This is a post by PR columnist, Alison Kenney.

Working in PR can be stressful. [Case in point: once again, PR made the ‘most stressful jobs’ list.] As PR professionals, we are providing a service to our clients or managers, and like other service providers, our work must cater to these clients. PR work is also opportunistic – meaning we have to stay on our toes, since opportunities can arise at any time.  The folks at MediaBistro’s PRNewser have five more reasons why PR is so darn stressful.

Sometimes the work we do is for a great cause – or our work gives us great satisfaction. However, most PR professionals (like other working professionals) seek “balance” between their work in public relations and other parts of their lives. How do we balance this stressful work with other demands and interests in our lives? Here are several approaches:

Forget the word “balance” – Really, it’s unrealistic to literally balance your time and spend an equal number of hours at work and at personal activities. Instead, experts at WorkLifeBalance.com advocate focusing on achievement and enjoyment. Their definition of Work-Life balance is “meaningful daily achievement and enjoyment in each of the four life quadrants: work, family, friends and self.” Is this attainable? In an online interview, author Aliza Sherman said, “Stop using the word ‘balance.’ My co-author Danielle Smith and I like to say that ‘balance is a mythical bar that we hold over our own heads, and just when we think we’re getting close, someone moves that bar.’” Sherman prefers the word ‘juggle’ and says, “As moms with businesses, we juggle. We can’t be at 100% as a mom or as a business owner at the same time. We have to give ourselves a break, forgive ourselves for not being ‘perfect.’ It isn’t about balance, it isn’t about perfection, it is about doing our best and having the conversations at home to create the system that works for us.”

Just Do It – Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg made headlines (again) when she revealed that she leaves the office at 5:30 pm every day. We know PR is stressful (see above) and it can be tough to carve out personal time when the phone is ringing, but it’s also easier to do if you set a routine and make your schedule a habit.

Listen to your inner Buddha – Lori Deschene who blogs at Tiny Buddha offers these 6 tips for creating work/life balance so that we allow ourselves “sufficient time to create [our dreams] – while also allowing space for relaxation, spontaneity, connection, and the simple act of being.”

Take care of yourself – Exercise can help eliminate the negative effects of stress. It’s also a great way to clear your head for better decision-making. Although it can be tough to get started and/or to make time for regular exercise, investing in your health is truly the most important reason.

Learn from others – Is there someone you know who epitomizes work/life balance and seems to “have it all”? If so, take that person out for a coffee and ask them how they do it. Find a work/life balance mentor and build your own support network in the process.

Set boundaries – We’re really talking about time here, and how we spend our daily 24 hours. In order to reap the most achievement and enjoyment from those hours, we have to learn to say no to some things so that we can focus on and prioritize other activities.

Evaluate your work life balance – Measurement is a favorite topic in PR. Like some PR campaign objectives, our work/life balance goals can be tough to measure. Start by charting your accomplishments; don’t just look at what’s left on your to-do list – be sure to note the successes.

Any other tips for balance PR work with the rest of life?

Alison Kenney an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience. She is based on Boston’s North Shore and has worked with organizations in the technology, professional services and consumer industries. She writes a bi-monthly PR column on LindsayOlson.com. You can find her at www.kprcommunications.com. Learn more about Alison Kenney.

This is a post by PR columnist, Alison Kenney.

Advances in communication technologies, increases in virtual offices and the prevalence of flexible (round-the-clock?) schedules make it possible to balance the work with personal demands in life.

I’ve been thinking about this a lot since listening to Sheryl Sandberg’s TED talk about why we have too few women leaders and also since I’ve been approached by more than a couple of younger female PR professionals who want to know how they can prepare for work life when they start a family. (Having just crossed a milestone birthday and with a child in double-digits I guess I’m now a Buddha of sorts when it comes to work-life balance. Yikes.)

