A number of young interns at my current and previous organisation would ask what they should look forward to learning during their internships, how they can set their career graph, etc. Being the friendly colleague, I’d give them a few tips whenever I could find the time. I wonder how many interns at other places must be having these same sort of questions.

So to all the young PR professionals, this is a list of the top 10 things you should learn during your PR internship, in no particular order:

1. Writing: It is said in PR, out of your total skill set, 50% should be verbal communication skill and the rest 50% should be good writing skill. Get to learn and write compact press releases, media pitches, invitations, etc. These are the basic writings that every PR professional should know before going to the advance stuff – white papers, case studies, speeches, etc. Make yourself good enough to have your drafts ready to go out to external audiences without any edits from your bosses.

2. Reporting and documentation: Get familiar with the templates – the daily media monitoring, monthly reporting, ad val analysis, media coverage analysis, minutes of meetings, etc. One might start sulking working on these but appreciate that all these have a purpose. When you grow in your career ladder, you should be familiar with all these terminologies. Every organisation also has its own standard templates. See what works and what does not.

3. Media networking: Now this is the learning you cannot afford to miss out. Networking skill is as important to any PR professional as writing skills. So here during your internships you start out reaching to the media. Accompany your colleagues on a media round and get introduced to as many journalists as possible. Exchange cards. You will get a mix response from the different set of journalists. Move on to the next. Get your own cards folder and fill it up with those of journalists’ you met.

4. Learning the protocols of the PR agency: Since this is probably your first stint with the corporate world, utilise your time to learn who’s who and how things work in your oganisation. Learn the official protocols and the unofficial ones as well. Observe how your colleagues behave with their seniors.

5. Organising a media interaction: Do write a pitch mail and send it to a journalist. Follow up on the phone ad see how it goes. Do you homework well before pitching. You can as well quote the number of media interactions you have organised for your clients when you finished your internship and apply for a regular job. At the stage of career you are in, this is probably the one of the best proof to drive home the point that you can deliver results.

6. Taking part in organising an event or a press conference: Just do all these, and you be in a different level than the one you were in earlier working in office. See the chaos, the confusion, tension, pressure, seeing the things you planned unfolding in front of your eyes, and the final sense of accomplishment of getting a job well done.

7. Issuing a press release: Can I give you a press release and rest assure that you can handle the rest? If not, you better learn fast before you finish your internship.

8. Learning about your clients’ businesses and their industries: Suppose you are given two client accounts to work on and you get yourself well familiarised with their businesses and industries, then in two years you might have handled around say four client accounts, and you are already a good resource, if not a budding expert on four industry sectors. Imagine how many clients you will handle in five years and how many industries you will be familiar with then. This reason aside, it is basic to know about your client business and industry, your next job interviewer might just ask you questions on you clients.

9. Learn about who’s who in the PR industry: Well , you need to know who’s who in the PR industry, which agencies are good and which have a bad reputation. What are the salary brackets available? Ask multiple people around. Don’t be too loud on that because someone may just fire you for that. If you don’t have all these information, there are 90% chances the next HR manager in the next agency will get you for a lesser amount of money than what you could have actually got.

10. Learn about how the media works and who’s who: Get to know how the media works – they won’t reply 90% of the times. You are gong to be the one to play thick-face. When you are following up for an upcoming press conference and the media say they will attend, you need to know whether that ‘yes’ is actually a ‘yes’ or a ‘no’ in disguise. Stuff like these.

(Bonus)

11. Read the India PR Blog: May God forgives you if you don’t. Everybody else reads.

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