PR also encompasses new skill areas such as marketing communications and public relations which though unfamiliar sounded interesting.

I was therefore very excited when I was offered two weeks of work experience at NoBrainer. Having read about the company on Prolific north, I felt intimidated by its success over the last 7 years. This fear however was completely unnecessary. Not only was the team kind and supportive but I felt really hands-on in my work from the get-go.

For me, the most exciting part of my experience was watching the meetings and negotiations between clients and journalists. An example of this was arranging exclusives between the BBC and Big Heritage's U boat site. This showed me the people behind the broadcast and all the roles involved. In watching Tom (an employee at Nobrainer) coordinate the meetings, I was able to learn the importance of preparation and communication in ensuring both parties were happy with our services.

I was also able to develop new skills such as writing press releases. I picked up the tone and vocabulary that should be used in professional publications, something I had not yet been able to try in my studies.

Work experience also introduced me to databases such as Roxhill when accessing the contact details of relevant journalists. This helped me realise the importance of networking in PR and encouraged me to create a LinkedIn account to continue to see professional exchanges even after my experience.

In writing socials for various different companies and social media sites, I learned how I had to change my writing approach depending on the situation. Members of the no-brainer team were very helpful in telling me how to differentiate the posts based on the site (e.g. Twitter or Linkedin) and the image that each client wanted to portray on social media. It felt slightly surreal to see posts I had written on official company socials.

Probably the most helpful part of my experience was helping with the write-up of the monthly review. I was able to see statistically the benefit of maintaining a consistent social presence in order to maintain and increase engagement. It really solidified to me the importance of PR roles in marketing.

Before starting at Nobrainer for work experience I had expected to be taking coffee orders and loitering around awkwardly as students often end up doing as part of work experience. This however could not be further from the truth. I am very grateful to Gary and the rest of the team for being so accommodating and allowing me to help with their work with no judgement of my lack of experience. Not only did it give me insight into a potential career but relieved anxieties I had surrounding work social environments. I am confident that this experience has given me tools that I can use going forward in my future career in years to come.