By Reanna Griffith, Intern
I first realized that I wanted to go into public relations (PR) during the first lockdown in March 2020. It was in my second year of studying multimedia journalism and I had returned home from university campus following all my classes being moved online. On top of studying, I used this time to direct my attention to life beyond university – what is the next step after I graduate? This was when I began to realize that PR could be the industry for me.
There are many similarities between PR and journalism, such as the need for communication and writing skills. Finding these things out about PR through online research was good, but I wanted to take my findings a step further and gather knowledge straight from employers in the field.
During my studies I have written various pieces relating to artificial intelligence, 5G and other forms of technology as these are my areas of interest. With this in mind, it felt right to reach out to a Tech PR agency for insight into what they do and advice on what I could do to get into the field.
This is how I found The Hoffman Agency; I emailed the team requesting to interview them and being the amazing people that they are they were up for it! The interviews ended up being more than just insightful when towards the end I was offered an internship at The Hoffman Agency for the summer.
Fast forward to the present, and I have been an intern for over a month now and could not be happier with the experience so far. I have had the opportunity to write pitches, abstracts, blog posts, speak to people connected to the agency from all over the world and most of all, learn new things daily. Despite being interested in the tech world, I know that there is so much related to technology that I do not know, and through talking on clients I get to learn more about areas of tech.
Everybody on the team is so supportive, which is wonderful because I never feel the need to shy away from asking questions – indeed, they want me to ask questions as this is how I learn, and this is how they know I am listening and following the daily activities. I have also been fortunate enough to have worked in both the old and new London office during this exciting transition period.
This internship is everything I wanted it to be and more. My main goals to achieve from this experience are to master the storytelling language that makes The Hoffman Agency so impactful and valued, as well as to take initiative with tasks, which will coincide with developing my communication and organization skills.
As far as a work and personal life balance, it has been excellent. I always get the weekends off to enjoy out with friends, while on the weekdays I can alternate between working at home and the office which is great for flexibility. As stated previously, I could not be happier with how this internship has been going so far, and I cannot wait to see how I evolve in the coming months.
