As I begin to write this, it has been a whole 4 months, one week and two days since we started the Edelman Grad Scheme in which time, I’ve blogged three times. Uh-oh, I have some catching up to do!

Since my last blog (way back in October) I’ve worked with three fantastic teams who have all taught me various things about the world of PR and media relations that I had never considered in my pre-Edelman days. Since working with Digital, Healthcare and Consumer, I can honestly say that a Twitter feed is not just a Twitter feed, a drug announcement is not just a drug announcement and magazine coverage is not just magazine coverage.

In my time with Digital, I learnt how to write web copy for different clients with dramatically varying audiences (a Puma After Hours Athlete travel guide one day to a girlie music fan the next), gathered and presented social media insights for leading law firm Allen and Overy, online listened (yep, that’s a thing) for Shell and Covent Garden, helped out with community management tasks for the Dove Global Facebook pages and compiled a weekly newsletter for a global blue chip communications company. I also learnt the (very basics) of data and engagement insights and what they mean for a social media platform. Similarly, using Sysomos, Buddy Media and CoTweet on a daily basis opened my eyes to just how much work goes into maintaining a brand identity (and therefore a consistent brand voice) whilst increasing online engagement. My time with the lovely Digital team saw a visit from the guys at Facebook, many Knowledge Shares, a pub golf session, a karaoke-off, Krispy Kremes in abundance and a great event with a former Digital/Consumer client Best Buy where we, er, met Chipmunk. (Amazing!) 

Moving onto my time with Healthcare, I spent a great deal of time composing coverage reports for many different and dramatically varying Healthcare accounts such as Alder Hey Children’s Hospital, HIV drug Edurant, anti-depressant Seroquel, smoking cessation drug Champix, cystic fibrosis drug Vertex and coronary drug Brilinta. I also spent my time compiling case study research, completed a daily reports on Research and Development pharmaceutical news, learnt the importance of grammatical accuracy with daily CHAMPIX (the ever necessary capitals) reports alongside establishing a solid grounding of what consitutes ’client relevant’ news for the Global Vertex cystic fibrosis report. As the other grads have said, the not so healthy (but very, very lovely) Healthcare provided lots and lots of cake, a ‘classy pod’ Christmas decorating competition and lots of patient and friendly faces who made my Healthcare PR experience a thoroughly enjoyable one.

As for now, I’m currently in JCPR, Edelman’s consumer team who look after a range of accounts such as Puma, Xbox, Unilever and Shell amongst many, many others. To date, I’ve had lots of great varied tasks including sending out press samples, calling magazines to pull together research for speculative reader events, new business research for things as varied as researching historians one day to fruit baskets and Turkish food the next. I’ve also completed PureVia Media Relations, Xbox mounting, travel research, Unilever daily newsletters alongside many, many other things. From the music (last week we had a lot of Etta James, today drum and bass…) to the tasks, no two days in JC are ever, ever the same, something that most definitely works to their advantage.

However, the fun as an Edelman grad doesn’t just fall between the (non-existent) departmental walls, in the last three months we had an AMAZING Christmas party at Circus, numerous Gorkana breakfasts, an eye-opening training session in Crisis Management, a great one on one writing session with a former tabloid editor, a fantastic creative brainstorming session where we learnt to really get to the heart of a brand and a really great (I’m running out of superlatives…) training session with a Healthcare AD regarding best practice and managing client relations. I even brushed up my skills with an IT Power Hour (you should see my inbox now, I’m all over those rules!) and had a ton of online training to work through from My Edelman University (as of yesterday, I’m a black belt in social media….oh yes!)

I’ve also helped out at the Edelman Crystal Ball and Trust events and even got to meet some fellow Edel’s from Denmark and Germany who flew over to complete our worldwide TalentEd project (in which our campaign came second, yay!).

So, that’s the last three months. If you’re still reading and aren’t bound to me by birth, I’d take a pretty solid guess that you’re reading because you’re thinking of applying for the Edelman Scheme this year. Like I know Rosie said before, so much of what we experience as Edelman Grads really does make you feel incredibly lucky. You work alongside the best brains, on the best clients and get to see your awareness of PR and communications grow on a day by day basis. If you’re as lucky as us, you’ll also get a pretty great network in terms of your fellow grads who remain your constant lunch buddies in the whirlwind of being a perpetual newbie.

I’ve absolutely loved my time at Edelman so far and would encourage anyone to apply this year.