Internship in Public Relations

Internship Period/Type: This internship will run for 10 weeks. Interns are required to work 20 hours each week and will be paid $150 per week.

Supervision: The intern will report to The Heartland Institute’s Communications Director. 

Responsibilities: The internship will involve a wide variety of Public Relations responsibilities, including print and broadcast media relations; event marketing and promotion; “new media” and social networking; and speaking engagement scheduling. Among the specific tasks that will be assigned to the intern during this period:

● Daily submission of at least one letter to the editor. This will require reviewing news sources (Internet and print) for articles to respond to; drafting the letter to the editor for review by the Communications Director; and submitting it to the appropriate newspaper(s).

● Weekly submission of at least one op-ed: review topics “in the news”; identify an article from one of Heartland’s four monthly newspapers or other Heartland publications that addresses that topic; create an op-ed from that article for review by the Communications Director. Determine which newspapers across the country the op-ed should be submitted to, based on a review of articles they’ve published that week; and submit the op-ed. Follow up telephone calls to determine whether the op-ed will be used.

● Daily interaction/promotion using Heartland’s Facebook and Twitter accounts; finding compelling topics “in the news” that Heartland can share with others who embrace free-markets and liberty; commenting on the posts of allies and friends; interacting with the members of The Freedom Pub.

● Assist with the promotion of at least one Heartland event: determine appropriate outlets for calendar announcements (print) and public service announcements (radio); draft announcements and submit; work with Communications Director and Art Department to develop event invitation; identify opportunities for additional media promotion of event--editorial board meetings, radio interviews with event speakers, invite media to attend/cover the event, etc.--and pursue those opportunities.

● Talk radio show development: telephone contact with talk radio show hosts currently in Heartland’s database and receiving Heartland materials to determine their interest in our work. For those who express strong interest, immediately “pitch” the person on setting up an interview with a Heartland spokesperson. Act as liaison between the talk radio show and the Heartland spokesperson to ensure all details are worked out. Follow up with both parties after the scheduled interview.

● Speaking engagements development: research groups that might be interested in having a Heartland spokesperson as a speaker; draft cover letter to accompany promotional mailing to those groups; follow up telephone calls to determine interest and schedule speaker. Act as liaison between groups and speaker to ensure all details--including travel arrangements--are worked out.

● Administrative: Heartland tracks the performance of its Public Relations efforts closely. The intern will be expected to perform some data entry tasks (database updates on addresses/phones, recording in performance tables of clips received, talk shows arrangements, speaking engagements scheduled, etc.) and work with the Communications Director to prepare regular performance reports.

● Out-of-office work: the intern will be expected to attend Chicago-area events hosted by Heartland to assist with registration, site setup, and other activities. Depending on interest and availability, the intern may also be asked to travel with other staff to represent Heartland at events sponsored by others.

Generally, it is expected that the intern will spend one-half of his/her time in research and writing activities; one-quarter in telephone work; and one-quarter in administrative. That mix may change, however, based on the intern’s abilities and Heartland’s needs during the internship period.

Expected Skills: The intern is expected to have:

● Knowledge of public policy issues and free market thought.

● Significant experience and fluency with Word Perfect or Word for Windows and the ability to manage mail-merge processes.

● Excellent written and oral communication skills, combined with a professional demeanor.

● Attention to detail and ability to make reasoned judgements.

● Experience with Web research, search engines, email and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter. Heartland uses Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome browsers, and Outlook Express as its preferred email program.

Email resume, cover letter and writing samples to Latreece Reed at lreed@heartland.org