It Pays to Be an Intern at Kurman

A personal reflection
By: Stacey Nardozzi

According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), recent college graduates who participated in internships did far better than their classmates who had not had that experience. Most universities hammer into students the importance of obtaining an internship and some even make it a requirement for your degree.

One may think that sending your child to work at the family sub shop or a part time job at the mall this summer is more valuable than an internship, but trust me, the experience and knowledge one gains outweighs any job at the GAP (unless you want to be in retail, fashion merchandising or other related field).

With the depressed job market, opportunities for employment in for-profit companies and corporations are few and far between; this is especially true of the public relations industry. To secure that initial phone interview or even get your resume noticed, it helps to know someone on the inside, which is how I landed my internship with Kurman Communications, Inc.

My Public Relations Student Society of America Chapter (PRSSA) went on an agency visit there this past February and was introduced to Cindy Kurman and her team. At the time, they were looking for summer interns and I decided to send my resume and cover letter. I returned a month later for the interview and received a call notifying me that I had gotten the position.

With exams and Grand Rapids in my rearview, I looked to the Chicago skyline with anticipation and excitement for my internship with Kurman.

Little did I know it was going to be the most challenging, stressful, rewarding, crazy and fun summer of my life.

My initial thoughts of this internship were that I was going to be answering phones all day, fetching coffee for my boss and running errands; basically doing all of the grunt work. But boy, was I mistaken!

The Kurman intern position is anything but typical. Some of the tasks that I completed during my 15 week tenure with Kurman included:

• Yes, I did do tasks such as answer phones, took a valuable member of the Kurman team, Truffle their 6-year-old Bichon, for a walk and sorted through newspapers; it all comes with the territory

But I also:
• Managed 4 Facebook and Twitter client accounts by writing, responding to direct messages, comments and distribution of the client messages

• Wrote and distributed media alerts for client events; one resulted in a closing color spot on the
10 p.m. ABC 7 newscast

• Made lots of media follow up calls

• Built media contact lists to add to the database

• Wrote quite a few pitches resulting in clients being mentioned in a late night dining story in the Chicago Sun-Times and a Summer Drinks story in the Daily Herald

• Attended and worked at some fabulous events

• Experienced some of the best dining in Chicago; just one of the perks of representing restaurants

• Getting the opportunity to meet people like food critic and founder/moderator of LTHForum.com, David Hammond, food reporter on ABC’s Hungry Hound, Steve Dolinsky
and Jennifer Olvera, food critic and author of the Food Lover’s Guide to Chicago: Best Local Specialties, Markets, Recipes, Restaurants & Events

• And…used Google alerts to track and find client media placements

Overall this experience has taught me a lot about PR. It was stressful at times, but that’s the nature of the business! I have made a lot of great connections in Chicago, gained a better understanding of writing for the media and learned things about social media that I didn’t know even though I am immersed in it every day. I have become a person that obsesses over every detail but I’ve gained some of the best PR knowledge that anyone could ask for. I know what this experience has taught me and instilled in me, I know that I have a passion for PR.

Encourage your children and friends to pursue an internship in his/her chosen career field. Don’t be short sighted. You couldn’t buy this kind of experience. A good internship far outweighs a menial summer job. It could lead to full-time employment offers from the company of the internship or at another via a recommendation. Internships instill a quality work ethic, knowledge of the career that cannot be taught in a classroom and a chance to do work that they are passionate about. My internship at Kurman Communications, Inc. has been a valuable experience and I am grateful that my family supported and encouraged me to pursue this opportunity.

Photo 1: At the Chicago French Market Cooking Channel Truck event

Photo 2: The Kurman Staff outside the office

Photo 3: ABC 7 at the Green City Market

Photo 4: Intern Farewell luncheon at Ethyl's Beer & Wine Dive

Alicia's Final Post

By: Alicia Schindle





I've been working as an intern at Kurman Communications for the past few months as you have seen some of my Got Buzz postings. For my final post, I decided to do a top five gems of information I've learned list since I'm a sucker for rating things: movies, lists, places, food. I have way too many mental list countdowns as well: five weeks until Christmas, three days until I see my dog, two hours until lunch at La Madia with Kurman staff. I thought it would only be appropriate to continue this in my final posting. The following is a taste of what I experienced and learned during my internship. So here it is folds, the highly anticipated top five list, the top gems of information I've learned here:

5. Be persistent. Persistence was one quality that was essential to get this internship, was an attribute that was critical to my success during my internship, and a trait that will be fundamental for a promising future. First, if I wasn't persistent about working in a field that I was passionate about, I probably would be doing a mindless data entry job. After diligently looking, inquiring, interviewing, and following up, it was as important to continue my persistence while interning. Every day I expected more out of myself and I continued to seek out constant challenges in my eagerness to learn.

