Where are the SG Interns now? (HINT: Look around)
Imagine this. It’s the first day of your first real gig out of college, it took you an hour to decide on what to wear to look all grown up and professional, AND you had to pack your own lunch. Okay maybe that was just me, but I’m proud to say that I have been at Sutherlandgold since I was an intern two years ago. Looking around at my peers, about 75 percent of us started out that way as well — as an intern at SG. That’s pretty cool if I do say so myself!
With that in mind, I’d like to take a step back and spotlight all the interns who have been hired and have grown to be pivotal figures here at Sutherlandgold, and the ways that SG as a company has fostered that growth. A majority of our team both in New York and San Francisco consist of past interns, so what is it that really stuck with us? Was it the dog-friendly office policy, a jar of goldfish in the kitchen, or the rush of PR? What did we all leave feeling after our first week and how has that changed?
First week jitters — will we fail or prevail?
From an environment and workplace culture perspective, my first thought as an intern was WOW these people are smart. I noticed right off the bat that the pace of public relations is very fast, deadline-oriented, and you have to over-communicate to really stand out and achieve. I also noticed how open everyone is here and ready to help you at every level.
In my first week, we had an all-hands agency meeting with the New York office, which the CEO and every single member of the company joins, to discuss the happenings and wins of the agency. I really liked this process, and didn’t think the CEO and executive team would be as approachable and involved in every step of the process as they are. Us interns were also celebrated as we joined the company, with welcoming arms and lots and lots of tips and tricks.
More than coffee runs and shredding docs
As a recent grad, all of us worried that this may be a coffee-run and admin internship, but to our surprise, it was much more engaged than that. From the beginning, interns are very much a part of the day-to-day and are encouraged to contribute to all projects, which you would not expect. Looking back at her experience, Jasmine, one of our most recent interns, described the internship as a “full course meal”, where you get trained as the appetizer, are immersed as the entree, and the dessert/reward is the moment that things click and you get to see how your hard work contributes to your client’s success.
Eliza described the internship as a time to explore different avenues of the tech industry she never thought she would be interested in (like real estate and video games). Many of us didn’t realize we’d nerd-out on specific fields like video games, cybersecurity, fintech, martech, etc. but because Sutherlandgold gives you the opportunity to work with a variety of clients, we are given the chance to find our new niche and see through the looking glass at all the different industries of tech before jumping to conclusions. At Sutherlandgold your opinion is heard and your work really contributes to the larger picture.
Sean expressed that he feared that his first job out of college wouldn’t be something he was passionate about, but that he was pleasantly surprised and that every day was an adventure. We all agreed that even as interns, Sutherlandgold felt welcoming in many ways. You’re encouraged to speak directly to company leaders and an open-door policy is strongly encouraged.
Hannah, who recently accepted a full-time role here at SG (Yay!) described her experience as “involved and exciting,” one of her favorite moments was emailing reporters for the first time and seeing her first piece of coverage go live all in one day. She says these are the moments she is especially excited for as she continues her career full-time at SG this summer.
We’re here for the long haul
As interns, we may have come in scared and overwhelmed, especially after we received documents back with 100 corrections now and then, but I’m really proud of how far we’ve come in such a short time! Looking around, veteran interns have stayed here for more than four years, and you can tell it was the advice we were given as interns that helped shape our skills and it’s the time other staff members took to sit down and explain that helped us grow.
The advice that really stuck
Mally (shown above) says the advice that really stuck with her as an intern as she advanced at SG was, “Take the 30 minutes to explain something deeply and with examples. It pays off in the long run.”
Maybe one of my favorite pieces of advice I’ve heard is one that was told to Yalda, who has been at SG for close to three years now. As an intern, during a stressful time, she was told that, “It’s all going to be okay. It’s just PR, not the ER.” Ashley, another former intern who has been here for about a year says that she was told over and over again to “raise your hand and over-communicate,” which are words that are ingrained in us every day and we should probably get a tattoo to prove it…
In terms of what has made us want to grow with the company, most former interns of SG say that it is because of the people and culture, client wise and within SG but it is much more than that. “I do love my clients, but at SG we are considered a person. Everyone knows my quirks, like how I love Harry Potter and The Challenge, and we’re known as individuals, not just another human on a team,” says Taylor.
The daily struggles
Others shared that one of their favorite parts of the job was the rush of finding the right reporter for a certain story and that they became attached to the adrenaline rush of the industry in general. “PR is like a puzzle, it takes a while to find the right pieces but when you do it’s a great feeling because you’re contributing to a larger goal,” says Christina.
Beyond the daily challenges, Sutherlandgold is a boutique agency and with that comes more attention to the crew. JP highlights that he let SG know early on that writing was his passion and something he wanted to pursue, “They gave me opportunities early on and the fact that my passions were considered is one of the reasons that made me want to develop my career at SG.”
Others described the one-on-one “syncs” as we like to call them, with members of their team that went through what we could do better in a pitch, briefing document or speaking and awards submission to really help them understand feedback. This attention to detail and time we like to put in to teach makes the internship process so valuable. Speaking from experience, I’m a visual learner so someone walking me through HOW and WHY my work could be improved helped me understand best practices. It’s a learning process, and we’re all still learning.
Not going anywhere
To wrap it all up, it may have taken us a few months to really get the hang of things, so thank you for your patience, but look at us now! We couldn’t have done it without the advice, diet-coke stocked fridge, tracked changes in google docs, pep talks and coffee breaks, and the support of our fearless leader Lesley Gold. She makes us laugh, highlights the wins, and is always pushing us company-wide to be strategic and authentic above everything else.
To me and I think for everyone here, SG is a very special place that rallies around hard work and results but won’t feed you to the sharks to get there. The internship is tough, and we don’t leave that out of interviews, but it’s also a growing and learning experience that I wouldn’t have traded to have anywhere else. Wipes away tear drop.
See below for our veteran interns who made it through the storm, we’re a proud bunch!
