My month at an award winning Edinburgh PR Agency

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My new pal Bernie, hacking and how to’s

Intern Bible - Edinburgh PR Agency Intern, Susiby Susanne Göttfert

The amount of interns that have gone through this exact same moment of sitting down and putting together an intern blog, shows not only how successful Holyrood PR is in nurturing talent but also how many they have successfully helped decide whether PR was for them or not.

Being an Austrian living in the beautiful city of Edinburgh I do actually study PR but don’t let that deter you. Going in that first week I was so daunted, even though I was supposed to be prepared coming from university. It turned out that you can’t really be prepared, even if you know the theory behind what you are doing.

The actual process of working is the best way of learning how to PR. The interns that came before me have often offered tips and tricks as to how to survive, but really the only thing you need is yourself and the team will carry you through any rough patch.


Read a post from another successful intern, with their own hints and tips to surviving in PR.


Starting my internship the busy bees of Holyrood PR couldn’t be more welcoming if they tried. Being a novice in the Scottish PR landscape is not a problem. You are going to be given a thorough introduction and if you have any questions don’t be afraid to ask!

However as much as you just need to trust yourself there is one thing I would like to point out, there is a very special someone sitting on the desk beside you. As no other intern has previously named this survivor tool I have taken it upon myself to introduce you to it.

Introducing Bernie

Intern Bible - Edinburgh PR Agency Intern, Susi

This survival tool comes in the form of a massive black folder. The intern bible and I became best friends straight away. The intern bible is a survival guide which will help you on a day to day basis with lots of pretty pictures to make you feel like you know what you’re doing. But after a whole month together I like to refer to it as Bernie or Angel, because it has saved my live multiple times.

Especially after spending about 4 hours on blog posts only to then realise that the save button wouldn’t work and allow me to save the drafts. Bernie was my best pal and with the help of my favourite uncle Google I managed to successfully hack the system. Being able to be left and trusted to actually do things independently was surprising and showed how well the team was coordinated and dealt with a clumsy intern in the middle of a hectic work week.

By the time my first month was coming to an end I was entirely comfortable with drafting press releases, uploading and editing blog posts, handle the dreaded SEO score (Search Engine Optimisation which is a lot less difficult than it sounds), drafting social media posts and voice over without giggle fits every 10 seconds. All of this made me realise how varied PR really is. This is not a 9-5 job that doesn’t allow you to create and bring your own ideas in, but really a chance to use your own initiative.

“Can’t get a job without experience, Can’t get experience without a job,”

To anyone reading this and considering whether PR might be for you, don’t be afraid to try it out. As a student or young person it can be really daunting going into the work world. Often it seems like just to get experience you need to have at least 2 years plus of training and practice to even be considered for an internship.

However at Holyrood you’re allowed to be your own person and the support that the team will give you will help you maximise your own potential. Whether you are studying PR or not, are a complete novice or expert and just want to gain some more experience there is a place for you at Holyrood PR.

After interning for a month and overcoming quite a few stumbling stones, I can finally see where the theory that I learnt in Uni is being used in practice. The amount of things that I have learnt here in a month have helped me just as much if not even more than 2 years of University.

And also if everything fails you’ve always got Bernie and the whole team to fall back on!

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