Sheryl Sandberg’s argument is compelling, made more so by her delivery and her backstory. (She went from being Larry Summers’ research assistant at the World Bank to being his Chief of Staff at the U.S. Treasury, became vice president at Google and is now COO at Facebook.) In her version of Women’s Lib, our daughters will have a chance not only to succeed but to be admired for having done so. To get to that day, she urges women to “take a seat at the table, make their partner a real partner and to not leave before you leave.”

Her argument is being heard in other industries too. In a NY Times editorial Dr. Karen Sibert argued that women who “want to be doctors should be doctors [and not get enter the profession looking for work-life balance].” Conversely, a colleague, Dr. Suzanne Koven, argues in response that maternity leaves and part-time hours aren’t just women’s issues and believes that Sibert’s “just say yes” approach risks discouraging women from pursuing careers in medicine.

Public Relations is similar to the medical profession in some ways. Our work is service-driven and we often work in response to the needs of our clients, which can include internal corporate clients. PR opportunities and crises can arise at any time. For these reasons, PR work can involve long hours and lots of stress. (Of course, our actions don’t typically result in life or death consequences.) Scaling back on clients or type of projects can make for a friendlier work-life balance, but could harm future career opportunities.

Since roughly 70 percent of PR professionals are women, many of us will or have had to deal with the mommy question. Many moms go on to have very successful careers in PR. Some heed Sandberg’s and Sibert’s advice and go “all in.” Others shape their work around their personal needs and schedules.

The answer, of course, is that there’s no one way to do things. Honestly, there’s no single definition for success either. Personally there are days when I think the answer is to just keep trying.

In that vein, here are a few of my picks for career advice for anyone who is trying to balance a PR career with their role as a parent:

• Make sure you’re in the right place. The NY Times’ Parenting blog featured a woman who switched careers well ahead of parenthood in order to prepare and get established in a self-directed career so she’d have more autonomy when she became a mother.
• Go virtual – working from a home office (surrounded by distractions?) isn’t for everyone, but if your life includes a lot of commitments in and around the home, a long commute may not work for you.
• Consider the pros and cons of part-time work
• Finally, here’s some inspiring career advice from some of the most powerful women in business

What do you think? Is PR a good profession for working parents? What’s your advice for making it work?

Alison Kenney an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience. She is based on Boston’s North Shore and has worked with organizations in the technology, professional services and consumer industries. She writes a bi-monthly PR column on LindsayOlson.com. You can find her at www.kprcommunications.com. Learn more about Alison Kenney.

It’s a circular argument: you need experience to get the job, yet you can’t get experience without the job! But these days, it’s perfectly possible to take your portfolio of work into your own hands. Content creation is abound, and if you’re not taking the incentive to gain experience on your own terms, you will be less likely to get hired for the job you want.

1. Write a Blog
It literally takes minutes to set up a blog and start writing. And since blogs are a great way to demonstrate not only your writing skills, but also your ideas, employers can get a great sense of you as a person and employee by reading your blog.

You don’t need to be the industry’s most-read blogger. It’s not your popularity that really even matters. Simply written good content on professional and industry topics and sharing the link in your job application can help hiring managers could give you an edge.

What to write about:

• Your take on your industry
• Opinion pieces on industry news
• Link to other industry blogs and comment on the topics

2. Press Releases
For PR professionals, the press release is the quintessential tool for the trade. But if you only wrote a couple of releases in college for your Comm class, you might feel like you don’t have an adequate hand on writing them.

Reach out to charities and nonprofits and let them know you’re looking to build your portfolio. Offer your services (free of charge) to write press releases for their news. It’s more impressive when you’ve got releases that are found online, so collect links to your press releases for your virtual portfolio.

3. Case Studies
Case studies are a great way to show you’re paying attention to how your industry helps companies. Create a case study from anywhere you’ve worked, interned, volunteered, or attended (school) that demonstrates areas you want to work in. For example, maybe you interned at a PR firm, though you didn’t get to dabble much in the publicity side. You could still create a case study about a client (leave names out of it) who saw an increase in visibility, thanks to the firm’s efforts.

