• A Day in the Life of a Matter Public Relations Intern

    A Day in the Life of a Matter Public Relations Intern

    Being an intern is risky business. Will you be going on coffee runs or producing valuable work? Luckily for me, Matter provides the latter of the two experiences.

    I spent my summer as a Public Relations Intern at Matter and have loved every moment of it. Whether you are part of the public relations, digital marketing or creative team, Matter is sure to provide you with a supportive learning environment, opportunities to participate in meaningful work and, as you may have heard, some fun!

    Here is a taste of what my day-to-day as a Matter intern looks like:

    Matter interns work 9:00 a.m. – 2:30 p.m. From there I settle in, crack open my laptop, read all my unread emails and catch up on any client news that may have broken while I was gone. Being on one of Matter’s largest accounts means I often have a lot to catch up on.

    By 9:15 a.m. I’m ready to jump into my daily tasks and, most days, for a caffeine pick-me-up too. My daily tasks range from media list building and editorial calendar curating to social media content creation and article writing. As much as I’d love to share a typical day of task, no two days are the same here at Matter or in public relations. When you work so closely to the media things are always changing, and they change fast.

    It’s now 11:00 a.m. and I’m either on my way to a meeting and gearing up for one. On any given day there are typically a handful of both client-facing and internal meetings on my calendar – and if I’m lucky there will be donuts waiting for me in one of them. While in meetings, I always make it a point to jot down any notes or questions that may be helpful for me later.

    12:30 p.m. comes around and it’s time for lunch! Though most of my day is sedentary, working on a computer all day can still take a lot out of you. I love using my lunch time to get up and moving. Sometimes that’s a quick walk after eating my lunch in the kitchen and sometimes that’s treating myself to lunch out.

    I’m back at my desk and ready to get into the groove by 1:00 p.m. With only an hour and a half left in my day it’s time to tie up any loose ends and deliver any work that is needed by the end of the day. I may not have deadlines to meet at the end of every day, but certainly have personal goals I aim to reach every day. I often break up my bigger tasks into smaller more manageable tasks in order to stay organized and on top of my deadlines.

    2:15 p.m. arrives, often faster than I’d like it to, and it is time to wrap up any projects I’m working on and update the project owner.

    And just like that it’s 2:30 p.m. and I’m headed home for the day.

    As my internship winds down, I’ve begun to reflect on the experience I’ve had. Which has led me to four key takeaways to share with future Matter interns:

    • Ask a lot of questions
    • Actively work to sharpen your skills
    • Stay curious and open minded to new experiences
    • Have some fun!

    Hannah Martin

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  • An Internship in PR: Breaking the Coffee Delivery Stereotype

    Walking up the steps and into the office building clad in the Matter signature red, I had no idea what to expect for my summer internship. I had never worked in the PR industry and didn’t know much more about it than the average person would. With each step a new idea of the stereotypical intern flashed through my head, fetching coffee all day, making endless photocopies, organizing mountains of documents. I wondered if I would be able to make an impact through my work or if I would simply be labeled as “the intern” and be pushed aside.

    As I toured through the office I was greeted by a sea of smiles and there seemed to be a buzz of energy throughout. There were people actually excited about their work. I saw focused groups of people in conference rooms, heard hopeful chatter about upcoming projects, and felt completely welcome. I knew then that this internship would be much different from what I had expected. By the end of the day I had attended two meetings, been assigned one project, and made 0 cups of coffee.

    Fast forward one month, and I have learned that one of my biggest challenges is not the result of being pinned with mindless busy work, but rather finding out how to stay busy. The entry-level hand holding stops when I complete an assigned project and begins when I realize I am on the clock and I don’t have someone constantly telling me what to do. I learned that if there is a lull in my workload, the best thing for me to do is reach out to both the members of accounts I am working on, or basically anyone in the office for that matter, and ask where and how I can provide help. I discovered that when most people have too much work, their first reaction is not to pass it onto the intern, which is why I have learned how important it is to remind co-workers that I am here to help wherever I am able. As a result of this, I have had many willing people reach out to me for help on a project, and while sometimes they spend more time walking me through it than they would have spent working on it alone, I have always been received with a positive attitude. It is this focusing and engaging environment that has fostered my growth as an aspiring professional and helped me to learn much more than I could have imagined in a month.

    While I have certainly drank quite a bit of coffee, I have not become any type of coffee mule around the office. I have worked on real projects for real clients. I have taken on the mindset of someone who wants to learn, which has done me a significant amount of good in an environment with so many people who are willing to teach. My experience at Matter has broken just about every internship stereotype while the fun, encouraging environment has sparked my early interest in PR, which keeps me coming back motivated each morning.

    Matter

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  • 6 Tips for PR Interns

    6 Tips for PR Interns

    I understand we have a new crop of summer interns starting soon, and thought to share some tips on how they can make the most of their time here at Matter. Public relations internships embody the term, “You’ll get out of it what you put into it,” and not only do interns gain valuable experience, but when approached intelligently, internships are often the foot-in-the-door that recent, enthusiastic grads seek out. (Blogger’s note: I have some credible perspective as many years ago I was hired by the agency where I interned. And, more recently our agency has a thriving program that hires several successful interns each year.) So, interns, a few thoughts as you get started:

    1. Soak it all in. The very best interns are the ones that are focused on becoming ready for a full-time PR or social media position. If they have the very best and most rewarding experience, they will be considered for a position within the organization. To that end, think of the length of your internship as being longer term (than whatever it’s scheduled to be!) and absorb information as if you will be putting it to good use at a later point. In addition to showing enthusiasm, doing so will give you a good jump-start should you be starting as an employee soon in the future.
    2. Ask questions. No employer expects its interns to jump in and get things done without inquiring about specifics, and it’s always far better to get clarity rather than to do a specific job incorrectly, requiring corrections to the work later in the process. College students and recent graduates secure their internship positions for the purpose of gaining valuable experience, and it’s smart to ask questions in the spirit of learning and doing a better job in completing assigned tasks.
    3. Make yourself available. Like staying close to a coach on a sideline, whoever is nearby becomes the immediate solution after a bad play. The same applies to the office arena, where sometimes opportunities surface because you are around and easily accessible. When you are able to take work on, be sure to communicate broadly so needy teams look to you for help and support.
    4. It’s a job, so treat it like a job. Some internships have heavier workloads than others, but in all cases the employer is expecting interns to behave as if they are on staff, so be sure that you don’t disappoint. Be attentive to directions given and be thorough in your work. And, take deadlines seriously because there’s a good chance that your colleagues, managers and teams have their own deadlines they must manage related to your projects.
    5. Dress the part. This may not apply to every PR agency, but it’s smart for interns – who are new to any organization they are joining – to think through their appearance before heading to the office. It’s smart to get stuck between business and casual in the description “Business Casual,” and no matter how casual the environment may be, it’s never wise to wear flip-flops.
    6. Embrace whatever comes your way. A particular assigned task may seem monotonous, but it could be surprisingly important for the team being supported. Interns do themselves and their colleagues a serious professional favor by bringing a “will-do” attitude to the office. No matter the magnitude of the assignment, it behooves any intern to embrace all assigned tasks with gusto.

    Scott Signore

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