Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Confessions of a PR Intern

"Confessions of a PR Intern" by Natalia K.


I will be the first to admit that when I started my internship at Gramercy Communications, I was not well-versed in Public Relations. I had no experience, no references, and no real background in the field. But I knew I was a good writer, good with people, and had the confidence to land the position regardless of the aforementioned downfalls. What I didn't know, I would figure out – simple as that. Three months later, I still have my job and to my delight, I'm actually pretty good at it.


So far, I've learned a few very important lessons that I know will help me when my life as an MBA student is over and I have to get a "real" job. The first being what I had used to land the internship in the first place: confidence. But with that comes a disclaimer: confidence is good, cocky is bad. Sure, you need to be able to walk into a room and captivate your audience within 10 seconds of opening your mouth. But they don't want to hear about how great YOU are. They want to know what you're going to do for THEM. Simply put? Under promise and over deliver.


The next thing is to know your client. I've tagged along to several client meetings which have always been prefaced with tons of research and site visits, if applicable. Know who you will be dealing with, where they started, and where they hope to go. Tell them how you will help get them there. You'd never walk into a job interview without researching the company. This isn't any different.


Lastly, always be aware of your surroundings. People love to talk, especially those in PR and marketing positions. They want to know what you're doing, and how well you're doing it, especially if it's better than them. Be proud of your accomplishments after you've accomplished them; prematurely boasting of your successes can result in bad PR karma.


And you thought karma was only applicable to your personal life.


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Natalia K. is pursuing an M.B.A. at Union Graduate College and graduated with a B.S. in Marketing and Management from Siena College.