Hello!
Today I will be telling you about my internship experiences during my studies of Communication Science. It is mandatory for us to do an internship during our studies which is a great opportunity to get an idea and some practical experiences in the field of communication science. So first of all, where did I want to get practical experience? Definitely Marketing and PR! This steered me to search for PR agencies and PR departments of brands everywhere in Amsterdam. Additionally, another criteria for me was that I would love to get my experience in a fashion-related agency. After quite some research and tons of applications, I got accepted at a PR agency for fashion and luxury brands as a PR Intern at IVY LEE Amsterdam.
So my first advice for everyone looking for an internship: Start early with your search and you have to expect to get barely any answers back. Sometimes you are lucky to get a rejection but most of the time you won’t hear anything at all. Therefore, send out a lot of applications to agencies that you would love to work at and be creative with your applications and motivational letters, this way you might be lucky and stand out from the thousands of applications.
The first week of my internship was a bit stressful and complicated as the colleague that I was supposed to work with was sick and thus no one really knew what I was supposed to do or could teach me how to do my tasks. However, the reports had to be sent out anyway and that was one of my main tasks. I got thrown in at the deep end a little but that as well allowed me to get a lot of responsibility right from the start. Furthermore, did I prove my colleagues right from the beginning that I was able to bear that given responsibility which was great. Therefore, my second advice: don’t be afraid to bear responsibility on you right from the beginning, that way you can prove what you are capable of and will hopefully be treated as a full working person rather than the intern that can serve you coffee.
After a while, I got into my routine and was able to do my tasks without any help. My main tasks were to check social media, print, and online magazines for any coverage of the brands that we have in our showroom and that we gifted to Influencers, lent to stylists or celebrities. This meant to watch through magazines, online magazines, online blogs, Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube to find any relevant clipping and to save it. Further, my daily tasks were to take care of the showroom and interact with stylists, influencers, or anybody who stopped by at the showroom. This contributed largely to my network building throughout the internship as I was the main contact person in our office. At the end of each month, reports had to be sent out to the clients, which was my task to finish them on time and the way they asked for, this was either a PowerPoint and Excel sheet or both of it.
Covid-19 did change my internship structure, and, of course, changed my network building and interaction with my colleagues. However, it was quite easy to work from home and I was able to do all my tasks from home as well, expect the tasking care of the showroom obviously. Unfortunately, press events were canceled which would have been interesting, but on the other hand, some opportunities came up which I had to work on, as one brand did organize live streams with Influencers, were I had to help to find and get in contact with the perfect Influencers.
The internship helped me to get practical experience in my studies and taught me how I am in a working environment. And it should me that PR work is the work that I aim to do after I finished my studies. This experience was positive for me as well as I got a lot of responsibility as the agency is quite small and they don’t follow a hierarchy rather a more familiar way which was super nice and fun most of the time. I would recommend anyone interested in PR to work in a PR agency that is smaller, that way you will get a lot of insight and responsibility. Further, always speak up if you have an idea! That’s something I was taught in my internship, as no idea is a bad idea, sometimes it just does not fit but every idea is good for a brainstorm.