At Red Agency, we receive a large amount of applications for internships across all three of our offices and even have a backlog of people waiting to intern with us! We recognise the importance of internships in providing experience to students, as well as an insight to the workings of an agency.

I was invited to give a talk a few weeks ago at the University of Melbourne on a career in public relations and our internship program. All of those I spoke to were current students who were already undertaking an internship but were interested in receiving more experience.

There were a few key topics that were of interest to the students, most of which were around what we would look for in a potential intern. Here are a few tips for those out there who are looking to get an internship.

1)    Attention to detail

This trait is much appreciated and is essential when it comes to working with us at Red. There are many occasions when we are approached and there are spelling or grammatical mistakes. There are also occasions when in the body of a text we get “I would love to intern at your agency” but the agency name is wrong. This is just not acceptable.

2)    Good time management
We expect interns to finish work in a timely manner and be able to correctly prioritise the duties that they are given. Micromanaging is not fun for us nor you! Providing us regular feedback on where you are at with work is also important – particularly if the intern is not working consecutive days.

3)    Positive attitude
We like to think that most of the work we give our interns is reasonably interesting. However, there are times when it is not. We look for interns who are positive and always interested in gaining something out of a job, no matter how mundane.

4)    Professionalism
At Red, we look for interns who can be reliable, which in turn shows how professional they are. Let us know if you’re running late, give us advanced notice if you are unwell and dress smartly.

5)    Speak up!
Interns are often given the same treatment as a permanent employee and we love to hear your ideas. We enjoy interns who are creative and who play a part in our discussions. Speak up if you have a thought, as it could become a great idea.

Internships are good for the individual as well as for Red Agency. We have more approaches than we have spots so make sure your approach stands out

Written by Sonia Heng