How to ensure the start of your career is a learning success

In this article, Ciara Frahill explores the concept of remote working and offers tips on how to get the most out of a remote internship

Starting with &Smyth Creative Communications (known as Gemma Smyth Communications at the time) in February 2021, I have observed from the small window that is my laptop screen, an insightful glimpse into the PR, media relations and digital marketing world. This starting point in my career was an unusual one as I was &Smyth’s first remotely working intern and the first intern since the company’s rebranding. It has been exciting to be part of a vibrant and warm work environment (unsponsored content), however, working and learning simultaneously in a remote setting has had its challenges.  

 The most challenging part of the internship for me was monitoring my own progress and improving my time management. Despite having a supportive team of mentors encouraging and helping me, it was difficult to see the contribution I had made materialise and it was definitely harder to learn from my mistakes remotely than in an office environment. With trial and error, I gathered helpful tips which I believe could help to keep any remote intern motivated and constantly learning. 

Here are the tips I’ve picked up, and wish I had known sooner, on the winding road that is a remote internship:

Claiming a space designated for just work is vital for anyone working remotely. It allows you to leave the office physically and mentally and will benefit your productivity overall. As discretionary as it may seem to some, surround yourself with positivity such as pictures or posters, good luck cards you got from friends and family for getting the position or even the basics like good lighting (which is what I failed to have for a long time). Being surrounded in a tidy and positive environment affects our mood in many public places like restaurants (the places we ate food before the pandemic), so there is no reason to believe that our mood isn’t affected by our private surroundings. Why not feel like you are the CEO of your home? 

This is the one tip I did not do myself and recommend doing the day before you start your new position or the day before your first day working at home. 

For an intern, it is really important to get into the habit of keeping a diary to take down meetings, tasks and future projects you may be working on. Writing these small things down means there is less pressure for you to remember everything, or perhaps allows you to remember everything you need to (whichever way you want to look at it). So, if you treated yourself to a leather hardback diary, or wall calendar and stationery with the excitement of getting your internship, use them as much as possible! 

In PR and communications, there is a constant evolution on every platform and media that continuously changes. Starting in an agency made me realise the importance of consistently updating my industry knowledge. The need to learn resulted in me quickly getting to know the food and agri market, along with dipping my toes in to the vast pool that is PR and communications. In any industry or role, I still believe it is beneficial to make the effort to get to know the industry you are learning in. 

Depending on your personal social needs, it is harder for some to communicate with colleagues through technology alone. A lot of people need human contact and body language to communicate. For an intern it is reasonable to argue that taking in first-time instructions online is always more difficult than in person. It will also naturally take longer to ask questions or get feedback. In that case, take this time to understand your task and take in what is being asked of you. Racing through an email to get straight on to the work does not benefit anyone and is in fact more of a burden and pressure on yourself. Your mentor, supervisor or colleague has taken time to brief you, you have every right to take time to absorb the task and think about it. This will prepare you for the job at hand and you will be able to start asking the right questions that will benefit your learning the most.

Getting to know the team is essential in figuring out where you fit in. This could be in the company itself, or in a team within the company. Keeping in touch may seem unnecessary at times but it gives you a sense of what is going on elsewhere and what workload other colleagues have. This could also give opportunity for you to be involved with that work. That benefits your mentor and co-workers and helps you become a team player. Staying in contact is also a source of social interaction that you are potentially preventing yourself missing out on. Everyone has a bit of FOMO (fear of missing out) at times. 

Another way staying in touch can benefit you, is picking up tips and insights you might not have gotten in your briefing. Everyday contact can allow you and your team to know where you are at workload-wise and with what you are learning. Make sure you do this even if you feel you are behind because it gives you a sense of how long tasks should take and how you can manage your time better (which will of course always take a while as you are learning).  

Don’t be afraid to ask for a zoom call or ask if you can send voice notes, it can make communication much clearer for both parties and it can be helpful when stuck on a task or have any technical difficulties. You are not an island; you have support and a team to network with. 

It can be harder to absorb extra information and tricks of the trade remotely as there is no opportunity to overhear discussions among colleagues or unscheduled workplace chatter that you can be involved in. This means you should take in everything in your scheduled meetings and conversations. Keep a notebook of information you can go back on. Often times your learnings won’t be realised until you go back on what you have heard. For me, I found in the first couple of months I took notes from every meeting about clients, the work that was being done, and what was planned. This meant I could look back on this information in the next meeting and I could be more clued in as to what was being discussed and remember more about the various clients.

There are definitely ways of showing enthusiasm in your remote internship. You can show you are helpful in new ways in a remote internship by checking in and offering help in a groupchat (if used), giving opportunity to work with new people or on new tasks. 

When working from home most meetings are scheduled including creative sessions. This could be beneficial to you as it can allow you to think ahead and have valuable points and ideas to add. This could make you feel part of the team and can bring a fresh perspective to your company's creative thought process. It is also important to sit back and see how that process works so that you can get your points across as effectively as possible.