4. Articles
There are literally hundreds — if not thousands — of magazines, newspapers and websites clamoring for content. Sometimes they can’t afford to pay, so they’re perfect for you as a beginner to pitch an article. Get to know the audience, and try for one that has a focus in the industry you want to work in. Come up with a unique story idea and sell it to the editor. Then keep the link or physical cutout for your portfolio.

Whether you write these samples for yourself, volunteer at a nonprofit or intern at a company, they’re a great way to show a potential employer that you take initiative to overcome that circle of no-experience-no-job.

Photo credit: Kunal Patel

This is a post by PR columnist, Alison Kenney.

I’ll admit it’s been a long time since I was an intern, but frequently I talk to PR students who are starting their careers and the topic invariably comes up. In fact, these days it’s just about unheard of to work in PR without first having at least one internship. Internships provide real-world experience that can help candidates stand out in PR job interviews and help interns build their professional network.

Since internships are so common now, there are a lot more formal processes in place for them too — particularly at big PR agencies. For instance, if you’re planning on applying for an internship for the summer, you need to get to work now. Most agencies start accepting applications right after winter break, and by May they’ve selected and signed on their interns for the summer. A typical agency internship lasts 8 weeks, after which most interns either: a) go back to school; b) are offered a full-time position at the agency; or c) look for another internship or job.

One trend I’ve noticed is that more recent college graduates are applying for internships rather than full-time entry-level positions – even if they’ve already built up PR experience with other internships during college. I think that reasons for this trend could include:

• The perception that the only way to be hired for an entry-level job at a big agency is to first work there as an intern.
• Students who want to work in a new city, i.e. not the one their college is located in, feel that they need to make new connections in that area.
• Studying PR in school exposes students to a broad range of practices and some still aren’t sure what they want to focus on in their careers by the time they graduate. Internships are a way to get practical experience that will also help them narrow or select their career path.
• The economy is still in poor condition and the PR job market is still tight so new graduates are scaling back their expectations and aiming for intern-level positions instead of entry-level jobs

The economy may also have had a hand in the increase in unpaid internships in recent years. Some industries, such as the music and film industries, rely on unpaid interns and can offer valuable experience or connections in lieu of pay. While some unpaid internships can be categorized as educational and may even qualify the intern for school credit, if the work is menial it violates federal law not to pay the intern and several states are cracking down on this practice.

Legal or not, unpaid internships exist. Kent State University professor Bill Sledzik offers this summary of the pros and cons of both paid and unpaid internships.

Lauren Berger, founder of InternQueen.com, has had positive experiences with her unpaid internships at organizations such as MTV, Fox, BWR Public Relations and NBC. She says, “Unpaid internships can be the best experiences of your life. They were the best experiences of my life. They should be just as valuable as paid opportunities. Remember, unpaid internships should be only 12-15 hours per week. You can manage a part-time job, internship and school at the same time.”

She also comments on virtual internships, “Virtual internships can be amazing opportunities as well. A virtual internship means you work from home instead of from an actual office. Normally, virtual interns communicate with employees via Skype, texting, phone and email. Try to look for a virtual internship with structured hours.”

Want to weigh in on your intern experience?

Alison Kenney an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience. She is based on Boston’s North Shore and has worked with organizations in the technology, professional services and consumer industries. She writes a bi-monthly PR column on LindsayOlson.com. You can find her at www.kprcommunications.com. Learn more about Alison Kenney.

This is a post by PR columnist, Alison Kenney.

On a special web page devoted to ethics, PRSA has this to say,

“The practice of public relations can present unique and challenging ethical issues. At the same time, protecting integrity and the public trust are fundamental to the profession’s role and reputation. Bottom line, successful public relations hinges on the ethics of its practitioners.”

