What an innovative idea - MAVERICK Public Relations is offering aspiring young PR pros a chance to win an internship.
According to the blog of Julie Ruscioelli (Maverick PR President and founder), " the lucky winner of the first MAVERICK Idol will be granted an eight-week paid internship at the award-winning PR firm during the summer of 2009."
The contest will take the form of two rounds, giving the participants a total of seven minutes to show that they've got the MAVERICK stuff. From the news release, it sounds like they're encouraging the applicants to be as creative as possible.
I think this is a great idea for a number of reasons. First of all, it is much more of a real-life experience than a job interview. Being in PR means giving a lot of presentations and having to sell your idea. With a format like this, MAVERICK is more likely to find an intern with the workplace skills they're looking for (and, as sometimes happens with internships, result in a full-time job later on). It also gives the aspiring intern a great chance to practice their presentation skills. Scotty Mac, who works at MAVERICK and is no doubt one of the brains behind this idea, adds that the presentations will only be in front of the MAVERICK judges, rather than in front of all the other applicants as well.
For more information and the full contest rules, check out the MAVERICK Idol event on Facebook
-Parker
PS: what's the deal with PR firms and their insistence on capitalizing their names? NATIONAL? SHIFT? MAVERICK?