Summer has arrived and many students and recent graduates who aspire to work in the public relations industry are beginning an internship. Internships can provide an excellent opportunity to gain insight into a career in public relations and provide the experience and connections you need to get your first job.
During my tenure at BurrellesLuce, I’ve had the opportunity to watch successful interns move into entry level positions, and on to senior positions in the field of PR. The interns that succeed demonstrate professionalism and dedication early on, regardless of the task. If you are starting an internship in PR, you can expect to be given a range of responsibilities including:
1. writing press releases/ media alerts
2. research
3. updating and maintaining media lists
4. assembling client clip books and press kits
5. providing support at special events.
6. administrative duties
One responsibility that has been the subject of recent debate is the question of whether interns should be allowed to pitch the media? Jeremy Porter, Journalistics, recently cautioned against this practice, providing some excellent arguments against letting your intern pitch in a recent blog post. Becky Johns, a recent graduate of Michigan State University’s Communication Arts and Sciences program, offers 7 reasons to consider allowing interns to pitch the media to make a case for letting interns pitch. What is the policy at your firm?
Along with the responsibilities of your new internship, it is important to keep up with news about the public relations industry. For public relations interns who are on Twitter (and those who aspire towards a career in PR should be on Twitter), there are several hashtags you may find interesting, including: #pradvice, #printern, #pradvice, #entrypr, and #intern. As you look to advance your career, you should also have a presence on LinkedIn. Be sure to check out LinkedIn groups such as #PRintern | #Entry PR and PRSSA as well. Megan Lawler, Dittoe Public Relations, offers some additional “Do’s and Don’t’s” for achieving a successful public relations internship.
Of course not all internship programs offer the same opportunities. Have you had a positive experience as a PR intern? Does your firm offer an outstanding PR internship program? Please leave a comment and share what makes it great!
Great post! And, thanks for the shoutout, Valerie! In my experiences with MSU’s PRSSA chapter and several internships, I’ve gotten the opportunity to receive a lot of great PR training.
I was a PR Intern at Bear Enthusiast Marketing Group in Westlake Village, CA last summer and had a wonderful experience. I was able to jump in on most of the projects the PR team was working on, and left that internship with a much better understanding of what agency PR really is.
Currently, I’m interning at Delta Dental of Michigan and have also had a wonderful experience learning both internal and external communications and public relations strategies from a corporate/client-side view. You’ll be happy to know part of my job here is to utilize the tools Burrelles Luce offers for media outreach and building lists.
Excellent, Valerie. Brings back my own memory of 30+ years ago as an intern for the US Army’s Training & Doctrine Command. They threw us into the fire along with the “pros” and we survived and thrived! For unbridled enthusiasm and determination, you can’t beat an intern who hasn’t learned yet “it can’t be done”!
PR internships are a great way to evaluate student talent and get things done. I agree totally. My vote is to let the great interns pitch the media.
[...] the media. My BurrellesLuce colleague, Valerie Simon, mentioned this as part of her post, “Summer PR Internships: Preparing for Your Future” several months ago, but I’d like to expand on that mention and get your [...]