With that in mind, consider these situations:

PR professional and former Boston Globe editor Doug Bailey recently wrote an expose for Boston Magazine on working as the Boston Red Sox’s PR resource that revealed several behind-the-scenes and not-so-flattering vignettes about team members and owners. When questioned if he had abused one of PRSA’s recommendations that PR professionals should “safeguard the confidences and privacy rights of clients and employees,” Bailey responded, “A fair question. But there must be a statute of limitations plus these are cocktail party stories.”

When I first heard that Nancy Assuncao, the PR representative for Paula Deen, had talked to the New York Post about why, in good conscious, she could no longer serve as Deen’s representative, I was disturbed by her airing her work-related dirty laundry so publicly. In taking an ethical stand, Assuncao seemed to violate the PRSA ethical code guideline, to “Act in the best interest of clients or employers.” I won’t argue with the questionable strategy and timing Deen displayed in announcing her diabetes and subsequent endorsement of the diabetes drug from Novo Nordisk. If Assuncao knew about Deen’s diabetes (which some sources say Deen knew about for the past three years) and continued to promote Deen’s unhealthy style of cooking, then she was violating the PRSA code guideline, “Decline representation of clients requiring actions contrary to the Code.”

Personally I think parody tweeters can be funny and entertaining, but when do they cross the line? Did the actions of @BPGlobalPR on Twitter violate PRSA’s transparency code of ethics? Usually it’s when they’re unmasked and found to be a competitor of the person or brand being skewered -  for instance it was revealed that a senior advisor for Senator Scott Brown (R, MA) was sending disparaging tweets under the handle @CrazyKhazei (Alan Khazei was Brown’s Democratic rival) and he was called out for those actions by PRSA.

Last month Elizabeth Filkin released a report on her investigation of the relationships between Britain’s Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and Rupert Murdoch’s News of the World. Among her findings came recommendations for PR professionals not to flirt with the media. Hmm…uh…now you’ve got me. PRSA certainly doesn’t disagree with Filkin’s advice…

What do you think? Are there shades of gray when it comes to PR ethics?

Alison Kenney an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience. She is based on Boston’s North Shore and has worked with organizations in the technology, professional services and consumer industries. She writes a bi-monthly PR column on LindsayOlson.com. You can find her at www.kprcommunications.com. Learn more about Alison Kenney.

Want to know reporters’ pet peeves about working with PR people?

No?

Me neither!

But attend any panel session that includes members of the media and the question ALWAYS comes up.

At first the reporter will get a look on his or her face like, “oh, wow, where do I begin?” Then they’ll start off answering the question in a nice way, “well, it’s helpful if the PR person who is contacting me has a relationship with me, or has maybe even read my work and can reference that in the pitch.” But then they get warmed up and watch out! Soon you’ll all be chuckling over the crazy things PR people do when they are pitching stories.

Why do we do this to ourselves?

Most reporters don’t start out spouting off about how annoying PR people are (notice I said “most”) – it’s the PR people who ask them this question. I suppose we ask it because we have an inner desire to do better, or maybe it’s to ingratiate ourselves to the media. I also suppose it’s a PR rite of passage of sorts in which every junior PR person must be exposed to hearing first-hand the rantings of the “other side” and have their blinders removed, so to speak.

But it seems to me that the answers are always astoundingly basic and are only exposing the mistakes of moronic individuals or of a few bad apples.

The two annoyances that come up most frequently when the media is asked this question have to do with follow up calls (either calling when reporters are on deadline or following up excessively) and receiving pitches that are completely off the mark. So do your homework, folks, and understand who you’re pitching and their position with the media outlet, as well as how they work, including their deadlines.

Are we that masochistic?

Are PR pros using their voyeuristic gene to focus on all the bad examples in the industry? How else to explain the popular and authoritative Bad Pitch Blog? Or the site’s efforts, as well as Gawker’s, to “improve the PR industry through ridicule”?  Or the viral path that PR screw-ups have taken recently, such as when a BrandLink VP failed miserably in pitching the Bloggess?

