Communications Internships and Vacation Programs

Internships are a great idea to start up your career as a student and an internship in communication could help you get a head start in establishing a career in a number of fields such as advertising, branding, direct marketing, promotion, publicity, or public relations. Leading media houses and agencies offer internships that could develop your knowledge in creating and promote brands through various channels of media like print, television, radio and most recently the Internet.

Through internships, you’ll be able to gain real life work experience, explore different career paths, add skills, and build connections with professionals. With communications, there are many sub disciplines such as writing, public relations, journalism and many more with various tasks and requirements you need to fulfil to get the internship depending on what the employer is looking for.

Requirements

Requirements for an internship in any discipline of communications are both of academic and general skills that may include:

• Must be in a relevant major or minor to communications (includes English and creative writing, business or management, marketing, social sciences, communication and media studies, politics, journalism etc.)
• Excellent interpersonal and communication skills
• Creativity, imagination and initiative
• Understanding of market practices and trends
• Ability to think critically
• Organisational and time management skills etc.

What to Expect

Interns would participate in the daily work routine of a professional communication organisation in a period of time undertaking tasks that are assigned to you. The tasks that you will be assigned to depend on the area of communications you’ve chosen where you will be able to contribute to the output of the organisation under supervision of a professional.

For communications and marketing internships, interns usually work in a team and put into the process of strategy-building for clients.  Through these internships, you will most likely learn how to identify large audiences and build campaigns that can convert audiences into customers. For students seeking for an internship in communications and marketing, most companies look for students that have an education in marketing with an understanding in basic marketing strategies.

Journalism is also a discipline in communications where an internship would be a great way to gain first-hand experience that will help you make the decision if the journalism industry is the right one for you. An internship in journalism would also give you the opportunity to build valuable networks with professional journalists.

The field of journalism is quite broad where you can find journalism related internships in sports, fashion, newspaper, magazines, medicine, science, music, and many more that can help you develop your interests during your internship. If you’re uncertain, applying for a variety of journalism internships could also be helpful where you can use the experience you’ve gained to learn which path you want lead in your career.

An internship in public relations is a great way to start a career in PR and there are many internship programs available in organisations that range from commercial businesses to government organisations that can help you land a number of positions in public relations, marketing, sales, advertising, and business divisions of corporations.

Interns will also be given the opportunity to be part of a decision making team that is responsible for conceiving, implementing, and measuring PR campaigns for corporate organisations. An internship in public relations would also give you the advantage in learning vital experiences in areas such as building media lists, event planning, writing press releases, blog analysis and many more that could be useful in your future career.

Communications is an essential part of any industry and these are just a few of the internship opportunities you may consider to help you build your skills and knowledge. With the various sub disciplines of communications, there is a wide range of internships you can choose from that match your interests while also gaining invaluable work experience.