Public Relations Internship

Future public relations specialists at those universities that have been able to reconcile the differences between marketing, advertising, and public relations will most likely have a better chance of being part of a public relations internship. Apart from the course of study a publicist has chosen to aid him or herself, the internship is a sure-fire path into a lucrative public relations position. The intern will come into contact with all manner of situations that will prepare him or her for the various tasks that comprise the publicist position.

The intern will be exposed to most of the daily routine of a publicist. This typically includes research, writing, media coverage analysis, and attending meetings both internally and with clients. It must be kept in mind that the primary role of the intern is to assist the publicists, not to become the publicist overnight. In fact, interns will most likely handle the more mundane tasks associated with the profession.

Expectations of the intern's ability to perform entry-level tasks will most likely run high. This includes information distribution to press organizations both locally and nationally, preparation of reports and analyses, the coordination of press conferences, and the development of general survey research. In short, the intern will most likely perform a large amount of legwork.

Apart from all of this, the intern will be expected to interact with all types of people, ranging from the kindest to the cruelest. The intern must be able to remove him or herself from the comments and criticisms that typically arise during any type of public relations involvement. It will be those interns with the greatest ability to process both quantitative and qualitative data that the firm will seek in the future, as it is this type of person that the intern must become in order to deal with every type of situation that will occur in public relations.