7:00 AM My alarm rings, I’m awake. My day begins when I start scrolling through my phone to catch up on my social media favourites and get up to speed with what’s going on in the news and media, especially the financial world. Today’s particularly interesting because it’s Budget Day, and I’ve heard how hectic it can become for PR professionals as they rush to get the information to their clients, draft comments, wait for confirmation from their clients before quickly sending it off to journalists. The race to the front of the queue is real…I’m excited to see how my day is going to go!

8:50 AM I’ve had my coffee and toast, and I’m about to join the daily Vested morning call. This is when my lovely colleagues and I share what we’ve seen in the news – this time, from me it is about COP26 developments and of course, the Autumn Budget – and our schedule for the day. 

9:30 AM After the internal call, I begin drafting a briefing note for a spokesperson who will be meeting with journalists attending COP26. I spend 30 minutes on the draft before jumping onto another client call, where I make sure to take notes and drop down any actions that emerge. After the call ends, I help with a research task for another account. 

12:00 PM It’s already noon in the blink of an eye! I see messages on Slack reminding me that Rishi’s speech is about to begin, and quickly search on Google for any live updates. I play the video in the background and listen for announcements on housing measures and pensions for my clients.  Things are moving very quickly at this point! My colleagues are pinging updates across different Slack channels and emailing clients and journalists simultaneously. 

2:00 PM Relative calm descends, as our comments are out and the coverage starts rolling in. I am responsible for monitoring coverage of our clients as it comes through. 

5:00 PM Budget Day was a success! We’ve managed to secure a comment in the national press for one of our clients, who has been telling us that they want to start expanding from trade titles to national ones. I quickly send a coverage round-up email to the client, before going back to any remaining tasks I have for the day. 

6:00 PM As I begin to log off for the evening, I am relieved and glad that my first Budget Day went really well – can’t wait until the next one!