Should internships be the best learning for Public Relation candidate?

An internship is designed to provide a student with consolidated insights into the practical application of academic knowledge. Working under the members of a PR agency will complement student’s capability to assess their own interest and potential for a career in PR.  It is pursued by the undergraduates and postgraduates to widen familiarity in their chosen area of work and learn to handle challenging situations in the real world.

Internships are like following training exercise that one must step-in to access and get exposed to professional setup. During the training exercise, a candidate is given the opportunity to hone up their PR skills and get exposed to a range of PR activities. In the course of an internship, every candidate must learn to take positive critic as a compliment for the work they have presented on their own and also give feedback when asked in response. It is during this internship period where one gets to observe and understand an important aspect of the work as well as adapt work culture. Completing an internship will only help one bridge the gaps between classroom theories and professional worlds as well as it gives an edge over our competition.

For a PR person to complete an internship is must because a little exposure to a particular work setting will only help one be confident enough to speak up and question when doubts arise. This way one is involved in a conversation that helps put across their view with a clear thought in their mind. It is through rigorous practice of communicating messages and dialogues across the different platform which will help build good media relationship with journalists.

Every day can be a learning experience for an individual, if only we focus on our job proactively and contribute to the team. It is important to be on time and follow the work etiquette and because that enhances our self-esteem and develop the personality. The following points below will outline how internships can be more than just a learning experience and help you understand how you will be well equipped than the others.

1. Writing Skills: For pitching media, we need to write good articles that will always catch the eyes of the audiences. For that we need to do complete background research on our client’s business that will not only help us understand the emerging trends in the industry, also it will assist us by acquiring knowledge about market sector related rising issues. Working with a variety of writing samples like a press release, features, articles, blogs post, case studies and other social media content on various topics for clients will allow you to increase the creativity.
2. Cultivate Right Message: PR firms deals with maintaining brand image for high net individuals and clients from major corporations, political parties, and government organisations etc. For these, any PR firm needs to understand the client’s business and create a story with a specific subject. These require a PRO to first segregate the target audience, narrow the right message to be delivered and communicate with the target media. Communication can be accomplished starting with the brainstorming sessions, coordinating activities such as representing clients at various forums, promoting events, attending conferences, scheduling speaking engagements, screening phone calls, assist with mailings, print productions, create interview preparation materials, update databases, press clippings and meetings.
3. Develop Media Relations: A client may belong to an industry like healthcare, education, IT, telecommunication, defence and MNC’s etc. The challenge that every company faces with its rivals in the industry is getting very aggressive and so reaching out to target audience becomes tougher. To cut it short, a client reaches out to a PR firm for securing its media coverage using selective mediums within radio, print, television, and digital media etc. Utilising interpersonal skills we can establish a good rapport with reporters, journalists, editors and other media personnel like social media analysts etc. These involve a clear understanding of the audiences and regularly updating them with engaging with a lot of researching, planning and copywriting.

All total this way a PR person can safely assure the client of the good return on investment.

” I have made so many mistakes but I have learned a lot and I’m confident to say he who never made a mistake never made any discovery.”                                                                                                                                                –   Bernard Kelvin Clive

About the agency:

K2 Communications Pvt Ltd – is India’s leading Public Relations agency headquartered at Bengaluru. Now in its 15th year of successful PR, K2 has registered its presence in more than 45 locations across the country as a public relations company rooted in India but with a global outlook. K2 has an enviable list of clients to its credit- Wipro Limited is the leader of our client brigade for more than a decade. The other names that we can boast of having a long-term association are Azim Premji University, BASE Education, Wipro Consumer Care & Lighting (FMCG), House of Hiranandani, Columbia Asia Hospitals, AO Smith and Trio World Academy, to name a few.

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