Worst Time to Graduate = Best Time to Intern

Like many of my college peers, I suffered from a severe case of senioritis in the months preceding my graduation. It wasn’t until I after I turned in my last term paper and donned my polyester robes that I allowed the thought to finally cross my mind, “And now what?”

Now three months into my grown-up life, I am splitting my time between two public relations internships—one at Off Madison Ave, and the other at the Make-A-Wish Foundation®. Having been told multiple times by well meaning professors, family members, strangers at the grocery store, etc. that “right now is the worst time to be graduating,” I definitely count myself lucky to have not one, but two, jobs.

When people ask how my internships are going, my generic response is that I’m learning a ton. And I mean it. Because Off Madison Ave is an agency that serves a wide variety of clients, my responsibilities vary from drafting media alerts for an entertainment client to writing PSAs for a nonprofit to creating metadata for a tourism Web site, and everything in between.

Over at the Make-A-Wish office I also do a good deal of writing, but it’s all focused on just one theme—granting wishes. There are definitely both things to love and things to love less about each way of PR life. Variety can be chaotic, yet stimulating. Monotony can be, well, monotonous, but truthfully it’s anything but stale to spend 100 percent of your time working on something you’re 100-percent passionate about.

In a nutshell, Off Madison Ave provides me with the brain food I crave and the Make-A-Wish Foundation keeps my mushy little heart happy. For me, internships have filled up that mysterious void between being a student and becoming a member of the work force. It’s like a free trip into grown-up land, just to test the waters.  And as I mentioned before, I am learning a ton during the experience. It’s like going to school—but I get a paycheck, and there’s no homework. Score.

About the Author: Katie Hawkes

Katie Hawkes is an intern in Off Madison Ave’s public relations department. With a background in both journalism and public relations, she is busy exploring the world of agency life and adding to her communications skill set. Katie graduated from Brigham Young University in August 2009 with a degree in Family Studies.

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