By Nur Kamaliah Aminudin
GOMBAK, 16 May 2022: “The work is not as glamorous as we thought. There is a lot of hard work, tears, and sweat in order to get the job done,” shared Ms. Noor Azila Ahmad, a Communication practitioner with 25 years of working experience.
She highlighted this point when sharing her thoughts based on her personal experience as a communication practitioner in driving a wide spectrum of corporate communication, corporate rebranding, and public relations in a webinar titled “Truth Untold about Communication Practitioners” on Saturday (14 May).
Well versed in the areas of strategic marketing, campaign management, media management, and advocacy programmes along with government liaison, she possessed a broad professional network with various Ministries, government agencies, government link companies, and media organisations.
She highlighted the importance of communication in our personal and professional lives saying, “It is an important element that students need to face as the first step when they are going for an internship later on”.
She stated that branding, images, and good communication are a must for every student who wants to start working at the company.
“If you start at the wrong side of communication, people at the office would not like you and have different opinions about you which we are trying to avoid,” she added.
She explained that people who are working will often think about their job satisfaction, in this case is what we want to accomplish professionally and personally.
She agreed that personal branding is an important form of communication whereby nicknames used should be memorable, short, have a character and identity that signifies us.
Briefing the students on work culture in organisations, Noor Azila stated that things are quite different with corporate communication between private sector organisations and government agencies.
For private sector, she said, salutation is not a priority in the office except for those in higher position, while for government agencies, salutation is based on rank or position.
“Work culture is something that we need to be aware of and observe when we started working and this will help you with your communication,” Noor Azila expressed.
Therefore, she said, some people might like their work but not their work culture. Noor Azila, thus, encouraged the students to have emotional awareness to be more confident when working in the corporate world.
Organised by the Practical Training (COMM 4995) students as part of their subject requirement, this one-hour webinar was attended by third and fourth year students from the Department of Communication. Also present at the event was Dr. Shakira, the lecturer for Practical Training class (COMM 4995).***