4. Social media is here to stay folks! Yes, I have a Facebook page, a professional profile on LinkedIn, a Twitter account and I read blogs, so I thought I had a pretty good grasp on the concept of social media before my time at Kurman, but was I wrong. I expected to improve my writing skills and learn more about the professional workforce. What I didn't know was how much I would learn about social media. At Kurman Communications there is a strategy behind their use of these tools and their ability to utilize this technology was beyond my knowledge. I knew there was lot of behind the scenes work that goes into generating buzz, including understanding the methodology, analyzing communications and marketing option, identifying and engaging communicators from all walks of life with the primary goal of getting noticed. I also knew public relations was and has always been a strategic marketing function in motion, I just hadn't realized how integrated social networking had become as a platform. As I started tweeting, posting and updating information on Facebook and to the KCI blog, Got Buzz, I quickly learned how social media has broadened the opportunities for Kurman's clients to get noticed.

3. Details, details, and did I mention details? At Kurman, I learned the art and importance of editing and searching for those little details. With every piece I wrote, re-wrote and wrote again, I learned a lot about my strengths and weaknesses as a writer. Even what may have seemed like the tiniest of details, an extra space after a period, adding a retweet button to a blog post, or capitalizing the first and second letter of a word was the difference between work that was fine and work that was great. I learned that although something may have made sense to me, there's always another way for a thought to be expressed and a lot of communication lies in the small details and phrases. I learned that effective communication is key to success and my supervisors and, even the company president, Cindy, brought light to really thing about the details and then re-thinking the details.

2. Media are people too. Corresponding with media can be a bit daunting and frightening at first, but I learned that the best way to deal with this fear is head on. It's like when as a little kid you were scared to jump off the high dive, and the longer you stood up there and looked down the more scared you became. Your big sister was always in the pool screaming to "JUMP! The longer you stand there, the more difficult it gets!" And just like the high dive, the longer you look at the phone thing about the reporter hanging up on you, or laughing in your face, the scarier the call becomes and takes on a life of its own. Instead of staring at the phone, I picked it up and made my first call, and I realized, it was just like calling up a friend to tell them about something really cool (because our clients are cool and fun to talk about).

1. You CAN and should love your job! You spend more time at work than you do with your family and most friends. Fortunate for me, I really found I enjoyed and loved the work I was doing. I also respected and had of lot fun with those I worked with at Kurman. My colleagues were always very supportive and helpful in explaining, as well as, outlining tasks.

My advice for any intern is to ask questions and get involved in the organization. You won't learn anything by only doing what you're told. I have already have many doors opened for me and have had the opportunity to work with some of the brightest and most creative mind in PR. With the completion of my fourth internship, I am armed with the tools for a promising future and I'm excited about the opportunities and challenges that are ahead. I look forward to my future in PR and know that thanks to Kurman Communications, I will be taking a rocking portfolio and resume with me.

As they say, where one door closes another opens!

Follow me @Schindle
Email me: Alicia.Schindle@gmail.com
Connect with me on LinkedIn

The Life of an Intern at Kurman Communications

by Trisha Trinco

The Kurman staff really knows how to show their interns a true public relations experience. I’ve had a wonderful journey which comes to an end as I write this blog entry. Spending close to four months in the trenches, I worked side-by-side with great individuals who mentored me and helped me to better understand the public relations industry. With their guidance, I got hands-on experience with interesting clients and media that, in the end, provided me with real life PR experience.

While 15 weeks may not sound like a lot of time, I have no complaints. I couldn't have paid a university any amount of money to teach me what I learned here. Let's talk about skills... oh my.

Write right
The benefits of doing an internship at a small firm are endless. Feedback is key. I received it with every piece I wrote, rewrote and wrote again. I learned a lot about my strengths and weaknesses as a writer, along with finding the spell check button in record time. There's always another way to express a thought and in the process, I learned what to do, and often, what not to do. If learning how to effectively communicate, at any level, was my goal, then my experience with my supervisors and, even the company president, Cindy, Kurman clients and the media, taught me how to think, re-think, create and re-create.

The Master Plan.
What should one hope to achieve by doing an internship? Kurman emphasizes learning behavior that will "follow me the rest of my life." Sounds scary for a 22-year-old. Beyond the massive improvement in my writing, seemingly simple things like being organized, creating and following a plan, staying on a time schedule and actively reporting EVERYTHING that we do, is part of the Kurman master plan for interns (and everyone else, for that matter). Being accountable and, of course, getting results for our clients. Bottom line. Work hard. Do your best. Do what you say you're going to do. And, have fun.

What does it mean to be part of the "team."
I really like my colleagues at Kurman. While, this may sound simple, I understand that having chemistry with whom the people you work isn't always a given, it's a luxury. There isn't a lot of division between responsibilities at Kurman. No task is too small. Nothing is unimportant.

