So you’re a journalism or communications student who’s almost done with your college education, you’ve taken all of your core classes, you have a few small internships under your belt and you think you’ve learned all there is to learn about the industry, right? Wrong. There are several things you need to keep in mind before you self-title yourself a strategic communications guru.
As my internship with WordWrite Communications comes to an end, to say that I’ve learned a lot about the public relations industry is an understatement. I now fully understand why internships are more than just having something to put on your resume: it’s real-world experience that can’t be taught in the classroom. As a journalism student and public relations major who will be returning for my fourth and final year as an undergraduate in the fall, I get a lot of mixed messages on how to best prepare myself for a full-time job upon graduation. From the very start of my college education, I have been told that internships are the most beneficial tool to landing a job in PR, but then I’m required to take eight credits worth of biology, so what gives? I understand that college is about becoming more well rounded, but I’d rather become more knowledgeable in the career I’ll be in for the next 40-plus years than knowing the difference between meiosis and mitosis.
As much as colleges and universities are trying to integrate their different journalism sections and make classes practical, there’s no substitution for going out there and doing it. Sure, I’ve learned almost everything there is to learn theoretically about public relations in the classroom and I’ve had some great professors, but there comes a point where doing hypothetical PR projects can only give you so much practice. The most practical and beneficial skills I have learned throughout my college career have been instilled in me in just my past three months at WordWrite, and sometimes, it’s the little things that count the most.
The most important things I’ve learned at WordWrite:
- How to send a press release to the media
- How to use Cision. Cision is a great tool for anyone working in PR or advertising. Essentially, it is an online database of all media outlets, along with the staff and contact information for all of the outlets listed. It’s easily navigated, so you can narrow down your search by topic, location and target market. This will make your life a lot easier when searching for media contacts or guest blogging opportunities.
- How to create social media calendars
- How to prioritize your work. This may seem obvious, and most people already believe they are good at this; however, working for a PR agency is a lot different than balancing homework with jobs and other activities. Not only do you have work to be done for clients, but also the agency itself. Some weeks can seem unmanageable unless a work plan is fleshed out.
- Nothing is in exact textbook format. Don’t expect it to be.
- You will have technology issues. It’s even more annoying in real life than it is before giving a presentation in class.
- How to bill your time. In an agency, everything you do for a client is billed to them and must be tracked carefully.
- Things won’t go according to plan. This is cliché, but true. In PR we’re molded to have very Type A personalities and firm plans. Expect for your plans to go awry from time to time.
- LinkedIn is much more than slapping your resume on a web page and hoping employers will see it.
- Inbound marketing and search engine optimization tactics are a whole other world that has yet to be taught at the collegiate level.
To my fellow PR, advertising, communications and journalism students, my advice to you is to not just get an internship because that’s what your adviser said you should do. Look for a meaningful internship that fits with your career goals and that will actually teach you about your career with real-world experience. It’s easy to become internship-hungry and just stockpile meaningless ones on your resume. Don’t lose track of what they’re really about. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people come out of an internship and say they didn’t learn anything or that they now realize they don’t even like the field they are in. If you take my advice and learn about what you’ll actually be doing in an internship rather than blindly apply for ones because you’re told to, you’ll be far ahead of the curve when it’s time for the job search.
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Rachel Borowski is an intern for WordWrite Communications.
