How to make the most of your PR internship

Earlier this summer I graduated from Leeds Beckett University with a first in public relations and brand communications. Throughout my time at university, I had the opportunity to gain hands-on experience through multiple internships, including a year-long placement at the PR agency Taylor Herring. I also completed a couple short-term internships in my first year, writing and publishing articles for entertainment and social media websites. While each internship provided new and valuable experiences, the idea of starting a new internship often left me feeling nervous. 

That’s why I have decided to write this guide – to hopefully help others entering the PR world to feel more confident and prepared, and to ensure you get the most out of your internship experience! 

SET GOALS 

Before embarking on your internship, it’s always good to have an idea of what you want to get out of it. Do you want to progress into an entry-level position at the company? If so, how could you achieve this? Are there any specific skills you would like to learn, or experience you want to have in the industry (eg writing press releases, setting up and attending a media meet, or attending a PR shoot)? Voicing these ambitions to your line manager will communicate your enthusiasm to get involved while demonstrating your proactive attitude to learning. 

DON’T BE AFRAID TO ASK QUESTIONS 

When starting your career in PR, it can become overwhelming learning so many different skills at once, and so it is vital you ask questions. 

If you need more direction on how to complete a task, asking your line manager can be a great way to ensure that your work is reaching the company’s standards, showing initiative to ask for help when needed. After practising those skills a few times, it will become a lot more fluent, and you will be more confident completing tasks without any assistance. 

TAKE NOTES 

When kickstarting your PR career you will be learning lots of new skills, so taking notes is essential; this might include Microsoft Excel hacks, PR terminology/acronyms, key media contacts, or key websites your company is subscribed to. Whether your notes are written down in a notebook or on your laptop, they will help you to save time and ensure you’re not asking the same questions over again. I found that having a document saved on my laptop with all the useful information I learned worked really well as I also had easy access to website links and contacts that I was utilising daily. 

It is also important to take note of your own personal achievements throughout your internship too. I found that doing this has not only helped me build a stronger professional portfolio but has also made interview preparation much easier. Having a clear, concise list of my contributions to PR campaigns allows me to more confidently recall and discuss my experiences, as my notes made at the time detailed all the necessary information. 

BUILD STRONG PROFESSIONAL RELATIONSHIPS 

Cultivating solid professional relationships is crucial in any role, but it’s especially important in PR and communications. Within this field, you will constantly be interacting with a variety of people - your team, other departments, clients, journalists, production crews and influencers. By developing and nurturing these relationships, you will be able to carry out duties for campaigns more seamlessly, pitch stories more effectively, and receive more honest feedback from media contacts for future pitches. In fact, in your next position, you might still find yourself communicating with the same journalists you built connections with in this internship. 

Make sure to also add your new connections and colleagues you work with on LinkedIn too. By establishing a strong network within the industry, you are more likely to hear about relevant job openings in the industry, and you might even be approached by some companies. 

BE PROACTIVE 

Whilst it’s essential to ask questions in a new position, it’s equally important to show initiative by independently improving your skillset and technical abilities. For instance, you could invest time in mastering Microsoft Excel shortcuts to boost efficiency for you and your team; read relevant industry reports, sharing key insights with your colleagues; set up an online blog to enhance your website design skills and deepen your understanding of SEO; or sharpen your ability to create engaging social media content, keeping up to date with current trends. I found that spending time independently practising my PR skills not boosted my confidence in the workplace but also helped me to develop specialised expertise. 

You should also spend some time each day keeping up to date with current news and PR campaigns relevant to the industry you are working in. Demonstrating this kind of understanding will no doubt impress your manager, alongside feeding into many areas of your job. These may include your contributions to creative conversations, having a better understanding for potential risks to brands you work with, and recognising key insights to highlight in client updates.  

To stay updated on PR campaigns, I recommend visiting specialised that focus on industry news, for example Famous Campaigns, Design Taxi, Little Black Book and The Drum. These websites will give you a better understanding of what makes a campaign successful, and what types of stories resonate with journalists, eg survey stories, influencer-driven campaigns, etc. 

By setting aside time to improve your own knowledge and skills, you will not only impress your superiors and wider team early on, but also learn relevant skills for future PR jobs, enhancing your employability. 

REFLECT ON YOUR INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCES 

Whether you are completing a short-term or long-term internship, it is vital that you reflect on your progress and individual experiences. Doing this will help put your progress perspective and evaluate the changes you can make to be more successful in this position or in future roles. Ask yourself: what have you achieved so far? What weaknesses can you identify? What can you improve on now for this internship or future roles? What have you enjoyed about working in PR? Do you enjoy working in this sector of PR or is there another industry you would like to explore in the future?  

Also take the opportunity to ask your line manager about their perspective. An outsider's perspective may indicate other areas of improvement for you to work on that you hadn’t considered. I also found that asking for feedback also boosted my confidence in other areas, as in the early stages of a new job I can sometimes be overly critical of myself! In a lot of internships there are often schemes put in place to provide feedback like this, however, if there isn’t then don’t be afraid to ask!

• Also written by Jess Gaynor: PR is a versatile career choice but it's still too male-dominated at the top