Intern Phone Calls in Public Relations
Working in public relations has put me in some very uncomfortable positions in the past six months. Having an intern position definitely forces you out of your comfort zone in many ways. One of the most important aspects of public relations is building relationships with the people around you. That means doing things like making phone calls on a regular basis. Being from a generation that is so technology driven has made things like this somewhat difficult. Making phone calls is probably one of my least favorite things to do, especially when calling people that I don’t know, about things I am not fully informed about. But that is the situation I find myself in a lot these days as an intern for a public relations company. When a client does something that is news-worthy and we send out a press release or media alert on the subject, in order to keep a good rapport with the appropriate journalists we make follow up calls first, to ensure that they received the press release and second, to offer any assistance on our part to make their covering the story easier for them. In many instances when making these calls I will get someone on the other line who is not too happy to hear from me. This is the part that makes me nervous, you never know if you’re going to get someone who is very thankful for your help or someone who would rather be doing anything other than talking to you. I have gradually gotten better and better at this particular task and being able to do this effectively is a great asset in the public relations world; the only secret, I have found, is to be as nice as possible no matter which type of person happens to answer on the other end of the phone.
March 24th, 2013 at 4:03 pm
“Being from a generation that is so technology driven has made things like this somewhat difficult. Making phone calls is probably one of my least favorite things to do, especially when calling people that I don’t know, about things I am not fully informed about.” — SO TRUE!
I avoid phone conversations at all costs. Sometimes I’ll ignore a phone call and reply with a text message– but it’s so annoying when people do that to me. I’m right there with you but I agree that phone conversation skills are extremely important, especially in the PR industry. I’m definitely going to make an effort to improve that skill.