This week, I had the great pleasure of
speaking to Boston University's chapter of the Public Relations
Student Society of America about nonprofit public
relations.
I spoke in collaboration with Heather
MacFarlane, public relations manager at The
Home for Little Wanders, a child-family service agency in
Boston where I did my first PR internship.
For the presentation, I explained how
the internship at The Home helped me transition into a PR agency
career. Interning at a large, complex nonprofit like The Home
helped me learn how to handle multiple facts
simultaneously-something you must be able to do well as an agency
professional.
The main takeaways Heather and I
communicated in our presentation were:
- Internships can act as the building blocks to your
career. You have to learn to crawl before you can run. Every
internship I have held helped me learn and grow as an individual
and as a professional. No internship is too small: the more
experience you have, the better. Since the internship I held at The
Home was my first, I learned a tremendous amount about the basics:
how to write a press release, how to drive a social media campaign,
how to coordinate the media at events and so much more. With this
experience, I was able to market myself to gain other internship
experiences, which ultimately led me to a career at Solomon McCown
& Company.
- Networking is the key to success. It's all about
who you know. Keep in touch with people you intern under or work
with. At networking events, start conversations and don't be afraid
to go out on a limb to talk with someone (even if they intimidate
you). I've realized firsthand that one conversation can lead to an
internship, another vital connection or even a full-time job.
Today, the importance of LinkedIn speaks to this notion. You never know
when a connection can come in handy in the future.
As an alumnus of Boston University, I
was honored to be able to go back to my campus and share my
experiences with current students. I hope I communicated in my
presentation just how important internship experiences and
networking can be in furthering your career.
Amey Owen, Account Coordinator
at Solomon McCown & Company