Five months later, I can confidently say that my time at ID Africa changed the way I see Public Relations. Not because I suddenly know everything about PR — please, I still have plenty to learn, but because I now understand what it actually feels like to work in it.
And I really can’t lie, PR is a LOT.
Some days were research and spreadsheets. Other days were writing, creating videos, developing ideas or staring at a piece of content wondering, “Okay… why is this not giving what it’s supposed to give?” And sometimes, I had to juggle several of these things in the same day. That experience taught me that PR requires you to switch gears quickly. One minute you’re analysing information, the next you’re writing, brainstorming or trying to make sense of something that looked very straightforward five minutes ago.
It also made me realise how much work goes into things that look very simple from the outside. A story, a social media post or a campaign might take only a few seconds to consume, but behind it can be research, conversations, feedback, revisions, strategy, monitoring and sometimes a good old “let’s go back to the drawing board.” I also became more comfortable with the parts of the work that aren’t exactly glamorous. Spreadsheets became less intimidating. Feedback stopped feeling like an attack on my entire existence. I learnt to ask better questions, pay more attention to details and, most importantly, trust myself enough to actually say, “I have an idea.”
And I think that’s one of the biggest things I’m taking away from these five months.
I didn’t just learn more about PR. I learnt more about how I work, I know what I enjoy, where I still need to improve, what kind of environment I thrive in and the kind of professional I’m gradually becoming. Of course, I still don’t have everything figured out. That would be a little ambitious after five months. But I know more than I did before, and I feel much more confident about finding my way from here.
Perhaps that’s the real value of an internship. You don’t just leave with things to add to your CV. You leave with stories, lessons, corrections, inside jokes, new skills, a slightly better understanding of spreadsheets and hopefully, a better understanding of yourself too. Five months ago, I was excited to get the opportunity and now, I’m grateful for everything it gave me: the work, the people, the learning curves, the ideas and all those little moments that made me think, “Wait… I can actually do this.”
I came to ID Africa to gain experience in PR. I’m leaving with a much clearer idea of what that experience means to me and thankfully, fewer questions than I came with.