'A Reflection on my Job Shadowing' by Prof. Pijush Dutta and Meghna Khurana
It was all same. From sitting at the office reception to the first day of college: Excited, Anxious but out of place, as if I didn’t belong here.
At 7, I was woken up by my alarm like any other usual day but what actually was unusual was my first day at the office. The Job Shadowing was in itself, an innovative concept for me and my colleagues too, I suppose plus a sudden jump directly from the classroom to a cubicle gave me weird yet a contented feeling.
“You have to be the shadow of Ms Pooja Pathak Ma’am for good 5 days” were some wise words from my mentor, Prof. Pijush Dutta, Program Director Apeejay institute of mass Communication just the day before joining. What will happen today? What will I be supposed to do? Will Pooja Ma’am, although my college professor, be hard on me? Whether I’ll be sitting next to her the entire day? All these thoughts overpowered me while on my way to the office. The sight of a director’s room, in my opinion, was always of a busiest yet a silent place to be in and thus, a similar situation was already built up in my mind. To my surprise, as soon as I stepped into the Director’s Room, the positive aura eliminated all those millions of stories racing inside my head. The way she took me on a journey of a 9 to 6 framework of a PR agency and of course the industry was the best guidance for me till date. I came with a bag full of question marks inside me but my day ended on a good note with a bunch of enlightening moments on the day 1 itself.
‘Is it a good time to talk?’ was surely the most heard sentence while sitting in my cubicle. From drafting the press releases to pitching the journalists, I learned everything in such little span of time. While on my working desk (which was more of an observing desk), I could get a picture of each team working together. At one corner, while one was gearing up for the video call, the stressed out ones with a cigarette in their hand, were always solving the issue of their stubborn clients. No, this is not all. The happy souls who used to hide their pressure behind their giggles, made this place even merrier and without any doubt, these chatterboxes made these ten days of my life, worth remembering. No matter it be about Public Relation, Client Servicing, Digital or Content, my conscious mind always wanted to know more each time each day. Media Mantra, in no time, was made a temple of learning for me.
Just like my idea of a Director’s Room, I came with many assumptions about an office but now, it’s the end of a journey here and sadly but actually my last day at work as the shadow of Pooja Ma’am, but without any regrets I’m taking along with me, a bunch full of learning and exposure and more than that, ‘Memories’. I got to know every bit of PR and the conventional thoughts of mine about an office- a serious workplace took a U-turn and just like technology, my outlook made a modern shift too.
