By Josh Madrid, Intern
Although I consider myself an internet person, I never thought I’d participate in an online internship. Still, my time at The Hoffman Agency has given me many reasons to be grateful.
Getting to know my teams despite the technology barriers that the pandemic created was my favorite part of the internship experience. Despite not being in an office every day, I feel closer to my teams now than when I had my first Zoom meeting with them in October. Everyone around me took the time to thoughtfully share information about what worked for them or showed me a new way of seeing something. Collectively, I’ll carry those bits of information throughout my career.
I learned the PR industry waits for no one, and it requires adaptability. I’ve become more comfortable with quickly looking at the information in the news and digging out a story that makes our clients paramount. This internship has also provided the opportunity to practice my chemistry using the elements of storytelling.
In our entry-level cohort we had weekly projects, and the one that stands out is when we compared two media pitches and used critical thinking to find evidence to determine which pitch stood apart from the other. I evolved from the exercise because it added to what I had learned in school about what makes a story worth stopping to read. Additionally, there’s a person on the other side of the pitches we send, and they too want to hear the story.
The best advice I’ve received during my internship was during the workshop with Lou. He introduced the supply-and-demand of media relations that acknowledges the disconnect between the quality journalists want and the high quantity that PR provides. It suggested there’s an educational responsibility from agencies to clients that will benefit both industries and those consuming the story.
The advice I would give to someone just starting in tech PR is to learn about their clients’ industries broadly. Ask the fundamental questions like the plot of a story: Who are the main characters? What are their problems? What is the goal? Those questions are essential to uncovering the right information to effectively find stories rather than becoming a field expert and getting overwhelmed.
My internship experience at The Hoffman Agency is one I will hold onto and look back on because it made me feel welcomed. There was a sense of togetherness while being apart to protect everyone’s safety and health.
