An internship is a valuable way to gain hands-on experience and knowledge, whilst making professional industry connections. At Modern Currency, our rewarding internship program provides an opportunity to dive head first into the fast-paced world of communications and experience everything the PR, marketing and social media industries have to offer.
Read on for some insightful learnings from one of our recent superstar interns here at MC.
Writing, a LOT of it!
Coming into the internship, I knew it was going to involve writing, however I wasn’t prepared for the sheer amount of it. As a lover of writing, this was a pleasant surprise and I exercised my creative skills via a multitude of outlets including social media captions, press releases, blog posts, articles, transcriptions – the list is extensive!
Every brand and business are different and therefore it’s crucial to match the way we write to client’s particular needs. I learnt to be flexible with tone, style and structure depending on the account, in addition to incorporating key points of content with my own original ideas to ensure the message is refreshing and engaging. There’s also no doubt my attention to detail was honed in; there was a LOT of proofreading, editing and triple checking before the final draft was complete.
On top of this, I’ve become an efficient and fast writer. In an industry full of deadlines and events, I had to smash out as much written content as possible in my short time in the office every week. There would be days where I was shooting visual content, putting together PR packages and creating influencer lists, whilst also needing to fit in writing social media captions that would be published the following week!
The importance of research
Research was the first step to most things I did in the office. To produce great captions and press releases, it was essential to properly learn and understand the brand’s values, products and visuals. To assist in creative content creation, it was important to source inspiration, draw mood boards and analyse the competitors before hitting the cameras. Aside from all the action, I would say about 50% of my time was spent on research alone.
A main component was creating guest, influencer and media lists where I had first-hand experience with databases like Telum and Social Diary to flesh out these details. When I worked on accounts where I was unfamiliar with the industry or community, I carried out personal research in order to curate a targeted influencer and guest list for the brand. This was also necessary to be able to match the right brands and influencers together for effective partnerships and collaborations. As a result, my knowledge of Australia’s influencer and media landscape has heavily broadened.
When it came to event planning, both big and small details had to be thoroughly studied and executed. This involved sourcing venues to fit particular requirements (equipment, capacity, location, etc) to planning floral arrangements, catering and furniture. Research is the foundation for all successes in PR and Marketing.
Taking initiative and taking charge of your own experience
They say you get out what you put in and it couldn’t be truer as an intern! My time interning has taught me how important it is to take charge of your own experience. It’s about reaching out and communicating a willingness and openness to help, as opposed to waiting for the next task.
After the first two weeks, I started to find my footing with a few things such as writing captions for different accounts and since then I offered to help out many colleagues in the office if they had other deadlines that needed to be met.
Something I wasn’t expecting to work on was content creation, however after volunteering a few times to assist the creative team, I was soon being consistently asked to help with filming and production, which surprisingly, became one of my favourite things to do. On another occasion, I worked outside of my scheduled hours to host an event, where I assisted in creating the guest list and gift bags. It was really satisfying to see the work I’d done put into action and come to life at the event.
The only way to enrich your experience as an intern is to take initiative. This way you ensure you come out of it with maximum fulfillment and real growth.
If you’re interested in joining our internship program at Modern Currency, then drop us a line at hello@moderncurrency.com.au.
Written by Sam Z
