To celebrate National Apprenticeship Week, here’s insight from PPR Apprentice Tyler Smith about what a typical day doing an apprenticeship at a PR agency looks like. Tyler said:
I started my apprenticeship just over a year ago now and let me tell you, what a year it has been. Starting out, I had no real media experience and I had never worked in an office environment. Due to the pandemic, I finished my A-Levels early and was working part-time in a supermarket before I was blessed with the opportunity to become an apprentice at Prohibition PR – I was over the moon!
My first couple of weeks were a little challenging. I would find myself spending hours and hours researching and trying to work out the key terms that I now use in my everyday working life. But that’s all part of the learning process.
Now, I am a year in and I feel like I have come a long way from where I started. I now don’t have that constant feeling of confusion and worry; I am much more confident and proud of the work I complete. My fast development is down to the great team around me, always pushing me to learn and helping me refine my skills – I couldn’t have done it without them. So, I thought it would be a good idea to run through what a day in the life of a public relations and communications apprentice looks like. Here goes…
8 am
I start my day (the same as most people) by going over and checking any messages/emails that are in my inbox before cracking on with my usual morning jobs. My usual morning tasks include: looking at potential news stories relevant to the clients I work on, clipping any coverage that has been secured for my accounts, reviewing the ad accounts I work on, and optimising the campaigns accordingly. Then finally, I will take a look over my client’s social media pages for any comments or anything that is shareable.
9 am
Through my apprenticeship and attending PRCA webinars as a part of my course work, I have received many tips and pieces of advice on how to structure my day. The best piece of advice I have received is to do the biggest job first. This stems from Mark Twain’s famous quote of “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” So, therefore, my morning tasks are often the jobs it will take me the longest to do. These can consist of major national sell-ins, drafting an exciting new storyboard for an upcoming video for one of our clients, or completing a social listening audit for a quarterly report. Sometimes it can even entail planning events, or building client’s social media marketing campaigns
These jobs may not always take up my whole morning, but they often take up a big part of it – I often have multiple of these jobs to do at once so when I finish one task, I move straight onto the other. During this time, I will also often have internal catch-ups (whether online or in-person) with the team to discuss key actions on each of the accounts.
12:30 pm
This is usually the time I go for my lunch break – before this, I make sure all my accounts are updated and do a final check for any news coverage that has gone live from the morning. I do love lunchtime at Prohibition, not even necessarily because of the eating factor – mainly because it is an opportunity for the team to go on a nice walk or sit in the office and have a gossip about anything we have spotted in the news. It is always nice to take a break, but it is even better when you have a little chat and catch-up with the team.
1:30 pm
Moving onto my afternoon tasks, this is where I get the bulk of my workload done. As my larger tasks were completed in the morning, my afternoons are a mix-up of shorter jobs that I need to complete. Such as building some social media ad campaigns for an electric vehicle charging company, drafting a blog about what it is like to be an apprentice at Prohibition, or a press release about a new care home that is opening or packaging up giftboxes of gin and sex toys to share to influencers – the possibilities are endless!
3:30 pm
The final hour of my day is often left to complete any admin-style tasks that I have to do. Any social media report or filling in coverage trackers would fit into this hour. I feel that this is always a nice way to finish my day. In this time, I will also make sure that all my account managers have been updated with how I have progressed on my tasks whilst also making sure I have everything I need for my work tomorrow.
4:30 pm
This is when I spend some time wrapping up bits before my commute home and finishing off any tasks that need completing for the day.
The evening
As a public relations apprentice, I am required to work four days at Prohibition and then one day spent completing my course work for the PRCA. I spend some time on my evenings really getting stuck into my coursework as they are quite lengthy pieces of work that require a lot of time and attention. Sometimes it may just be doing some research so I can spend my whole course day drafting the content, reviewing the PR industry for any current affairs or anything that is trending, or it might be answering a couple of units towards my overall project.
I do feel very lucky to have this role at Prohibition and grateful that I have such a highly skilled team around me that really do take care of me. Anytime I need help or aren’t too sure, everybody is always on hand to offer their assistance and always take their time to go through and make sure I am confident in my work.
I have thoroughly enjoyed my first year at Prohibition PR and I look forward to continuing to learn new skills and grow into my role.
And we love having you on board Tyler!
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