How To Become A Community Relations Internship: What It Is and Career Path

What is a community relations internship and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted expert

Derek Arnold

Community support is crucial to the success of many businesses, from financial institutions to healthcare providers. You could find a community relations internship in many fields and help your employer strengthen relationships with the community around them.

Your day-to-day tasks at a community relations internship would depend on where you work. Some employers might want you to write press releases or community newsletters to communicate with stakeholders via print. Other days, you may meet with local leaders to plan partnerships. Of course, as an intern you will also do less glamorous tasks like stuffing envelopes.

Since an internship is an entry-level position, you don't need a lot of prior experience to work as a community relations intern. Sometimes, you don't even need a college degree, although many companies like to hire students working towards a bachelor's degree. With this experience under your belt, you can go on to have a successful career in PR or community relations.

What general advice would you give to a community relations internship?

Derek Arnold

Senior Instructor, Villanova University

One of the things I stress to my incoming first-year students is that you need to be less concerned about specialized skills right off the start that you might develop over four (or more) years (and many will wind up changing their choice of that major anyhow over their collegiate career) and worry more about strong "general" skills that will apply to multiple areas "out there." I tell them that some jobs available in four years haven't even been created yet. Application software developers, data miners, 3d printing engineers, AI specialists--all these positions were in their infancy only a few years ago. Some of the people in school right now will be among the first who might be hired to fill the new jobs created.

To some extent, the training for them is not complete either, so some basic skills can help you be in the right place at the right time. Skills like problem-solving, critical thinking, logic/argumentation, and strong speaking skills never go out of style and can turn out to be a key to success once you get dropped into a situation that wasn't exactly what you were expecting when you were looking for your first "real" job. Think about it: If you bought stock in a company that employed Zoom support technicians, plexiglass screen manufacturers, and installers, mask makers, or contact tracing application software designers, you are probably sitting in a good place right now. The key is to be prepared, ready, and willing to explore new opportunities as they arise; there's a lot you can learn on the fly, but having a well developed, sensible pattern to address general questions to solve problems (or even what questions you need to ask) can put you in advantageous positions. There is a crying need for this, especially in today's ever-changing world.

ScoreCommunity Relations InternshipUS Average

Salary

2.4

Avg. Salary $31,172

Avg. Salary $59,228

Stability level

7.3

Growth rate 8%

Growth rate 0.3%

Diversity

6.6

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 0.59%

Asian 5.35%

Black or African American 10.39%

Hispanic or Latino 12.25%

Unknown 5.12%

White 66.29%

Gender

female 67.78%

male 32.22%

Age - 40

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 40

Stress level

7.3

Stress level is high

7.1 - high

Complexity level

8.8

Complexity level is advanced

7 - challenging

Work life balance

3.8

Work life balance is poor

6.4 - fair

Key steps to become a community relations internship

Explore community relations internship education requirements

Most common community relations internship degrees

Bachelor's

85.8 %

Master's

6.4 %

Associate

5.3 %

Start to develop specific community relations internship skills

Skills	Percentages
Press Releases	14.04%
PowerPoint	7.55%
Event Planning	7.44%
Community Relations Events	6.78%
Facebook	6.33%

Complete relevant community relations internship training and internships

Accountants spend an average of 1-3 months on post-employment, on-the-job training. New community relations interns learn the skills and techniques required for their job and employer during this time. The chart below shows how long it takes to gain competency as a community relations internship based on U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data and data from real community relations internship resumes.

Research community relations internship duties and responsibilities

Organize and manage various educational and physical programs sponsor by the NBA and its affiliates.
Create a Facebook page and update the company website.
Establish a team to create PowerPoint presentations to inform health fair attendees on health issues.
Propose a WWE Facebook page redesign to make the site more interactive and accessible to end users.

Prepare your community relations internship resume

When your background is strong enough, you can start writing your community relations internship resume.

You can use Zippia's AI resume builder to make the resume writing process easier while also making sure that you include key information that hiring managers expect to see on a community relations internship resume. You'll find resume tips and examples of skills, responsibilities, and summaries, all provided by Zippi, your career sidekick.

Choose from 10+ customizable community relations internship resume templates

Build a professional community relations internship resume in minutes. Browse through our resume examples to identify the best way to word your resume. Then choose from 10+ resume templates to create your community relations internship resume.