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I once read a Huffington Post article that shared advice for interns such as, “I was able to get a lot of feedback and advice on how to proceed with my career objectives.” That is when I changed my perspective about internships.
It’s not that I had anything against internships, I just worked different jobs throughout school, so I felt like I already had my fair share of interning. Once I graduated in May 2016, I started applying for entry-level positions; I applied for internships too, but not too many. However, after not hearing back from employers for a month or two, I shifted my energy towards internships.
At first, I always thought that internships are only beneficial to the company, as they acquire new ideas and fresh perspectives with each new intern. But then I read further and the Huffington Post article stated, “I encourage all students at a university level to intern in the field of their studies so that they can physically apply what they have been taught.” That led me to believe that internships are like an insight into your future career, not only is the company assessing me, but I am assessing my future field.
Is this truly what I want to do with my life?
My internship here at MSR has given me every opportunity to taste the real PR world. I have helped draft important briefing documents, media lists and pitches for real clients under a protected learning environment from my coworkers and manager. Moreover, I have not only had a chance to practically apply theories, but also learn the ins and outs of modern PR in the digital age. Over the period of my internship, one of the most prominent and biggest industry trend that I have noticed is “Creative Storytelling.”
Since graduating, I have been reading Advertising/PR/Marketing books and one of them talks about “making customers want to jump into your world and become a part of your narrative.” The book is called Storyscaping and states that businesses need a great story, they need to create immersive worlds that resonate with the highly connected and digitally enabled consumer of today. Consequently, this book revived my love for communication and changed the way I perceive the digital world, so much that it was one of the driving forces to apply for the internship at MSR.
So how is the book and MSR connected?
Let me just say, the slogan for MSR certainly caught my attention, it is (and has been since they first started), “Creative Storytelling for Your World.®” The turning point at which I was finally convinced of this trend, was coming across a PR Daily article that stated, “It’s easy to see how you’d be more likely to consider a purchase if the call to action were placed somewhere in a compelling story.” If you don’t have time to read Storyscaping I suggest reading the PR Daily article which is a condensed version.
To conclude, I’ve developed a new found perspective towards internships; there’s more to PR than what’s taught from the books. And thus I’ve been fortunate to be interning at a company that has its core founding values based on one of the most innovative and recent trends that the industry has just evolved towards. I believe I’ve found my calling!
The question, however, remains, what’s your story?®