It’s gotten to the point that the industry has started debating the value of publicly outing bad pitches, like Arik Hanson does in his post, Are We Helping or Hurting by Blogging About PR Flameouts?

This doesn’t happen in other industries

Can you imagine a group of lawyers asking a judge about what courtroom behavior is the most vexing? Or scientists asking the FDA for tips on speeding up drug approvals?

Of course there’s a difference between “peeving” someone and royally mucking up a brand’s reputation. In any industry, the latter could cost you your job. But, in our industry, the consensus seems to be that there’s value in talking about what not to do.

Do you agree? Disagree?

Alison Kenney an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience. She is based on Boston’s North Shore and has worked with organizations in the technology, professional services and consumer industries. She writes a bi-monthly PR column on LindsayOlson.com. You can find her at www.kprcommunications.com. Learn more about Alison Kenney.

This is a post by PR columnist, Alison Kenney.

It’s been ten years since I launched my own independent PR consultancy and I like to think I’ve learned a little along the way. When I look around, the view is certainly a little different now compared to what my life and job looked like ten years ago.

A decade ago I was leading sizable account teams for a top PR firm. I worked long hours at the office and spent weeks working on-site at a client’s office in another city. Today I work for myself and for my small and medium-sized clients – most of whom don’t have internal marketing resources of their own. My office is one room in my home and I sometimes put work projects on hold for an hour in the day to shuttle my two children to their activities or to help them with their homework after school. The one thing that hasn’t changed over the past decade is my excitement for public relations and the satisfaction I get from using my skills to make a difference in my clients’ businesses.

Here’s what I’ve learned over the past decade:

There’s no “right way” to have a career. Smart, senior PR professionals come in lots of different forms. Some are most productive working in a traditional environment with traditional supports, and others only work best when they’re free to be their own person. Some people thrive when they have exciting, award-worthy campaigns and products to lead. Others enjoy more consistent day to day work and relationship-building. Some like to be perceived as “big thinkers,” while other fear flying solo.

There’s also no “right time” – whether you’re trying to plan for a career change, starting a family or jumping into an exciting new project. Rather than basing opportunities on some subjective timing – e.g. “by the time I’m 30 I’ll have reached VP-level,” – it’s more important to find the opportunities that feel too great to pass up and then give them all you’ve got.

You won’t get far at anything without support. Whether you get your support in-person, after-hours or online, clients, co-workers, peers, mentors and friends play a role in so many parts of our day. I credit a former co-worker, who struck out on her own about a year ahead of me, for giving me the motivation to launch my solo career. She also pulled me into her own practice and literally showed me the ropes. (Thanks, Marian!)

Sometimes you have to go with “it” and see where it takes you. Best laid plans and all that — then suddenly you look back on a decade…or even just the past year…and, while inventorying your experiences and where you’ve wound up, realize you’ve developed a nice little niche in a market you would never have known to pick for yourself.

Working alone means you have one tough boss. We’ve all heard about how we are our own toughest critics and that’s true enough. Working for yourself also means you are responsible for motivating yourself, critiquing yourself and pushing yourself toward improvement.

Never put off your life for your career. As I’m fond of telling people these days, “we have our whole lives to work.” While I sometimes create more stress for myself by shortening my workdays a bit, I’ll never regret making time to meet a friend for lunch or a walk.

Keep an eye on the competition. What I mean is this: by following others in the PR world, you can see how they are talking about themselves and their work, see where they’re going and what they’re doing. It’s inspiring to me to follow industry leaders or people who are in the thick of dynamic PR projects. Sales teams do this all the time, for more competitive reasons.

In PR, you are the sum of your work experiences. I feel this more acutely as a solo practitioner, but it’s true whether you work in a big agency, corporate setting or small office. Most of us get hired based on the work we’ve done in the past and the experiences we’ve accumulated. Knowing this has helped me realize that it’s important to be proactive about the type of work I say yes to. It’s not easy saying no, but I consider the industry, the type of work and who I’ll be working with very carefully.

