Megan Hickey and Grace Montgomery
One of the primary ways Reservoir distinguishes our internship program is through access to substantive work that informs interns’ understanding of the broader health care and strategic communications landscape. Reservoir interns are fully integrated into our client teams, giving them broad visibility into our client work. More than one-off research projects or media monitoring, interns learn the ins and outs of developing editorial calendars, draft blog posts and support policy landscape analyses, among many other opportunities. These substantive assignments give interns the opportunity to learn how to write in the client voice and how to get smart quickly on key health policy issues. Our hope is that interns see how their meaningful contributions to research and deliverables not only support our clients’ objectives, but their own professional development goals as well.
Like all employees at Reservoir, each intern has the opportunity to chart their own path. In the first weeks of their internships, our interns collaborate with their individual managers to set goals for the semester. Interns often come to Reservoir with specific goals: areas of health policy they want to dive deep on, skills they’d like to hone through substantive writing assignments, or other personal goals like growing confidence in their presentation skills. Throughout the semester, interns also attend a series of tailored professional development “lunch and learns” to hear from Reservoir’s experts on topics that matter, from biopharmaceutical policy to media engagement.
And the learning experience is not one-sided – our interns help Reservoir be the best, developing and executing the smartest strategies reflective of the current health care landscape. Our interns come to us while pursuing degrees at top universities, many in fields such as communications, pre-med, public health, public policy, leveraging the latest learnings in those fields to the benefit of our firm and our clients. Interns also bring new perspectives and fresh ideas for tackling challenges, and we believe that mentoring interns on client teams helps them feel empowered to speak up and share their ideas – and importantly, feel confident that their input is valued.
Ultimately, our internship is designed to give interns real exposure to navigating complex issues and a grasp on core communications tactics, while learning how to prioritize their own goals for career growth. When our interns graduate, we hope that they leave the internship as more confident young professionals ready to drive their bright futures.