This is a guest post by Heather R. Huhman. Heather is the media relations manager at a national health care professional association. She is also the entry-level careers columnist for Examiner.com, a career expert for the CAREEREALISM Twitter Advice Project, the job search expert for Campus Calm and author of the e-book “Gen Y Meets the Workforce: Launching Your Career During Economic Uncertainty.”
While I certainly wouldn’t name Wisconsin as a hotbed for public relations jobs, Weidert Group in Appleton would be a fantastic place to intern for a summer—particularly if you’re interested in social media. In addition to social media, you can gain experience in many different areas, ranging from public relations planning, execution, and training to event planning/management. Like many small agencies, Weidert Group is a tight-knit environment that values its team members. They seek people “who exhibit both strategic and imaginative thinking; whose perspectives have been influenced by quality education, significant responsibilities, and notable accomplishments; who demonstrate motivation, drive, and passion for their work; and who are able to contribute as part of a high-performance team.” The average age of this team is 30, and they specialize in serving health care, financial services, manufacturing, education, and food/food service clients.
Becoming the Apple of Their Eye
The Weidert Group internship program is different than most. They rarely post internship openings in favor of offering positions to students who actively reach out asking to work at their agency. So, typically, there are no deadlines. If a student really wants to gain real-life experiences at Weidert Group, they’ll ask and be persistent—then the agency knows they’ll do the same if they want a reporter to pay attention to them. Show them you want to work there, you’re passionate about your career, and they’ll give you the experience.
With that said, Weidert Group is actually actively seeking a Public Relations/Client Services Intern right now. There’s no mention of whether the position is paid, but if you want to join their team you should e-mail a cover letter telling them why you want to work at Weidert Group, a résumé, and a few writing samples to public relations specialist Abby Gutowski at agutowski@weidert.com.
Links to Help You Begin Your Research
Need help with your cover letter and résumé—or your entire job search? Heather offers low-cost coaching packages specifically for students and recent graduates seeking careers in public relations. Click here to learn more.
Tagged as:
communications,
Internships,
public relations,
social media,
Wisconsin
