• Advice for Landing Your Internship, From A Current Intern

    Advice for Landing Your Internship, From A Current Intern

    Landing A PR Internship

    While searching for an internship, I was intrigued by Matter’s witty, active and engaging digital presence. I explored the site, eventually finding Maria, a Matter Vice President stationed at Matter’s Boulder (BoCo) office. With nothing to lose but a little time and dignity, I sent her an email proposing an informational chat about Matter and the greater PR industry. Fortunately, Maria was receptive to the idea of a conversation.

    I spent the week leading up to our call studying the Matter website. Highlights included reading Portland-office blogs and watching Ellen and Michelle Obama deliver a massive plug for CVS. By the time the phone call came around, I was well-versed in Matter buzzwords and prepared a short-list of questions. Maria gave me great perspective and advice while I asked my strategic questions. I concluded the call with a request for further introductions in the industry, and a promise to stay in touch.

    Two months later, Maria invited me to apply to an internship opportunity that opened in the Matter BoCo office. She remembered my persistence and personality from our previous interactions which helped me land the job. My internship with Matter has been an incredible work experience – from the people and company culture to the interesting clients and work we do for them. I’ve already learned a great deal, starting with the lessons I encountered before I even walked in the door.

    Five Important Lessons

    You are your resume (and cover letter, and application, and…)

    As a student, it’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of your first experience in the professional world. Between drafting the perfect cover letter to polishing your ideal resume, many students forget they are the most important part of their application. When I went to the interview, I strived to appear just as polished as my resume and even-more well versed than my cover letter. While it’s important to accurately describe your abilities and skills to employers on paper, your personal positioning doesn’t end there.

    Put a face to the name.

    This year I discovered a rare privilege and valuable strategic tactic: the informational interview. As an eager student, I reached out to as many people as I could – seeking practical advice and mentorship in the form of a semi-causal conversation. Positioning oneself as an earnest, curious student or aspiring professional is a sure-fire way to gain the attention of a potential employer, or perhaps someone who can make valuable introductions to additional industry folk. This is a great way to get to know potential mentors and gives you a leg-up when you decide to throw your hat in the ring.

    Asking the right questions.

    You’ve spent hours studying the company website, analyzing and synthesizing everything from the creative reels to client case studies. The time arrives: You sit down for your final interview and your hopefully soon-to-be-employer hands you the 50-question potential employee written exam. Get an A+ and congrats! You’re a Matter Intern.

    In reality, there’s no test. Shocking I know, but potential employers like Matter prefer to sit you down and get to know who you really are. You’ll be vetted for confidence in ability, skill and your largest asset within the communications industry: your personality. So, how can you best strut your stuff and show off that hard-earned due diligence? Use your research to ask strategic questions. Show the person across the table that you’ve done more than just scratch the surface of what’s out there on their company. They’ll be impressed, and when they’re impressed, you’re more likely to be hired.

    Persistence: gentle yet firm.

    Persist and you shall prevail. I’m not advising you to harass your potential employer via email, but a ‘gentle stalking’ can be considered brilliant when it comes to following-up on professional communique.  Craft a thoughtful thank you an hour or two after the meeting. Write a follow-up at the end of the week. Still no response? Wait three more days, and fire again. Suffering dignity? You’re too young for that! Too prideful? You must not want this bad enough. Aim to strike the happy medium between respect for your recipient and aggressiveness in achieving your goal; your potential employer will see gold.

    Attitude is everything!

    Here’s a line from my favorite poem, “Attitude” by Charles Swindoll: “I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.”

    Swindoll points to the fact that while many things in life are out of our control, how we react and adjust our own person will determine how far we go. When you start to eye potential internships, attitude is everything. Take pride in yourself; in the documents in your portfolio; in the resume and cover letter you meticulously drafted. Be prepared to do it again. And again. And again. Use sheer will to turn your goal into reality, and never fear failure. Personally, I’ve learned that the regret of failure is nothing when compared to the regret of never having tried at all. I find that even when I fail, I’ve learned enough to make that failure worth it.

     

    These five lessons are the ones that stuck with me most after reflecting on my personal internship journey. As of June, I will be going on three months as a Matter PR intern – a position in which I have yet to stop learning, experiencing, connecting and growing. Ready to begin your journey? Check out our careers page.   

    Matter

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  • Intern Turned Employee: Agency Life Brings a New Perspective

    Intern Turned Employee: Agency Life Brings a New Perspective

    Take it from someone who chose their career path in middle school, a decision based solely off of Sex and The City’s ultimate boss-lady Samantha Jones, that there is a lot more to working in the PR industry than flashy press events and client lunches. In college I set out to prepare myself for a real world career in PR instead of one set in NYC in the 90’s. At The University of New Hampshire I learned to write with purpose and found my individual voice; I learned to resonate with an audience and speak to crowds with confidence. I learned grammar and technique and read countless articles. However, it wasn’t until my PR internship at Matter that I discovered crucial components of the industry that school just doesn’t teach you.

