European B2B PR Assistant Review

I've had an absolutely fantastic time in my role here this year. I've been working in a part of the company that is growing and is a major part of what the top management sees as Panasonic's future (B2B) so compared to the other student roles in the consumer division my experience has been very different. I've been able to represent the company in ways that I haven't done in any of my other part time jobs, as well as function very much like a permanent member of staff with a good degree of autonomy.

Our team is very small and close knit. The nature of the job means you work with multiple product categories, so there is a lot of crossover with those respective teams as well. I've been counted on and trusted to deliver on a lot of different tasks, including creating collateral content, press releases, case studies and stuff for the website. Nearly every press release the B2B part of the company has sent out I've either written, or had a major part in, so it's far from many other placements and internships where you're doing glorified administration work.

I sit right next to my manager so naturally through the course of working you receive feedback and have the opportunity to ask questions, discuss things and so on. The placement scheme has been running for a number of years so internally as a company people are very used to working with you and recognising that your experience is limited and as a result need a bit more help and explanation.

Day-to-day there's always something to be getting on with, and there have been frequently times where I've been extremely busy. And if I've covered everything that's come by my desk, I've been able to ask if there's anything else and always gotten it.

At least in my bit of the company (Panasonic is massive) I've been treated very much like a permanent employee, given the autonomy to go out on case study customer visits and on the stand at trade shows, representing the company and dealing with media enquiries that come in. I've been responsible for organising journalist meetings at events and liasing with them to make sure nothing clashes, supplying images and further information for products that we might have been launching, and so on. It's very much a full media relations role if you take up the opportunities that are there. I've also had a company laptop and phone, and have had the use of company rental and pool cars for any work trips I've had to take.

The skills developed during the placement take place very much on the job, there is some training obviously in certain systems that we use but useful things like product knowledge and so on you pick up just with time. The year has given me a massive insight into the role of PR in a large company and the value things like case studies have in terms of being able to keep talking about a product lineup that doesn't change every month.

Our part of the office is relatively quiet but that's simply because we have a lot of staff that are remotely based, and maybe only come in occasionally to hotdesk. However it's not like there's this oppressive atmosphere; if you have a question you can speak up quite freely, it's hardly a library-like atmosphere or anything. There is a good rapport within teams and a lot of people that put serious time and effort into their roles, which is inspiring to see and is something that you can learn a lot from.

The previous year's students play a big part in recruiting the next year's students, so I was partly interviewed by the student that I replaced and they shortlisted me for interview initially. The placement scheme has been running for many years so the process is very well established by this point. When I applied there was a student in the HR role that actually organised all the initial meetings and contact in my first few weeks, as well as the actual assessment centre and interview itself, so I suppose the experience of this depends on whoever happens to be in that role at the particular time you're applying.

This really depends on the systems you need to use in the role. For my role personally I use a web-based dashboard a lot to create case study content and push news articles to the website, so getting to grips with that was important. As a company they also use Marketo and Salesforce a lot, so if there is any contact with that in the role in the future then obviously there is training given. There's a specific analytics specialist in the company that knows these systems inside and out, so when the time comes for training you're booked in with her either in person or via a video call or something.

There's no specific graduate scheme but there are a lot of people within the organisation in the UK that were previously placement students, graduated and then came back when a role came free. Obviously if down the line you're applying for a job there and you have that year's experience already at the company that's going to bode extremely well for your prospects.

In any given year there's a group of about ten or so placement students that they take on so we have two houses that we just share and then share lifts into work. Also everyone takes lunch together as well so there's the opportunity to form some friendships and contacts. It's definitely better than being the only student or person your age at the company.

The office is in Berkshire and the students typically live in Reading because there's plenty of accommodation going there for the university. You're close to London so living costs might be a bit higher than in other parts of the country but you're paid more than enough to get by.

Most of the students live in Reading which is a university town, so there's a few good places to go out. You're also close to London too which is a direct train, so there's all that to explore too. All in all pretty good. Reading is well positioned for a lot of other places that aren't that far away either, like Bristol, Oxford and the south coast so for gigs and stuff there's a lot of potential.

There are a few charity things the office does and they encourage you to get involved in, and because it's a very European team we had a dinner at Christmas in Paris, which wasn't bad! As a group of students we've gone out a few times and done stuff so that adds to the experience too. I suppose it depends on whoever you end up on your 'intake' and what they're like.