Communications and public relations: two neighbouring professions
Communications covers everything that helps an organisation make itself understood: website, social media, internal newsletter, brochures, events, video. Public relations is more specifically about relationships with influential or affected groups: journalists, elected officials, partners, charities, local residents, employees. In an internship the two often overlap, but the centre of gravity shifts depending on the organisation.
In an agency you work for several clients, with short deadlines and a wide variety of subjects. In the communications team of a company, local authority or charity, you follow a single organisation and get to know its history, constraints and audiences over time.
What an intern actually does day to day
Tasks vary from one employer to another. Some come up again and again, though, and they help you check that an internship is genuinely educational and not just administrative support.
- Putting together a press review and tracking what is being said about the organisation and its sector.
- Keeping a contact database up to date: journalists, partners, intermediaries, with the source and date of every exchange.
- Drafting press releases, social media posts, and articles for the website or the staff newsletter.
- Preparing a media pack, a welcome kit or a questions-and-answers document before an event.
- Helping to organise a press conference, a site visit or an opening ceremony.
- Helping to measure the results: press coverage, audience figures for a post, feedback received.
Adapting tone and format to each audience
The same piece of news is not told in the same way to a journalist, to employees and to customers. A press release sticks to the essentials: who, what, when, why it matters, plus a quotation from a senior person. An internal article can be warmer, talking about teams and practical consequences. A social media post needs a short hook and a polished image.
Before you write, ask yourself three questions: who is this text for, what should it make people do or understand, and which pieces of information have been checked and cleared for release. This discipline will stay with you throughout your career. Also study the existing materials to pick up the editorial line: vocabulary, sentence length, use of images, level of formality.
Approval, rights and confidentiality
This is the least visible aspect from the outside and one of the most important. A text is never published because it is well written, but because the right people have approved it: management, the legal team, the person in charge of the subject, sometimes a partner who is named.
- Always distinguish between the draft, the proofread version and the approved version, and label them clearly.
- Ask who reviews the text, within what time, and who has the final say.
- Check the rights to photos, music, logos and quotations before anything goes out.
- Share nothing confidential, even in an internal chat, until the information is official.
An intern who asks these questions in the first week reassures their supervisors: it shows that they understand the responsibility that comes with speaking on behalf of an organisation.
Study routes that lead to these internships
People come into communications by many routes: vocational diplomas such as the French BTS or BUT, a degree in information and communication or in languages and literature, a business school, a political science institute, a specialist master’s. Institutions such as CELSA, the communication school of Sorbonne University, offer master’s programmes that include work placements, for example in public and political communication, and publish information about the framework for their internships.
The diploma matters less than proof of skill. A student who has run an association’s page, written a sports club’s newsletter or organised a campus event can present a credible experience. A good command of written language, up-to-date general knowledge and an interest in current affairs are prerequisites that recruiters often test as early as the interview.
Building an annotated portfolio
A portfolio brings together three to six pieces of work, each presented with its context. For each one, state the objective, the audience, your exact role, the time constraints, and what you would do differently. A published text with no commentary says little; the same text with an account of your approach shows how you think.
- Choose varied pieces: a press release, a post, an article or a short video.
- Get permission from the people who appear in them before showing them.
- Make it easy to read: a single clear file, headings, no typos.
- Prepare a short version to attach to an application and a full version to show at interview.
Applying to an agency or an organisation
Vacancies can be found on the careers pages of agencies and organisations, on student platforms, and through your school’s careers service. Trade bodies for agencies, such as the AACC for communications in France, offer career profiles and agency discovery events that help you understand the roles before you apply.
For the interview, prepare a brief analysis of the organisation’s communications: one strength, one point to improve, one simple idea. Avoid criticism for its own sake. Read recent press articles about the organisation and its sector, and have two examples ready of situations where you had to write quickly, correct a text after review or handle a disagreement over a piece of writing.
Fictional example: opening a neighbourhood workshop
As an illustration, imagine a charity opening a bicycle repair workshop in a neighbourhood. The intern starts by listing the audiences: residents, neighbouring shopkeepers, local councillors, regional press journalists, volunteers. She prepares a short press release, an invitation for local residents and a message for members, each in a different tone.
She draws up a timetable: invitation sent three weeks beforehand, reminder one week before, final reminder the day before. She has every text approved by the coordinator and checks that the people being photographed have given written consent. On the day itself, she records the results: articles published, number of attendees, frequent questions. In her report, she notes what worked well and suggests an adjustment to the timetable for next time.
Pitfalls and good habits
- Writing for yourself rather than for the reader: long sentences, internal jargon, vague phrases.
- Publishing without approval because time is short: a public mistake costs more than an hour’s delay.
- Forgetting follow-up: a press contact who is not chased up properly, or not thanked, drifts away.
- Neglecting typos and misspelt proper names, which destroy the credibility of a press release.
- Promising visibility results that nobody controls, such as coverage in a particular outlet.
Keep a learning log: date, task, supervisor’s feedback, improvement to try. It will be useful for your internship report and for future interviews.
Frequently asked questions
Do I need a communications degree to get this kind of internship?
Not necessarily. Organisations look first for careful writing, rigour and genuine curiosity about what they do. Students of literature, law, political science, languages or business find their place here, especially if they can show concrete work, even from a voluntary or university project.
What is the difference between press relations and public relations?
Press relations deal with journalists and the media: press releases, media packs, invitations, tracking coverage. Public relations is broader and also includes elected officials, partners, charities, employees, customers and local residents. In many internships you do both, in varying proportions.
What can I put in a portfolio if I have never done an internship?
Use coursework, texts written for a charity, a blog or a personal project, after getting the agreement of the people concerned. Comment on each piece: objective, audience, constraints, lessons learnt. A few well-explained pieces are worth more than a large number of documents with no context.
Can an intern run an organisation’s social media accounts?
An intern can suggest content, schedule posts and monitor reactions, but publication must follow the organisation’s approval process. Ask who signs off, what tone to adopt if a critical comment appears, and how far you can reply on your own. Without these rules, it is better to publish nothing.
How can I show my abilities without access to confidential information?
Present the approach rather than the data: target audience, structure of the message, timetable, approval process, results in orders of magnitude. If a document is public, you can cite it. For an internal document, always ask your supervisor’s permission before including it in a portfolio.
Can I do a communications internship in a local authority or a charity?
Yes. The communications teams of local authorities, charities and public bodies regularly take on interns, with tasks such as writing, events and managing materials. The framework is the same: an agreement with your school or university, tasks defined in writing and, depending on the length, the payment required by the regulations.