5 Ways to Stand out During Your PR Internship

Making a positive impact on your team is extremely important, especially if this is your first time working in a professional environment. Typically, an internship is your first stepping stone into your career, so it’s important to put your best foot forward. Showing off your best professional self is so critical, especially in a competitive industry like Public Relations. Take advantage of the opportunity and make sure you leave with everyone knowing who you are! I recently completed my internship with FAULHABER, and as I step into a new coordinator role, here are my biggest tips to make your internship successful.

Showcase your strengths:

Your strengths can come in many variations. If you’re not sure what you’re really good at, take a look at your past work or school experiences. Where did you excel? Are you creative, organized or a fast learner? Everything that you have done before can be extremely valuable, especially in a PR agency setting. Tasks can vary from putting together a package, organizing a room, drafting an email or putting together a report. Find ways in these tasks to show off your strengths and ensure that your work is completed with polish! You may even learn some new strengths that you can show off and be proud of the work you’ve done.

Build trust:

As much as building trust may sound like a cliche, it’s an important element when it comes to your relationship with your managers. A great way to build trust is to complete a task within the time limit you may be given. Completing tasks efficiently shows reliability which is always needed in times of urgency. If your team can trust that you’ll get a task done without supervision, you’re actively building a great reputation for yourself and people will take notice.

Communication:

Effective communication within the media industry is one of the most important skills to develop. In a PR agency, you will likely be working with multiple different team members, so it is important to build good habits early. Staying in contact with those on your team, quickly responding to someone’s message and giving clear and concise answers are great examples to help stand out during your internship. If you’re not able to reach a deadline, it’s important to communicate that with your superior as early as possible in order to receive support. Strong communication also builds trust as it shows you provide answers quickly and are not afraid to speak up when you need help.

Take initiative:

Don’t be afraid to offer help – someone may really appreciate it. Even if it’s just a small task, it’s one less thing that needs to be completed. Helping others shows that you’re a team player and willing to take on new opportunities. Sometimes, people may not even need assistance but knowing that you were willing to help is a great way to shine within your internship.

Ask questions:

Asking questions for clarification never hurts. It’s better to be safe than sorry, especially when completing an important task. Asking questions also shows that you care about the assignment. Learning about your peers is important as well! Ask your team about their career path or what they’re passionate about. People love to answer questions about themselves, you can build your network from these conversations and you might receive some words of wisdom.

I hope these tips help you rock your internship because they definitely helped with mine! Let me know if this helped you in any way, I’d love to hear all about it!