As an intern at Anglin PR nearing the end of my time as an OU student, I’ve been learning the ins and outs of the job search. It can be a difficult journey to find the best fit in a place to work as an intern or full-time employee, but there are a few things to hone in on during your search.
One word I’d use to describe what to look for in a prospective internship or job is culture. Businesses often try to recruit younger candidates by promoting the services they provide to their consumers and what their duties will be once they’re onboarded. While these elements are important to know, ultimately a company’s culture should be the deciding factor. In my earlier years of college, I was focused on looking for two things in a company when considering them for an internship: the tasks I would perform for them and the purpose of their work. While these are great characteristics to think about, I neglected to realize the importance of the culture, resulting in an imperfect fit with my first internship. After months at this internship, I realized that the missing piece was how well I would fit into the company’s culture.
Following this realization, I began looking at companies through my new “culture lens”. I started following prospective companies’ social media pages. This allowed me to see if the company posted about their employees, the internal environment, and how they “fit” with their community. If they posted that type of content, I gained a sense of what their culture was like. Anglin PR did a great job at this by posting social content that showed off employees' personalities. It felt like I was able to get to know them before meeting them. Another way I determined company culture was by browsing their website. When looking through Anglin PR’s website, I was able to understand the atmosphere of the work environment because they posted various blogs about getting to know their employees, what it’s like to work at Anglin, tips for working in the public relations industry and more.
If I could say one thing to all businesses it would be to promote your culture authentically. Anglin’s genuine personality and collaborative culture are what drew me to them, and interning here has been nothing short of incredible.