What to Know Before You Go

By Collin Willardson, Intern (@cwillardson)

As this internship is coming to a close, I find myself listing off things I wish I could have improved on or done differently. I know I have potential to be great, it’s something that my parents have instilled in me, but instead of climbing the huge mountain we often call success, I tend to sit there with my gear and be a bystander. I never realized that once I actually start to climb this mountain, things can become easier with a natural flow of things.

If I had a time traveling device and were able to do this internship again with the knowledge I now have, I would have done some things differently. This whole experience has taught me many things and it's all from going outside my own box. I have never worked in an office before, I have never had deadlines before and I have never had people depend on my work to benefit them or someone else. This pressure was sometimes enough to make me stare at this daring mountain and say “Isn’t there some hill I could just hike?” Woody Allen says “Only 70% of success is showing up.” I showed up to the mountain, but had a hard time making that first step towards climbing to the top.

To sum up my two cents on advice for interns coming into this internship, I would say:

1. Own and use an AP Stylebook frequently
2. Always show up and if you're ten minutes early, you're late
3. Be aware that deadlines actually matter; this isn’t college where if it's late, you get marked off 10%. If it's late, a lot of bad things can happen.
4. Work hard, play hard and don’t be afraid to think outside the box and shine.

I can’t believe this is almost over and I wish it was longer. I am learning so much out here, and I know I could be learning so much more. I wish I hadn’t been intimidated by any mountain and truly rolled with the punches. No doubt did I learn a lot here, but I know there are a lot more learning experiences I could have gained only from doing an internship. I know this isn’t the typical intern blog, but I feel that this was the biggest task I had this week -- the task of finding out how I tick and how learning can make me tock.

Are You Fine-Tuned?

By Leilani Needham, Intern

Writing is an essential skill to have in public relations and it is a skill I have yet to develop. Being at Fusion has given me an opportunity to draft press releases and learn AP style writing. I feel I am improving but can always be a better writer.

It is really important to fine-tune your writing and, most importantly, editing skills. Suzanne McGee, director at Fusion, gave us some great advice. She stated, “If the only thing you gain out of this internship is editing skills, it will be one of the greatest assets to you.”

Coming to Fusion has really helped me to understand AP style. It is difficult to break habits and stop writing like I’m in class, but it is possible. If you are not familiar with AP style, The Wall Street Journal and New York Times are great examples of publications that follow this writing style.

The AP Stylebook is a great tool that I have used often. Get it and use it in your papers and classrooms (unless your professor dictates a different style). If you’ve decided to pursue PR as a career because you were trying to avoid writing, it might be a good idea to rethink a different profession.