Public Relations Internships
Public Relations Internships – An Overview
Public relations internships can provide very rewarding experience. The main goal of pursuing a PR internship in this particular area is to assist in the support of a business, whether it is for an individual person, a specific cause, a company, or possibly for a product. The means of providing this support can be in the form of providing both text and web based assistance. This includes pitching a story for your employer, creating press releases, question and answer sessions, presentations in varied formats, creating video scripts, and writing speeches. These ensure consistency with the company, individual, or product that you are being paid to represent.
Other common responsibilities for public relations interns may be to act as a spokesperson for the company they represent. Typically, a public relations intern can expect to make anywhere between $8- $12 an hour, with $16 an hour being on the high end of the scale. This may not seem like much in terms of pay, however, there is definitely room for salary growth.
The education area most people seeking public relations internships vary widely. Most places do require a bachelor’s degree, typically with majors like communications, journalism, public relations, marketing, or other equivalent degrees that match up well in becoming a public relations specialist. The best thing about internships in public relations is the chance to gain firsthand experience of the ins and outs of the industry. Interning is considered to be one of the best ways to get your foot in the door to becoming a public relations professional.
Companies Offering Public Relations Internships
So what kind of companies provides public relations internships? Here are some examples:
- DHL, a leader in express mail, offers many internship opportunities. A typical internship at DHL will include specific projects catered to your area of interest. You will also have a chance to get to know how DHL works as being one of the nation’s top express mail providers. An internship with DHL also tends to be on the higher end of the pay scale, ranging $14-$15 per hour. Most importantly though, this is the first step into gaining a career at DHL and also provides insight for the intern into what they wish to be their next career move.
- Another great place for internship opportunities is at Time Magazine. This well-known magazine was first published on March 3, 1923, is now one of the largest magazine publishers in the United States. Not only does Time Inc., the parent company, publish the news magazine Time, but they also have several other brands in lifestyle, business, sports, and other international publications well. So for someone seeking a public relations internship that offers a variety of options, Time Inc. would be ideal. With an average rate of pay of about $10.80 an hour and up to about $14, they would offer plenty of room for a public relations intern to grow.
Tips for Public Relations Internships
The ultimate goal of a public relations intern is to eventually become a PR specialist or to possibly pursue some other aspect of work in whatever entity that they work for. It is only by interning that they can decide whether or not this will be the best career path for them to choose. This is definitely a job that will be in high demand, with the emergence of social media online, the job of an intern has become even more crucial to the functionality of any business, individual, or company. With a median salary of $53,190 a year and salaries of $72,840 in the 75 percentile, interning to become a public relations professional can pay off big time.
Also, be sure to check out a great resource, the Public Relations Society of America, for more info.
You may also be interested in the following internships:
By Diane Barlow