The Age of the Internship (a coming of age story)

By Sam Randall, Account Executive

All of you soon-to-be graduates, listen-up. Not so long ago I was also a fresh faced college graduate ready to be beat down by this not so desirable job market. My post graduation life was filled with constant anxiety combined with a sense of urgency to land a job. I kept reading ominous headlines like “Worst Job Market Since Depression.” My father, who is never short on advice and also had a vested financial interest in me getting a job (he would deny this), pushed me to do it the “old fashion way.” He told me to find a list of contacts for Public Relations agencies at the library and send them a resume and cover letter via mail - yes mail, with no “e” dash in front of it. Clearly my Dad was living in a different era. An era where college graduates were scooped up by companies looking for fresh talent.

Throughout college the value of internships was impressed upon me by almost every college professor in my major. I heard and understood what they were saying, but the thought of an internship, on top of a job and a full load of classes, was unappealing and unrealistic in my opinion. I put off getting an internship until halfway through the first semester of my senior year of college and it ended up being a nightmare. Although it was something to throw on my resume, I learned very little in the way of writing press releases, building media lists, or pitching media - all essential in the industry. I did, however, come out of it with a great letter of recommendation and future references if needed.

I made a decision early on to try my hardest to find a job in the Public Relations field. Unfortunately this is a rare occurrence in this day in age. Too often, after pursing a certain concentration for four years, graduates find themselves compelled to take the first entry level job that is offered and it is almost always outside of their major. This situation often leads to unhappiness and ultimately a short lived first job out of college. In my opinion, internships are the answer.

After realizing that I would probably not be able to land a fulltime job that didn’t involve the selling of water jugs to office buildings, I decided to pursue a fulltime internship. I was lucky enough to find Alpaytac. After a couple of interviews, I was offered the internship.

On my first day I was involved in a companywide brainstorm, where I was able to share my ideas. Within the first week they let me try drafting a press release which was eventually edited and rewritten by senior staff - but at least I was involved in the process. Eventually after I proved that I could keep up with the fast pace of the agency I was put through a comprehensive pitch training and allowed to pitch lower-tier media (of course this process is monitored and overlooked by more experienced team members and the messages that are being pitched go through numerous approval processes.)

The sheer wealth of PR knowledge I gained from taking the internship was more than I had ever learned in school. I was lucky enough to be supported financially throughout the internship; however, my advice to anyone who is considering not taking an internship based on financial constraints is to do anything you can to make it work. Take an extra job on nights and weekends, move in with your second cousin, whatever it is, make it work, because likely you will be exposed to people and experiences during the internship that you never would have before. Work hard and do not take the opportunity lightly and the experience will pay off.

I was eventually hired by Alpaytac and am now a junior account executive as well as the co-internship coordinator. I can truly say the internship has come full-circle. So I challenge all of you PR prospects to consider the value of taking a fulltime internship post-graduation.