Alison Kenney an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience. She is based on Boston’s North Shore and has worked with organizations in the technology, professional services and consumer industries. She writes a bi-monthly PR column on LindsayOlson.com. You can find her at www.kprcommunications.com. Learn more about Alison Kenney.

It’s that time of year…when families gather for the holidays lots of things can happen. Those of us in the PR profession have more than likely experienced at least a couple awkward conversations about our work with family members who don’t quite understand PR. Since I’ve already blogged about my family’s inability to understand what it means when I say I work in PR, I’ll focus this blog on the other awkward work-related conversation that inevitably comes up at this time of year: what happens when family members, or friends, ask for your PR help.

Now, don’t get me wrong — I know we all have family and friends who we’d do anything for, and many of us have benefited from the help and advice of family members. Yet sometimes these situations can get sticky.

Take, for example, situations like these:

• A family member is excited to work with you and promises to pay you for your time and expertise…but they have no idea what the cost of your service will be.
• A relative outlines an “opportunity” or “project” that you would never consider taking on if it came from someone who was not a family member.
• Friends dangle in-kind payback that is not at all enticing to you: “I’ll introduce you to all my poker buddies entrepreneur friends so they can call you when they need advertising PR advice.”
• No matter how expert you are, or how respected you are in your industry, when your great Aunt Ruth or your older brother need you, they know how to reach you and they know your personal soft spots and what to say to get you to do their bidding.
• You’re asked to get on board and help with publicity for a product or company that doesn’t exist yet. Maybe it’s more fun to talk about publicity than other business infrastructure issues, but these prospects are nowhere near the RFP stage. They don’t need PR right now; they need to find a manufacturer first.
• After you take on a project with an old friend (even though you knew better) and it ended up going way over the anticipated scope of work, they have the nerve to criticize the (pro bono) work you did. For years to come, they will continue to mutter about your inability to get them results.
• And the #1, most common request from friends and family: asking for your PR help for a product or company in an industry that is not related in any way to the career experience you’ve built over the years.
• Remember, there’s a big difference between doing business with your friends and becoming friends with the people you work with.

If you have any remaining doubt, I leave you with this funny org chart that can help you decide whether it makes sense to work with a family member: http://shouldiworkforfree.com/

.Alison Kenney an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience. She is based on Boston’s North Shore and has worked with organizations in the technology, professional services and consumer industries. She writes a bi-monthly PR column on LindsayOlson.com. You can find her at www.kprcommunications.com. Learn more about Alison Kenney.

In the world of PR, solo practitioners have a bit of mystery about them. Without an affiliation to an organization they can be hard to place. And while each individual PR professional has their own unique qualities, here are a few universal truths about solo PR pros that you may not have known:

Solo PR pros are self-motivated – working independently means they come up with their own program ideas and strategies and put it all into action themselves. While there is give-and-take with clients, solo PR pros have to be their own boss when it comes to staying motivated and delivering results. Consider also that solos take on the risk of finding work and keeping their income flowing steadily.

They can become your most dedicated partners – depending on the nature of their PR work (i.e. short projects versus long-term programs), most solo PR pros work with a small circle of clients at one time. Each client is therefore important to them and their workload. They also may be able to accommodate certain needs or workstyles in a way that a larger PR agency can’t do.

Not all types of solo PR pros are the same – I like to categorize independent PR practitioners as either a freelancer or consultant. Freelancers will take on projects or pieces of projects, such as writing, researching, etc., or may fill in as a PR team member for a temporary period, while a consultant will play a more strategic role and take on the development, as well as the execution, of a PR program.

Their work is personal – many choose to go solo for lifestyle reasons, e.g. to balance work with other needs such as child care, a serious hobby or relationship, or perhaps just because they like the freedom of working for themselves. Being the one who calls the shots also means they typically can pick work that interests them personally.

