#pnintern

We hope all of our interns are learning tricks of the trade and new skills that will help them in their future. Don’t forget to make note of them, so you can build your resume. 

Leading up to my graduation from the University of Georgia in May of 2017, I was experiencing a combination of  immeasurable confidence, fear, poise and doubt. I knew I loved my major in public relations, but I also knew I would be landing on my parent’s couch if I couldn’t figure out the direction of my next step. Do I go to grad school and get a degree I might not even use? Do I get stuck in an entry-level job I might hate just for the sake of full-time employment? I finally decided to apply to the Omnicom-Grady Fellowship, a six month program allowing me to intern at an advertising and public relations agency in the Omnicom family to explore my options and see where my strengths and passions fell.

Fast forward to today and I’ve spent three months working at BBDO, an advertising agency, and a month at Porter Novelli (PN) Atlanta in the Technology practice. In just a short amount of time I have already learned and experienced much more than I did in my four years at college (sorry UGA, I love you). So for anyone exploring the marketing communications industry, you’ll want to tune into what I’ve learned so far from my experience.

Let’s Talk Apples and Oranges

Apart from being fruit, apples and oranges cannot be compared. Similarly, advertising and public relations cannot be weighed against each other. Yes, they both deal with communication and clients, but anyone in the industry will tell you the two could not be more different.

One of the major differences between working at BBDO and PN, was that at BBDO I worked on one major client and took ownership of a few ongoing projects, but at PN I am currently working with six clients that each have different needs, projects and operations.

At BBDO I was responsible for managing the social media trafficking for a branch of our client. This ongoing project involved working with four different departments on a daily basis -account management, creative and studio, the media agency and last but also most important the client. Who knew so much went into the creation of a Facebook ad? Getting a glimpse into how an advertising agency operates gave me great appreciation for the urgency of the advertising world, and how to apply what I learned to my final leg of the fellowship at PN.

Advertising is a highly visual environment. You spend hours looking and discussing images, layouts, videos, etc. So after three months of working in advertising, it was time for me to flex my public relations muscles and rejuvenate my skills I had gained in college. In short, it was time to write. After about two weeks I felt truly at home diving into drafting pitches and various documents. That is the great thing about public relations, your writing becomes so adaptable because you are constantly writing for a variety of clients and situations.

If I had to pinpoint a similarity between advertising and public relations, it would have to be that you are communicating for a client to place them in the best light. The tactics and strategies are as different as night and day, but the end goal is helping your client be successful.

Tick, Tock

One of the most important skills you can develop, no matter your profession, is time management. In a given work day at PN, I can work on a total of five different clients or projects. Those eight hours at your desk can go by in the blink of an eye, and the worst feeling is when you sit down to do your timesheet and you don’t remember what you did that day. It is imperative that you keep track of your tasks and responsibilities for the sake of the business. I personally recommend keeping track of time by keeping an ongoing log of your time throughout the day. Having a written record of your daily tasks makes it fast and easy to enter your time at the end of every day.

Seeing Your Work Come To Life

I think one of the best things about working in the communications industry is seeing your hard work coming to life. Even if you played a small role, seeing an ad on TV you helped traffic, having a social media post you created come across your feed or receiving a media hit is a wonderful feeling. It always makes me feel that my work matters because I can see the positive outcomes.

So if you’re like me and find yourself experiencing some uncertainty about your next steps after college, I encourage you to dip your toes in each facet of the industry to find where you will truly thrive. No career, industry, or company is perfect. However, my four short months in the “real world” have taught me to choose the route where the pros outweigh the cons. So grab a life vest, do a cannonball, test out the waters and enjoy the ride! I can’t wait to see what the next two months have in store for me at PN.