A Day In The Life of a Remote PR Intern

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Maybe you didn’t know this about me, but I’m a PR intern! I feel really lucky during this pandemic because this internship was set to be remote regardless. This is my very first internship and I really don’t know what I want to do after college so I’m hoping this gig helps me figure it out a little. Before this job, I had no idea what a day in the life of a PR intern looked like, so I figured a little blog post would be helpful for all you potential PR people out there. I know that this probably looks different from other PR internships, especially because it is remote regardless of a pandemic. However, I think that remote working will be more popular even after we’ve gotten our act together, so this might be helpful to see what it’s like to have a remote job also!

How I Got Here

At the end of January/beginning of February, I was feeling the heat to apply to internships for the summer because many of my friends were already talking about getting positions for NEXT SUMMER (they are business students, for context). I felt so behind. In reality, I really wasn’t behind at all because my major has a completely different career track. But, I got inside my head a little and started aggressively searching for any internships under the communications umbrella in Baltimore for the summer. To apply, I went through Handshake, a college internship database available through my university. Additionally, I researched multiple Baltimore-based agencies and cold-emailed them when I saw they didn’t have positions posted online.

I ended up receiving responses from only 2 out of 10 places I reached out to. After a phone interview with both agencies, I only felt excited about one of them because the other was 40-hour per week position (no pay :/). Shortly after coming home from school in March, the agency I wanted to work with contacted me and offered me the position!

What I Do

Because the internship is unpaid, I only work part time. Right now, I work on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday of every week from 12-5. The agency that I work for is a very small boutique PR agency with only a couple of employees, so I work very closely with them on their projects. They represent many residential real estate properties, so I started out doing lots of research on coronavirus precautions in the areas where their clients are located so we could adjust our social media strategies accordingly.

As the summer moved on and I got a sense of the brand language and identity for each client, I began to write copy (the writing/captions) for social media. I would also deep-dive on Instagram to find UGC (user generated content) to repost on our clients’ accounts. As I improved with these tasks, I now help with influencer marketing outreach and using scheduling tools to post to their various social media channels.

Without further ado, here is what a day in the life of a PR intern looks like!

My Day:

Before Work

I like to take my mornings slowww. Normally I wake up around 8 but spend about an hour in bed before I actually get up. Then I make my coffee and sit on the porch. Then I make breakfast and sit on the porch some more. You could say I enjoy my downtime. But, this morning was a little different…

6:30am– Today is Wednesday 7/29, and my morning looked very different from my usual mornings. I needed to get tested for coronavirus. No worries, I have no symptoms, but I’m going to the beach with my boyfriend and his grandparents so I want to be super cautious. My alarm went off bright and early and by 7am I was out the door.

7:30am– I made sure to get to the testing site early. It really isn’t as scary as people make it look. It was jarring, however, to see how many people were there. All I could think about was how grateful I am for those nurses who put themselves directly in harm’s way so that the rest of us feel safe. Literally wear your mask it’s the least you could to show gratitude for these frontline workers.

8:30am– Back at home, making coffee. My favorite: iced coffee, a dash of Hershey’s chocolate syrup, and oat milk of course. I sat on the couch scrolling through social media (code for TikTok) for a while since I felt really tired.

10am– Breakfast + second cup of coffee. I had a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios this morning, which is rare. I usually like to make a little bit of a heartier breakfast like eggs or toast, but I ate a granola bar earlier at my Covid test so I wasn’t super hungry.

11am– Sit at my desk and organize my life. I went in and added my upcoming blog posts to my new planner.

During Work

Here’s where we get to the real meat of a day in the life of a PR intern. Like I said earlier, I only work from 12-5 three days a week, so it’s not a super demanding job. Because I tend to shift my focus pretty frequently while I’m on, I didn’t track the exact times for each of my tasks. I was pretty much doing a little of each at all times. Here’s what I accomplished today:

• Answered a tonnnn of emails for various influencer marketing campaigns that we’re coordinating for clients. I also sent multiple follow up emails for those who have not responded yet.
• Once I get in contact with an influencer, I write down all of their information in a comprehensive Google Doc. This way, our client can look it over and choose who they want to work with.
• I worked on drafting a Wikipedia page for a client. This was fun because I like writing and it was something new that I haven’t done yet this summer!
• I posted to social media channels for a couple clients.

And just like that the day is done! Like I said, it’s not a super demanding job in the sense that each task is relatively simple. That being said, each task requires a great attention to detail and I’m constantly bouncing between tasks. I might be in the middle of drafting an email when my supervisor needs something done ASAP. It’s important that I keep a to-do list to write down tasks as they come to me so that I can keep track of what’s finished or not.

After Work

5pm– I have struggled with motivating myself to be active recently. To make sure I didn’t skip out on some movement, I immediately left my room to exercise in some capacity. I chose a 15 minute dance workout by MadFit on YouTube. Something light and easy because doing something is always better than doing nothing.

5:30pm– I started working on this blog post! My writing goes through many stages of editing and revision so I wanted to make sure I got my first thoughts out sooner rather than later to save myself some time down the road.

7:30pm– Dinner with the fam. We had a flank steak with farro salad and green beans! Very yummy.

9pm– Winding down, getting ready for bed. I felt exhausted because I woke up so early, so I wanted to get into bed ASAP. After showering, I did my skincare (I’m really trying to prioritize it right now) and got in bed. After scrolling through social media (once again, code for TikTok) for a few minutes, the lights were out!

11pm– Goodnight!

And that’s a day in the life! Although my day as a whole looked a little different than usual, the tasks I completed while working represent what my responsibilities are day to day as a PR intern pretty well. I love this job because I do something different everyday, which is something I definitely want to prioritize in my professional life after graduation.

Although I technically have my hours when I’m “on,” email responses come when they come and some tasks are time sensitive that I need to do even when I’m not technically working. That’s just a taste of what the PR world is like, and I know that if I pursue it after college that my professional life won’t look like the traditional 9-5.

My internship will continue through the fall semester, so stay tuned for an update later this year where I’ll probably discuss balancing an internship while taking classes full time. I hope this post helped you get a better understanding of what PR interns do and maybe it gave you a taste of what remote working looks like! As always, feel free to drop questions in the comments or shoot me a DM on Instagram! (@thecitysmilesblog)

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