Looking for Public Relations internships for this summer, where can I find information?

Question

I'm looking for some information for interships this summer for Public Relations. I think an internship would give me the idea of what I'm getting myself into so I can make sure this is what I want. I don't know where to begin... a little help? Thanks :)

Answer 1

Assuming you are in the U.S., you might want to try looking into the PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America). Their website is www.prssa.org, and if you look at the careers section, they list internships. Wet Feet also seems to have a lot of internships in PR (www.wetfeet.com). A few more things to check out: depending on where you live, the following sites have internships in P.R. - Yahoo! HotJobs (www.hotjobs.com), www.showbizjobs.com, www.entertainmentcareers.org. Also, if you aren't familiar with LinkedIn, it is a networking site (similar to something like Friendster, but professional) with contains a careers search engine where I've found a lot of good jobs and internships for my students in P.R. Sign up, go to the jobs & hiring tab. If you don't have a network yet, it will kick over to their search engine, called SimplyHired, which draws jobs off dozens of other sites, and often has good things in this field (if you do have a network, it defaults to your network, and if it only gives you a few jobs that are listed in that network, you can request to look at SimplyHired. LinkedIn is at www.linkedin.com. Can you tell that I'm a prof who spends a lot of time looking for jobs and internships for my own students?

Answer 2

That's a great idea! I found out what I wanted to do after I graduated thanks to an internship also. Internships are almost always required for entry-level positions in PR anyway.

I found my internship through my college's career database. The school also has a career and internship counseling office, and I met with the adviser and she helped me out a lot. You can also try looking at PRSSA's Web site, online job databases or asking around. In this business making connections can really help, so ask family, friends and professors for any opportunities they might know about.

Try to keep in mind that working in PR isn't just about agency work. Some of the most rewarding jobs in the field are in corporations, hospitals, non-profits and government. I never would've found out that I enjoyed healthcare writing so much if it weren't for my internship.

Make sure you have a current resume, references and can write a persuasive cover letter. Be persistent too! It can be hard to find a good internship. I probably applied for 15 internships, interviewed for two and chose one! It can seem intimidating at times, but an internship is really the only way you can see if you like what you plan on doing for a career.