Placement, Communications Assistant at Air Products

I haven't written for a while so thought I had better catch up!

I am currently on my sandwich placement year at Air Products, based at the European Head Office in Surrey, as a Communications Assistant and I love it!

Air Products is an industrial gas company, operating in more than 40 countries with 21,000 employees globally.

I am situated within the Corporate Communications department which has responsibility for corporate messages, speeches, and announcements to internal and external audiences, while forging long lasting community relations. My position is split between three communication areas; internal employee relations, community relations, and external corporate relations reporting respectively to Joanne Hills, Nicola Wilson and Guenaelle Holloway.

I have numerous daily tasks, for all areas, and some exciting individual projects, including:

• CorpNEWS – Our daily employee newsletter. My role includes editing, constructing, and sourcing articles and images before in putting them on to the intranet ready to be emailed daily to our European employees..
• CorpNEWS Round Up – Our weekly employee newsletter, translated into eight European languages, detailing that week's organisational news stories for the organisation.
• Mid-week Mingles – A monthly forum where employees and high level managers meet to discuss organisational changes. I publicise the event, organise the venues and later formulate a report, for all employees, from notes taken during the event.
• Coordinating the Science Ambassador programme – We have Science and Mechanical engineers who visit schools to conduct visual Liquid Nitrogen experiments. We also have a website and are currently working on a training programme and teaching pack for schools to be rolled out across Europe.
• Coordinating the Manchester Camerata partnership – Within my placement we have organised a VIP event in Manchester. We recently held our first Employee Charitable Excellence Awards highlighting the work of our employees within the local community.
• Charity requests – I manage any charity requests that arise, evaluating any requests for financial help and forwarding any project ideas I have to Nicola Wilson.
• Load Movements – Large loads are often moved from our North Wales site to Ellesmere Port Docks. I construct and distribute press releases, and to accommodate the specialised "Load Movement Watchers" audience, we are constructing and will soon launch a Facebook site diarising all load movements along with official and exclusive images of the loads.
• Press Releases – I assist and manage the construction, distribution and chasing of press releases. I also coordinate the logging, filing and distribution of press cuttings ensuring they reach the correct business areas.

   

During my placement I hope to expand my skills in several areas of public relations including:

• Events management - I have already conducted events (the VIP Manchester Camerata event and monthly forums) but have a number of events planned where I can learn and improve my skills.
• My writing skills - I find writing for both different audiences, and purposes, challenging. I am taking a CIPR Writing for Impact course and hope that the continuous writing of press releases and internal news will also help me to improve.
• New media channels - I wanted to learn how this could benefit the business, and have booked a CIPR new media breakfast session. I will share my findings with the rest of the team during my monthly training session, where I highlight any new aspect of news media that I have researched.

 

I have been able to participate / manage so many interesting projects so far and I am only half way through! I feel that I am now at the stage where I am fulfilling my everyday tasks and duties with ease on my own so am now able to take a step up and expand my workload and also increase the standard of my work!