A Day in the Life of The Silverman Group's Intern

I've already seen that it's difficult to define a "typical" day in public relations, but my days are more typical than most.

On a given day, I may be conducting research, updating press materials, compiling media lists and clip packets, making recommendations to clients and of course, adding to the blog. Conducting research is my least favorite aspect of the writing process in class, but I really don't mind it in a professional setting. For two years, I've heard professors preach about the importance of research, but now I've seen firsthand the impact that it can have. During my first week, I found it much more difficult to write on behalf of clients with whom I was not familiar. Seeing or hearing a client's work and studying it beyond familiarity helps enormously. I can put myself in the place of an audience member and determine what sets an individual or a company apart.

While I've had the opportunity to work on hands-on projects, I think I've learned the most through osmosis. For a PR student today, determining whether or not you want to work for an agency is one of the hardest decisions to make (and naturally, we think we have to figure it all out now). Everyone in an agency environment seems to describe the trade off in terms of having a working knowledge of multiple clients or knowing one client very well. I'm not sure that's true any longer. As I've mentioned in other posts, working in a small agency and knowing your clients well seems to be both personally and professionally gratifying.

My time with The Silverman Group is only about a quarter of the way through and I've already experienced so many aspects of the business - more than I would have expected. My previous internship with a start-up was much different. Managing multiple clients and having existing relationships is somehow easier and more difficult than working with a small company. Bloggers were a key part of our strategy, and were a perfect fit for the brand, but it's much more satisfying to see TSG clients appear in major publications. I've enjoyed studying how to promote events and companies with mainstream appeal and a unique artistic vision.