Ah, the bottom of the totem pole: where everyone has to start. Working in a fast-paced, buzzing office with professionals to your left and right who know the industry inside and out is exciting and very intimidating all at the same time. However, at BIGfish, being the intern in the office definitely has its perks and is an incredibly meaningful opportunity.

A Clean Slate

As an intern, you enter the position with a clean slate. You’re just getting your foot in the door and learning how the real PR world works – not just what you read about in your textbooks. You’ll learn that your writing is never going to be an “A” the first time around, even though you’ve pulled that off so many times in college. You’ll learn that collaborating with the team comes with an abundance of benefits, even though group work in school was a nightmare every time. Additionally, you’ll get to challenge your creativity in a way a classroom cannot in order to come up with something new and unique for your clients.

Exposure

During your time interning, you’re exposed to a number of things you thought only professionals did. Sure, in your college classes you were assigned to draft a pitch for an editor at a top-notch outlet, but it was just that – an assignment. To actually send it, and if you’re lucky, get a response, is incredibly exciting. Pitching media outlets such as The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, NBC or Mashable is one of the coolest feelings as an intern, and I’m sure that feeling never gets old.
When you’re the intern, you get to witness exactly how everything works, the ins and outs of the industry and all of the work that goes into something seemingly so simple. You get to see the inner workings of everything PR because you are the inner workings. Pitches, media lists, tracking coverage, reporting (really everything that makes up a PR campaign) is something you have a part in as an intern at BIGfish  – how cool is that?!

Freedom

As the intern, you’re free. You’re free to make the wildest suggestions and ask as many questions as you want because you are not expected to know everything yet. In fact, it’s encouraged. Your supervisors value your “outside” perspective and new ideas, and they want you to learn as much as you possibly can.
As an intern, you also have control over how much you learn and what knowledge you leave with. Everything you work on will teach you something new, and it’s up to you to pay attention, stay motivated and apply those skills later. You can go through your work mindlessly just to get the job done, but then you will not have learned anything substantial. You have the control. Own it!

Network

As the intern in the office, you’re the newbie, the millennial, the one with a fresh perspective; they’re just as excited to have you there as you are to be there. An internship is one of the first places you can start building your professional network.
Here at BIGfish, we love our team lunches and Tapas Tuesdays and, yes, interns are invited too! It’s exciting to talk with and be around the people who are in the shoes you want to be in. Most importantly, if you’re interning at a place like BIGfish, you get to have fun (but that’s true for everyone in the office).
P.S. We’re looking for interns right now!