Think Outside the Box: Internships

It's about the time that college students are applying for fall internships, if they haven't already.  I've been looking around at internships suggested by classmates, emailed to me by my advisor, and posted online--the usual places.  Then a coworker at my current internship asked me if I had ever worked at a TV station.  She encouraged me to apply for internships at local television stations because of the experience it would bring me. 

Interning somewhere like a television station is beneficial to aspiring PR pros for a lot of reasons.  You'll learn the ins and outs of broadcasting.  Knowing the jargon and being able to find your way around a station will definitely come in handy. It will also show that you aren't afraid to explore your options.

Some other great places for PR students to intern while they have the chance would be newspapers, marketing firms, and advertising agencies.

By working at a newspaper you're going to gain a lot of great contacts, as well as learn how a newsroom works so that you can more effectively communicate with reporters later on in your PR career.  Working at a marketing firm can provide you with a different way of looking a PR issues since, let's face it, marketing and PR are frequently lumped together.  Finally, working at an ad agency is a great way to dip into the creative side of things.

You'll come out of any of these types of internships with broadened horizons and a little something extra on your resume that other people might not have.  It's important to realize what area of PR you want to focus on and get an internship in that, but it's also important that you think outside the box sometimes.