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Capacity, Culture, Dogs and Cats: What I have Learned as an Intern

By: Nathan Allen | 08/09/2011

For the past 11 weeks I have been fortunate enough to be the intern at Standing Partnership. In that short time I have learned a lot about strategic communications, reputation management, agency life and specifically, life at Standing Partnership. From new specific tactics to surviving the pace of agency life, these are the top five things I have learned during my brief time at Standing Partnership.

1.    How to use CisionPoint. CisionPoint is the program Standing Partnership currently uses for clip gathering, coverage tracking and building media lists. I spent a lot of time this summer working with and sometimes battling CisionPoint to build media lists, clip reports and conduct research for multiple client teams. It will be very beneficial to have this knowledge base in the future.

2.    How to use the word "capacity." I probably used the word capacity more times this summer than I have in the rest of my life combined. Capacity is Standing Partnership vernacular for time. When you have capacity it means you have time to work on a project. When you don't have capacity, you are completely swamped with work. One thing that is great about Standing Partnership is when someone does have capacity (often rare) they are more than willing to step up and help out fellow team members.

3.    Standing Partnership has culture. And it turns out the culture is welcoming and friendly as well as professional and hard working. The pace of the work can be furious and intimidating at times but there are also impromptu visits from the office ice cream cart on Fridays. Also, the communication is always flowing. From conversations about client work to weekend or vacation plans everyone is truly interested in what is happening in other's lives around the office.

4.    Unfortunately, an estimated 23,000 dogs and cats are euthanized each year in the St. Louis area. This is a random fact from a project to make the point that Standing Partnership is fully involved with and gets to know their clients and their client's industries. I learned a lot from researching for different clients and an atmosphere of continual learning and researching is the norm at Standing Partnership. Standing Partnership also represents companies and initiatives that are dedicated to improving the world around us. By the way, the St. Louis PetLover Coalition has a goal to cut the number of dogs and cats euthanized each year in St. Louis by half.

5.    The Standing Partnership internship is what you make of it. I have worked in a public relations setting as an intern or graduate assistant in seven different offices including Standing Partnership. I have never worked harder and more efficiently than I have at Standing Partnership. I have also never been around a larger group of people who are truly interested in your development, success and interests. It has been a great opportunity that I have truly enjoyed and feel fortunate to have experienced.

To apply to be Standing Partnership's next intern, check out our job listings here.

Posted in Culture