Melanie is a Public Relations Manager in Hong Kong, She grew up speaking French and English in Canada. 7 years ago, she moved to Hong Kong in pursuit of her career in this big city and picked up Cantonese (the local language in Hong Kong). After several years of hard work, she was able to speak Cantonese fluently and read Chinese. As a Public Relations Manager, she works with lots of clients and organizes some glamorous events. Let’s hear about her typical day of work and see how languages transformed her career and life.
Sharing from Melanie:
8:00am
Wake up, shower and read the morning papers. With many of our clients are headquartered in Europe or US, reading both international and local news is a must for me. And yes! Knowing Chinese is important as a Public Relations Manager in Hong Kong as I can understand better about the local affairs and business news.
9:00am
Arriving to work at eight-thirty gives me time to action any of the activities that have progressed overnight. By completing these before my ‘official’ working day begins I am able to focus on larger, important issues at 9:30am. This is also a great time to call contacts based in US, catching them just before they end their working day.
9:30am
Editing all the press releases in English. After that, I send these to translation houses to get them translated into different languages.
10:00am
Do media training for a French client as he is going to appear live on the news. I never thought I could put my French in use in Hong Kong before!
12:00pm
Attend business lunch with a group of local journalists.
2:30pm
As social media has become an important and essential tool for businesses, I spend quite a lot of time researching the topics and create content for our clients. I work with a local colleague to create content that suits the local market.
4:00pm
Working across my client accounts means conference calls often occur throughout my day. Regular client calls allow us to maintain communication and better understand client needs, intentions and expectations.
5:30pm
Emails arrive in my inbox continuously throughout the day, so at every opportunity I check to see if they contain any urgent actions. It is important to be able to prioritise activities and allow flexibility for urgent issues to overtake minor updates.
6:30pm
In the final hour at work I focus on completing as many outstanding activities as possible. This will mean a final check on progress across all accounts, making final calls to journalists following up coverage or pitches and sending off proof-read articles to relevant contacts.
7:30pm
If there are no urgent activities to complete, I will leave before 8:00pm. Then I will grab some food, do yoga or practice my Cantonese at night. Sometimes I will read some English literature to improve my writing skills.
PR is a tough job as it requires various skills. When I relocated to Hong Kong 7 years ago, it took me some time to overcome the challenges. Back then, I couldn’t speak a single word of Cantonese. Without knowing the local affairs, it made my job very difficult. Therefore, I decided to pick up Cantonese. After several years of hard work, I am now able to speak the language fluently and read local newspapers. It helps me a lot as I can communicate with local journalists and clients effortlessly. Knowing more than one language is not just helping my career, but also my personal life. My husband is from Hong Kong and most of the time we speak in English. But when I talk to his family, I am able to speak their language!
What are your career aspirations? Have you ever thought of moving abroad or working at an international organization? Get yourself prepared and create your own story like Melanie!
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