- Relation to Work Plan
The work plan is based on the work I participate in with the External Relations, Communication Center at Qatar University. The work covers 80 hours in the social media unit at the External Relations Department. In the first week, we met the manager of the External Relations Department to discuss the work and units. After the discussion we agreed that individuals will work in several sections but within the same unit. I was assigned to work with the social media unit as the main work in my internship course. In addition, I worked with web content section in which I edited web-contents, which were not as interesting at the beginning. This is because the editing of web-contents is not part of my work place. However, I found the duty very interesting as it led me to work with more than one section. This was useful since it caused an increment in background skills and the acquisition of more information or knowledge. The knowledge and skills can assist me later in life and especially in the type of job role I will work in after graduation. The skills gained from the work place arose from an exmploraiton of social media tools like tweetdeck, which formed the prominent part of the work. Other social media tools in use were Flickr, Facebook, Intagram, and Microsoft office programs, excel, and Microsoft word document editor.
- Work Details
The major work duties were social media and web content editing. Prior to beginning the social media duty, I met with the student employee Basher, who was hosting the social media section. He explained to me the use and concept of social media and the role they played as an external relation work to improve the image of the university. Basher also showed me how to use everything in the social media and how to create a contact between the social media and student and external public. Therefore, I learnt how to make use of “Tweetdeck” to tweet on every issue that is concerned with the university like news. I also learnt how to check and answer to all tweets coming from the external university environment like the public, and the internal environment like students. I also learnt how to make use of Facebook and how to navigate through is window. I gained skills and knowledge on how to check and answer comments from students and the public. In addition, I was trained and made use of instagram to check and evaluate photographs students upload through the social media tool. The skills learnt in using instagram are also applicable to the use and management of Flickr since it is a media site for sharing photographs.
Apart from the social media sites, I also worked as a web content editor, which is the editing of content, evaluation of content searching for errors, corrections, and new information or updates to content. In my capacity as the web content editor is also worked on evaluation and correction of content that led to wrong website links. Therefore, I also paid attention to the correction and fixing of web content, along with the advertisement of related content and information in each section concerning every college. Evaluation and correction of content involved the identification of wrong details about the college, registration, subject, or false and old information concerning a doctor. The details being corrected and in the web content editing job, as assessed with Microsoft Office program.
I have gained many skills and knowledge from working as a web content editor. Skills that have been acquired and improved in this role are like the use of communication technologies. The work title also entailed the attendance of workshops that created valuable experiences in the web content developer. Besides this, the main lesson I learnt as a web content editor was the various designs applicable on various websites. In this workshop, I was challenged to create and develop an interesting and unique design for the web content editor page. The workshop’s designer Fatma from the design section and external relations department imparted these skills. I was able to gain my learning objectives in the workshop, since I could understand the different aspects which determine the applicability and usability of a website. Secondly, I also enjoyed gaining the skills of public speaking at an academic forum, in which I was a volunteer. The skills I gained were from the conference “the annual meeting” held at Ibn Khaldoun Hall, where I learned how to prepare the hosting of conference. This takes into account all aspects required for the organization of the event of such a magnitude. The major tools or technological items that assist in the internship work assignment were a digital camera and laptop.
The internship work assignment was easy to work in since all employees gave the interns the power and ability to carry out duties to their best of abilities. This dynamic has benefited individual interns since the employee were able to answer their queries ad questions on issues they were not familiar with. To write the tweets, I made use of a literary piece I have written earlier in the course, “Media Writing,” that gave the best directions on how to write a tweet. The main language of communication, writing tweets, and connecting via social media is Arabic. The language was mostly used in communicating between my colleagues, supervisor, and employees that assisted in the internship process.
I made effective use of the Microsoft Office programs in the web content editing and social media forums. I made use of Microsoft word to write and organize the comments and tweets prior to posting them on Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. The Microsoft Office program like Excel, was used in the creation and organization of tables of contents especially in the editing of web content. A tool like Tweetdeckprogram is similar t the social media platform of Twitter. The main different between tweetdeckprogram and twitter is the need of downloading the application for ease of use in the organization. This too is useful for it allowed for the creation of tweets, the reception, and checking of replies to the tweets from students and the public.
- Interpersonal/Communication Skills
I did not face any problems or challenges in the internship because the colleagues and clients were kind and helpful. This is because there was an open communication policy in the workplace. This was also increased by the fact that I knew my colleagues and was already friends with many of them creating a family in the workplace. The only challenge I faced was my ability to deliver quality edited, web content. This is attributed to the fact that I have never worked as a web content editor, hence I was not conversant with web content editing skills and knowledge. To overcome this major challenge that has the potential to halt operations required for consultation with the web content editor, Miss Huda and academic advisor. These individuals played a central role in imparting the necessary skills and knowledge to handle web content editing roles as they made detailed explanations of the various aspects. The manner in which my immediate supervisor and the staff interact with the interns and I was effective. This is because the interaction could create a comfortable environment for working.
- Conclusions and Recommendations
Working as an intern with the company has assisted in my development and improvement in different ways discussed in this section. One of the important lessons learnt is the value of communication, and the value of learning how to communicate with different types of people. The skills of communication has proven useful in my development as I have learnt how to interact and how to answer different types of individuals, especially across social media and face-to-face communication systems. I also learnt the value of communication from the conference, in which I was a volunteer presenter. From the conference I learnt how to organize items prior to the conference, and how to welcome guests. In addition from the workshops held with Miss Fatma the designer, I gained my professional idea of designing. The points learnt in the process of the course have been applied to the presentations and in the creation of creative ideas from the workshop. The creative ideas I gained from the workshop improved my personal skills.
In the course of the fist week while working with Miss Huda in web content editing, I was not able to organize tables and content using excel. I made several mistakes at the beginning of the web content activity, but over due time was able to learn and create good tables with detailed content. At first, I was not sure I was going to deliver the best of abilities due to the difficulty of the project, but with the understanding of people the interns could obtain information from public. One of the skills I learnt from the college is the “Media Writing,” in which I learnt how to learn and apply details and items personally obtained from the course. The course and learning materials have taught how to write good and professional content both in English and Arabic, and the use of Microsoft office programs. There are several things I learnt during the training period. The main reason is the need for respect for all types of people while working. This also involves the need to learn how to communicate, how to politely play, and respect others.
Recommendations
As a public relations student I will improve on volunteering by working hard on communication skills that will help me after graduation. I will also improve my presentation and public speaking skills by attending many conferences, and gain skills that will assist in working in organizations. Organizations on the other hand must work hard in creating and developing training sessions. Having worked with the department, it is essential that they make improvements for the next lot of students. This is by organizing work in the department, addition of offices and personal computers for students under training, offer workshops to improve student’s skills and allow them to attend conferences. The goal of attending conferences it to improve communication skills, and from my point of view it will depend on the interaction between manager and student. I would not mind working in a similar organization in the same job role after graduation since the role is similar to my education and training. I am majoring in public relations and trained with social media which is closely related to the study at hand.
Attachments:
Pic 1- this is at the conference in Ibn Khaldoon hall on “Annual Meeting.” At first, I was an usher that welcomed and seated guests, answer questions about the conference and offer assistance.
Pic 2- this is the “Tweetdeck” program where I worked I the social media section.
Pic 3- some of the tweets that I wrote on Qatar university.
Pic 4- working as web content editor, some materials I fixed, as I found too old, and some were not working.
