Day 5, 14/4/14

Day 5 was another day I spent dedicated to the all-consuming Excel task. It wasn't particularly difficult, it just required a lot of time, you had to be focussed so that you weren't doubling up people when compiling the list of colleagues who had read the email. i also had to be sharp to make sure that I was collating the right dates into the right week and adding up all of the figures correctly. Presenting it effectively was also key, I had to make sure that the clients were separate from the internal employees, that each section had a total and also that each week was colour coded. 
I finally completed that task before lunch today and felt very satisfied as a result, like I had achieved something because it had taken so long. Although the task was somewhat tedious, I still enjoyed it, working for a while on one task is a nice way to work. However, I did feel like I was perhaps being too slow at points because I worked on it for 2 days, but in the end Olivia said it was perfect so I felt accomplished. Last week I was given a lot of smaller jobs that I cracked through fairly quickly, which wasn't perhaps as fulfilling. 

After lunch, I started the task I was given by Emma to do as relief from the Excel work. I didn't want to be doing more than one job at a time, although that's the way I usually work on assignments, as I feel like i'll be more efficient and successful working on one at a time. Plus, the tasks aren't mundane at all so I don't need to flick and change, that would have an adverse effect, distracting me and making me forget things about the previous tasks. This new job involved going back on to PR's best friend Gorkana database and  finding clips from various magazines and newspapers to find pictures from 30 days ago where our client Cash Converters was displayed as the sponsor for Hull FC and Motherwell FC. This was fairly simple, I literally had to flick through and then save a picture where a footballer is wearing the shirt.

The structure of the day seems fairly similar (at least for me as I don't attend conferences, meetings or client visits). I find it quite enjoyable to sit at a desk all day and do PR tasks, it's definitely something I could get used to. It's just the constant communication through all areas that I would find difficult, but once I was comfortable and confident in the job, that would be easier. In my holiday job at Currys and PC World, I used to be nervous about answering the phone or calling customers (especially when it was bad news) but having done it so often, it's no longer a challenge. Working at a desk certainly makes me feel important and professional so perhaps I am ready for adult life! 

I was approached in the afternoon by Claire, who wanted help with a task. A company called Nuko wanted some information about social media influencers and bloggers who were discussing tea and coffee. I had to find and research these people so that Nuko could learn more effective and modern marketing techniques and channel these towards their desire for a campaign of their own to win new businesses. This is another longer task that is likely to span a few days of the week. It requires me setting up another Excel spreadsheet to categorise and contain all the information I collect.This can then be saved and shared amongst colleagues in Remarkable.