The concept of internships is a good one. From the beginning internships have been a great way for public relations students (and most other students for that matter) to learn how to apply the theory and practices studied in the classroom to real-life situations. And while experience isn’t all there is to sound public relations education, it remains a critical component.

In fact “The Professional Bond,” a recent report by the Commission on Public Relations Education, continues to characterize supervised work experience as an essential part of good public relations education.

Good internships require that interns be doing work that is of value to organizations. Without this, internships have little value for the intern or the organization.

Earlier this year PRSA issued a set of guidelines for the ethical use of interns clarifying its position that it is ethically wrong to employ interns who add real value to an organization or employer without compensating them for their work. However, as a recent Reuters’ story about older interns shows, some organizations still aren’t playing by the rules.

Continue reading " Young or Old, PR Interns Play Invaluable Role "

Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. That seems to be the case with the burgeoning debate in the U.S. and UK over the ethical use of interns.

When PRSA released its intern guidelines in early February, we had no idea we’d be on the leading edge of what has become a full-fledged, global call to action to abolish the use of unpaid interns.

What started with a BBC expose of the fashion PR industry’s pervasive use of unpaid interns has spread to mainstream notice in the U.S. Just last weekend, New York Times op-ed contributor Ross Perlin wrote a scathing attack of American college’s complicit role in “helping companies skirt a nebulous area of labor law” by working hand-in-hand with businesses seeking cheap skilled labor.

Mr. Perlin cites the public relations profession as one of many industries that routinely hires unpaid interns. PRSA has made clear its belief that it is unethical for PR firms to not provide some type of compensation for interns, whether monetary or via college credit.

This is in line with some of the industry’s leading thinkers. Writing in a recent editorial, PRWeek editor Danny Rogers said “unpaid interns do [the public relations] industry a disservice.” We couldn’t agree more. In fact, I said as much when I wrote about this subject in my last PRSAY post.

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With the aggregate global economy slowly puttering along, and nearly 30 percent unemployment for recent college graduates, the American business community finds itself at a defining moment: on one side is a group of entrenched employees, many of whom have weathered the worst of mass layoffs, salary freezes and furloughs and are determined to hold onto their jobs.

On the other side is a continuously building wave of recent college grads, eager to supplant last year’s batch of the best and brightest in the public relations industry. Chomping at the bit, many are willing to do whatever it takes to secure that coveted first job — including, working for no pay and long hours, often doing the same level of work as a paid, full-time colleague.

Meet the modern PR intern. Long a linchpin of the public relations profession, today’s interns face a fiercely-competitive employment marketplace; one that is entrenched in a bog of high unemployment and stagnating salaries the likes of which the United States hasn’t experienced in nearly 80 years.

Continue reading " Paid or Unpaid, Time to Evaluate PR’s Use of Interns "