Remember, they are just people.
Corresponding with media is a definite learning experience all on its own. Jump in with both feet and hope all goes well. My first call to the media was quite frightening. I had absolutely no idea what to expect. Was I going to get hung up on? Screamed at? Or was I going to faint? Once I had a couple phone calls under my belt, I realized that it was nothing to stress about. As long as I kept my facts straight, took the advice of my superior, Catherine, and thought of the call as a conversation rather than a pitch, the rest followed suit. The fun part came shortly after I started when the reporter with whom I was talking, actually was engaged, interested in what I had to say, and I secured my first real placement.

Friend me, tweet me.
Social media plays a huge role here at Kurman. I learned a lot about how to take advantage of new media, Web sites like Facebook and Twitter, where large amounts of people visit obsessively. Let me tell you, research rocks. I don't know what people did without the internet and I'm glad that I'm of the generation that affords me this luxury.

Creating buzz about clients is the goal of public relations, and social media has had a huge impact on how Kurman goes about doing it. I posted and updated information on Facebook, Twitter and the KCI Got Buzz blog. Although I have used these sites in the past, I didn't know as much about them as I do now. For example, I have had a personal Facebook account for years and never knew that fan pages existed or how to update them. I've had a personal Twitter account for about a year, and never before thought about how a business could use it to their advantage. Bottom line. Social media may well be the new wave of the future, and thanks to Kurman, I know how to contribute to it.

Free food!
Ok. Let's get real. If you follow or read Kurman's Got Buzz blog regularly, you know that among our specialties are food and restaurant marketing and public relations. You have to know that one BIG advantage of working here is FOOD. Dining is Kurman's mantra.

All work and all play.
I don't know if interns elsewhere get to plan, attend and work events, but at Kurman, we're thrown into it all. Early on at Kurman, I was offered the opportunity to attend the National Restaurant Association (NRA) Show. We were scouting and networking. Oh. And did I mention -- eating free food! Have you ever been to the NRA. I highly recommend it. OMG. If it's a food product or equipment to make food products, it's there. Miles of exhibits. Thousands of people. I had no idea of what went into making a restaurant. Hell. All I had ever done was order. Needless-to-say, between Kurman U and my Kurman field trips, this wide-eyed girl was in awe.

Bedazzle your dog.
The second event that I helped plan was the BARQUE fashion show. This client introduced me to the fashion world. Oh. Did I mention, dog fashion? Who knew that there were people who would plop down a Benjamin Franklin for the most gorgeous designer dog cloths, ever. And, adorable...the clothes and the dogs. Thanks to our hard work (and my persistent follow-up calls), there was immense media exposure, in print, online, and TV. At the show, I helped WGN’s Marcus Leshock with his interview of Gay Roberts, owner of BARQUE. Schmoozed with Bill Zwecker, the show's emcee, and watched CBS shoot b-roll. Needless to say, I was in heaven. It was gratifying to see all of the media exposure that the event had gained due to our dedication here at Kurman (and my hard work!)

Poker face.
The third event I attended was incidentally on the same day as the BARQUE event. (If you think pr is a 9-5 job, think again.) Chicago Gateway Green hosted its 4^th Annual Texas Hold ‘Em charity tournament at Galleria Marchetti which had more than 300 attendees and raised nearly $35,000. This event was many months in the making and it was exciting to be a major contributor. This event received a lot of attention from local media and was, without a doubt, a huge success, in part due to Kurman's great media exposure. We secured more than 40 media placements with a combined 58 million impressions.

How I got here.
Up until now, I haven't mentioned how I got here. Since there may be future intern wannabee's reading this, I think that it's worth mentioning. My intro to Kurman was during a "field trip" organized during my senior year at Western Michigan. A large group of us ventured to the "big" city to tour a couple agencies. Our first experience was a visit to Edelman. You can't help but be swept away by the "bigness" of the world's largest pr agency. The 15 of us were herded into their massive conference room and promptly given a briefing by their HR person who explained their internship program. She was followed by a panel of employees representing the many areas they cover. Don't get me wrong. It was awesome. But, by contrast, Cindy Kurman and her entire team greeted us with Gino's East Pizza. The afternoon was so intimate and relaxed. The company, so approachable. It was an eye opener. The Kurman team talked about what they did, showed us examples and fed us. What a great combination! They were genuinely interested in what we had to say and asked each of us what we wanted or thought we wanted to do with our life (and if we were doing an internship). This is where it got really interesting for me. Not one to mix words, I promptly raised my hand and said that "I was going to do an internship at Kurman." The rest is history.

One door closes, another one opens.
In my interview with Kurman, I stated that my goal was to find an internship that would give me the chance to learn the ins and outs of the public relations industry. I am sure there is a lot more for me to learn, but it is safe to say that my time with Kurman was a home run. My experience at Kurman is one that I will never forget and will be sure to take with me as I begin my career in public relations.