    Public Relations is a team sport: it is a team effort in the fullest sense.

    I have never heard the term “over-communicate” more than I have during my first four months at Matter. Collaboration and communication are what make a PR agency a well-oiled machine. It became apparent right away that to succeed in this industry, you must work together and support one another to deliver exemplary and thorough work that your team, and your client can be proud of.

    You never stop learning: The need for learning new information, skills, and strategies doesn’t end when you graduate..

    Every day at Matter I learn something new. Whether it’s advice from a team member, learning about a client or current trends in the industry, there is always something to learn and someone to learn from that will help you grow in your career.

    No day is the same, so always expect the unexpected.

    This industry is unpredictable and extremely fast-paced. So in between responding to emails and scanning for news coverage, be ready for a curveball.  Your clients, their competitors and the ever-changing PR landscape doesn’t wait for anyone, so be prepared, be focused, and stay ahead of the game. This element of the industry challenges you and prepares you to think on your feet and perform under pressure. Working for a PR agency like Matter, you will never be bored and you will always be kept on your toes.

    A more than welcomed, new perspective.

    Five months after being brought on as a summer intern, I landed my dream job at Matter. Although it isn’t exactly what Samantha Jones led me to believe it would be, it is greater in many ways. A career in PR takes a strong focus and creative mind, it entails leaving your comfort zone and putting your voice and ideas out there to help your client reach new heights and break down barriers. You learn to stop doubting yourself because there just isn’t the time, and to trust in yourself and your work because your teammates already do. At Matter, the work is hard but extremely rewarding, and for all these reasons I am thankful that it was this agency that burst my Sex in the City bubble, and with no disappointment, showed me what a career in PR really entails.

    Laura Bastardi

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  • 4 Ways to Maximize Your Summer Interns

    4 Ways to Maximize Your Summer Interns

    It’s that time of year again when the promise of summer beckons and visions of ‘doing nothing’ dance in students’ heads. While the thought of taking the summer off is tempting, many students soon realize that boredom would prevail, especially if the bulk of their friends are working. Cue the summer internship.

    These job opportunities present benefits for everyone involved. For students who want a leg up in a certain industry, a summer internship is a great first step and investment into their futures. There is valuable learning that takes place, and the opportunity to discover what kind of job they like (and dislike) is an important piece of career planning.

    You, as an employer benefit, too. You get an infusion of new talent from those who are eager to learn everything about the business. In an ideal scenario, these interns fall in love with your company and the experience they’ve had while working with you. Keep in mind, these could be future employees.  Never underestimate the power and potential of an intern, especially when you consider that leaders like Mary Barra, GM CEO, and Dennis Muilenburg, Boeing CEO, started their careers as interns at their respective companies!  

    So, what is it going to take?

    Be Involved from the Beginning

    Having an intern is great for the extra hands on deck, and if you are going to be working with him/her directly, it’s important to be involved from the get go. Take a look at the skill set from each candidate and look beyond the administrative tasks that need to be done. The class he/she took on digital media could be perfect for your client who wants to grow their social media presence. To make the most of your intern, look at where the candidate can add the most value and be an important  member of your team.

    Make Time for Your Interns

    Once an intern is hired, it’s easy to pass off the grunt work and be relieved that there is an extra body on the team. But doing so leaves both you and your intern at a disadvantage. Not only are your interns missing out on a better learning experience, but they’re not getting a true feel for the company. By making time for your interns, you make them feel valued and provide them with a more holistic experience. By involving them more, you are also better able to gauge whether this person is someone you’d want to hire later down the line.

    Make Sure They’re Busy

    With the hustle and bustle of agency life, it can seem like an extra to do to create work for and explain tasks to an intern. But it’s important to maximize their time to avoid the dreaded “my internship is SO boring” mantra that is common among more neglected interns. Neither you nor your intern will benefit. Invest the time in them so they can invest the time back into the company.

    Push Them Out of Their Comfort Zones

    For many interns, the corporate environment is their first foray in the working world. And yes, it can be intimidating. If you have a management role, the intimidation factor is even higher. But remember, you were there once and it takes little effort to check in regularly, take them out to coffee and be a friendly face in the office. They aren’t there to blend into the background, so don’t let them! The more you encourage your intern, the better they can demonstrate employable skills and hopefully prove why they will become a future employee that you can’t wait to work with.

    Matter

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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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