From the Inbox: Should I Switch Internships?

I have been a follower of your blog for a year now and I love it. Your blog truly mirrors what the PR profession is all about, so thank you for that!

I am currently in a dilemma, and I need your expertise. I am a junior in college studying public relations. Since the rush for internships is off to a start, I applied like crazy and landed two awesome internships. The problem is, I can only choose one since I am a full time student. I wish I had the time to juggle both but I don’t. And now I am struggling to decide which internship to take.

The first internship I landed is strictly focused on Fashion PR and the second internship is a full service PR firm that caters to Lifestyle, Entertainment, Fashion, and Beauty clients. My interests in the PR field are not just in Fashion, but I already accepted the internship with the Fashion PR boutique.

Which should I choose? My heart is telling me to go with the second internship, but I do not want to be impolite and tell the Showroom Coordinator from the first internship that I can no longer take the position. I am scheduled to start next week. What should I do?

Thank you,
A Torn PR Girl

First off, congratulations! This is not a bad problem to have. It’s like The Bachelorette when she’s down to two guy that want to marry her and she doesn’t know which to choose. Tough life.

Since you’ve already committed to starting the fashion internship a week from now, I would say it’s too late to switch. You don’t want to burn any bridges, especially since you’re just starting out.

The good news is that you pretty much have a second internship lined up for the fall or spring. Email the other firm and let them know that while you already accepted an internship at a different agency, you would be interested in working at theirs in the fall or spring. Stay in touch with them over the summer so that they don’t forget about you. By the time you graduate, you will have two completely different experiences under your belt so you’ll know which is the better fit for you once the time comes to look for a full-time job.

If you were coming to me with this question as someone who already graudated, I would say to take the second opporunity. You’re still only a junior, so you have plenty of time to feel out the industry.

Hope this helps – and best of luck.

Xo, A

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