Interns should do more than work on social media

Each time we have a new position to fill at our PR firm, I find myself scrolling through résumé after résumé from eager recent graduates listing ambitious internships to demonstrate their experience and initiative—almost all of them wholly dedicated to social media roles. I need a young pro who can pitch the media!

“Kids these days,” we mutter to ourselves. “They’re only interested in Instagram.”

Except, this is far from my actual experience. The young professionals I come across are, in fact, hungry for a chance to pitch reporters and earn traditional placements, even if for them “traditional media” include blogs and podcasts.

The real problem is that many PR firms aren’t giving interns the opportunity to hone their pitching skills. Are we stereotyping Gen Z and assuming they prefer TikTok influencers to beat reporters? Are we assuming they’re not capable of an effective media pitch? It’s probably a little of both. But, reflecting on how to activate our internship program after the long pandemic pause, there is a realization that such generalizations are an astonishing disservice to the intern, our firm and clients, as well as our industry at large—both in our approach to media outreach and social media engagement.

What a modern PR firm needs