They have a niche – unlike big PR agencies that can serve a wide range of client types in different industries because they have a large staff to draw upon, a solo PR pro’s niche is defined by their actual experiences. This might be obvious, but with those solo practitioners who don’t call out their specialty, potential clients will have to ask questions and find out more about the person, their experiences and how they work. Most PR pros wouldn’t have the guts to go solo if they didn’t possess a solid command of all the PR basics, and they may say they can apply their expertise to any type of program, but a look at their experience and current roster of work will tell you what their area of expertise is.

The name “solo” is misleading – independent practitioners wouldn’t survive without networks that include connections from pre-solo days, professional associations, partners and other supporters.

Alison Kenney an independent PR practitioner with more than 15 years of PR consulting experience. She is based on Boston’s North Shore and has worked with organizations in the technology, professional services and consumer industries. She writes a bi-monthly PR column on LindsayOlson.com. You can find her at www.kprcommunications.com. Learn more about Alison Kenney.

If you’ve recently graduated or are having trouble getting your foot in the door in your industry of choice, have you considered interning? Interning gives you experience in a variety of areas, and it’s easier to get in a company as an intern than as a full-time employee.

Working as an intern in PR, you can learn how to write press releases, pitch editors and maintain media relationships: all of the skills you will need in a full-time role.  You may get invaluable experience in a particular industry that will also make you more marketable.

Having an internship on your resume impresses potential employers and makes you more hireable. It may open the door to a full-time position at the company you intern with if you network with the right people. When my public relations search firm, does get the occasional entry-level positions, our clients almost always ask for a candidate with at least two solid internships under their belt.

Maximize Your Internship
Having an internship is your chance to beef up your resume. Come to the role with ideas of what is it you hope to get out of the internship and seek opportunities to learn. You’re in the position of being able to expand your skillset, getting real world experience, so take advantage of it!

Observe others; you can often learn from other people, not only about how to do a job, but also how to be professional in the workplace, and how to interact with co-workers. If you’re lucky, you’ll find someone who will take you under her wing and teach you what you need to know to succeed.

Where to Find Internships
If you’re in college, check to see if you have a career center that can help you find an internship. Talk to your professors to see if they know of companies who may hire you as an intern. Often the good word from a professor who knows you is enough to get you in, even if you have zero experience.

Many colleges offer recent graduates similar services, so check your alumni network to see if there are any internship sources.

Online, there are several sites that focus on helping you find internships, like USAIntern and About’s Internship Page. If you’re looking for an internship in marketing, PR or social media, try Hoojobs.

Social media offers some inroads to interning as well. Check out hashtags #entrypr, #printern, and #happo on Twitter for internship listings, as well as great advice from PR pros for beginners.

If there’s a specific company you’d love to work for, approach them directly with a pitch on how you’d help them as an intern. Just be sure you can show you competencies because the firm will want the sense that they won’t have to spend a lot of time babysitting you.

According to Heather Huhman, Generation Y Author, Columnist and Mentor,

“In order to determine if an internship program is a good one, look at the following characteristics: mentorship, education, meaningful work, culture, recommendations, and networking opportunities. It shouldn’t matter if you intern at a “big name” company–startups and small businesses provide great experiences, too!”

Things to Know
Internships don’t always pay, so you need to be able to afford to work for free. Not everyone has the flexibility of being able to work without pay, so make sure it’s the right time in your life to do so, or try to find an internship that pays at least minimum wage.

If you’re in college, you may be able to get credit for your internship. Talk to your career center to find out what you need to do to qualify for college credit. You may need some documentation signed by the company who hires you, so arrange for all of that up front.

Your internship should revolve around the types of work you want to do. Unfortunately, some companies take advantage of interns and use them as gophers (“go-pher a cofee for me, go-pher a stapler…”). Set your expectations up front so you know what roles you will be assigned.