From intern to employee

Here at the Coop, internships have long been championed due to the valuable role they play in the day-to-day of a PR agency. Interning is a valuable & challenging experience that teaches those with little to no experience just how PR really works. Every position here at Little Red , from junior account executives all the way up to account directors, has at one point or another been filled by an ex-intern, showing just how much the company really does value the experience.

And that… is where I come in.

I’m Rob, and I’ve been working at Little Red as a junior account executive for just under half a year now, but before that, way back in the summer of 2019 (before the world unleashed a plague of disease and lockdowns upon us) I was an intern with the company.

Fondly referred to as a ‘pretty great, actually’ intern (by myself), my time at Little Red was incredibly educational, motivating & thought-provoking. The first thing I remember learning was just how important the media is. Believe it or not, I had this idea that coverage for clients kind of just appeared out of thin air. I very quickly learnt that this was not the case, and that a PR agency was all about contacts, clients & just a little bit of conviviality.

As an intern, my day-to-day jobs consisted of mounting coverage (taking clippings of clients featured in articles & filing it), organising lunches with clients & journalists (back when ‘zooming’ was merely a verb used to describe children with too much expendable energy) and of course, office admin. From sorting the bookshelves, to packaging & sending stock to journalists, no admin task is outside of an intern’s remit. I was even so proud of my work in the stockroom that I documented it for future satisfaction.

I think the best thing you can do as an intern is ask questions, and be observant – it’s the best chance you’ll get to fully understand all aspects of how a press office operates, or any other workplace for that matter.

The question remains then, how did I go from intern to employee?

Well first things first, I was proactive. The moment I left, I made sure to follow everyone from the Coop on all social media platforms to ensure that they couldn’t forget about me. A potential employer knowing what you’re up to is crucial – while the idea of regular email correspondence sounds lovely, in practice it often becomes an afterthought six months later, if done at all.

I then headed back to uni for my final year. I also did a few things differently; for one, I joined my student paper & began writing weekly opinion articles on everything I could, from the royal family to political events in Hong Kong or my favourite season of Drag Race. If you named it, I would write about it (and then post on social media for all to see). Flexibility as a writer is a crucial skill in PR and the media industry and gave me keen experience in this area.

As well as this, I began running a blog on Instagram. This was just a side hobby but it really allowed me to grasp the basics of creating & running an account from scratch outside of just posting a picture of myself in a Jack Wills jumper once a month (FYI the handle’s @robtopham, and there are some pretty great jumpers on there).

And finally, possibly the most important thing I did last year was getting my head down to get the best result I could. I managed to graduate with a first, but no matter what you’re doing prior to starting a career, having the best results possible, be it in the form of a reference from an employer, an apprenticeship qualification or a degree, is essential.

This brings me quite nicely to the final part of this blog, what it’s like now that I have gone from Little Red intern to employee.

I was lucky enough to secure my position back in July and ever since then I have loved every second. Crucial to my success has been the ability to really listen and adapt, being briefed on a task I may not fully understand at first but then applying what I do know to complete it. For example, writing as much as I have has meant I can very quickly change writing styles, from a press release, to briefing notes, to a blog such as this!

Key too, has been my confidence in myself and my skills – starting a career at 21 with little to no direct experience outside of my internship could have been a cripplingly daunting task, but really knowing yourself & your own skillset is about the best thing you can do.

Finally, I asked a couple of our ex-interns their thoughts on everything between interning & being employed, here’s what they had to say:

Frankie, who is now an account manager:

“You never know if you want to do something unless you try it out, so doing an internship at Little Red was the perfect way to get insight on the day to day of a PR agency. To be honest the internship didn’t really show me if I wanted to work in PR, but it did show me what sort of working environment I wanted to work in and what sort of team I wanted to be in. I know LRR was the perfect place for me after that so was keen to get back to the Coop!”

Lewis, who is now a senior press officer:

“I started as an intern at Little Red way back in the summer of 2015. For sure I can say it set me up for a fast-paced career in PR, no one day was the same and I was immediately thrown in to writing blog posts, social content and even press releases. I highly doubt I would have been able to cut my teeth like this at many other agencies. I was lucky enough to be successful and over five years later there’s no chance of getting rid of me!”

If you are interested in interning with us please don’t hesitate to get in touch with emma@littleredpr.co.uk and tabitha@littleredpr.co.uk