March 16, 2018
I started my Public Relations internship post college graduation. I was looking to change my career path and found that I needed more experience in the field. I found the PR internship at Meridian Group and it was exactly what I was looking for.
The fact that I am out of school meant that I needed an internship that could be flexible around the part time job I am working. Meridian Group was very willing to work with my schedule and gave me hours that worked best for me.
I am currently the only spring intern at the Meridian Group, and while that means I have a lot of work to do it also means that I have the opportunity to experience working with a bunch of different people within Meridian Group and with the different clients with which each of them works. I work on a lot of projects, but my time is mostly spent focusing on three main responsibilities.
First, I work on building media lists. Media lists are incredibly important in the world of PR. You need to carefully research the people you send pitches to. You can’t just send a pitch into a black hole of random people. The topic won’t always match the focus of what a lot of professionals are looking for and you could risk them cutting ties with you if you send them too many unrelated pitches. You only want to send a pitch to people who write specifically about the topic you’re pitching – that’s how you’re most likely to get the most attention. That’s where I came in. I am responsible for researching and building lists of potentially interested journalists for multiple topics.
Second, I assist with coverage reports for several clients. Coverage reports are crucial to clients because they lay out every piece of coverage their product/event received during a campaign. It shows the client the impact that the coverage has on objectives and target messages.
Third, I am responsible for publishing events for different clients within every relevant online event calendar.
At Meridian Group, I am gaining insight into how an agency functions and how it maintains relationships with clients. One of the best parts about this internship is that you’re given a task to complete and sent on your way. You check in with your supervisor from time to time, but there isn’t someone constantly hovering. Someone is always around to help you if you need it, but you have the liberty of doing your own thing and working on a project however it works best for you.
If you are considering an internship at Meridian Group (or anywhere for that matter) I would suggest these three things:
Ask Questions
If you don’t understand something it’s better to have someone take a few minutes to help you understand than to do it all wrong and have to start over.
Treat your internship like a job
Come in on time and work hard at whatever job you’re assigned. If you run out of projects don’t be afraid to ask for more. Definitely don’t just wait for someone to come up to you.
Enjoy it / Make it worth your time
If there is something you want to learn or something you want to do more of, ask for it.
Molly
Spring PR Intern