CIPR

A paid internship for black and minority ethnic graduates is paying off for a Yorkshire PR consultancy.

The internship, managed by Northern Lights PR, is a partnership between the Bradford University School of Management, industry experts and businesses which aims to give Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic graduates hands on experience of working in corporate communications and public relations – a sector where the community has historically been under-represented.

Here, Carol Arthur, Northern Lights senior account director and chair of the CIPR's Yorkshire & Lincolnshire regional group, talks about the consultancy's decision to provide the internship:

Our internship was inspired by the Brunswick Internship created by Taylor Bennett. We have run several campaigns for clients to help them reach diverse communication. We decided to use our expertise to run a northern version of the successful southern internship.

The communications profession is rightly concerned about the long term impact of the lack of diversity in PR. If we do not get people from BAME communities into the communications industry we are increasingly excluding whole communities from products and services. It is about ensuring we have a pipeline of talent from all communities for the future.

Common attitudes to PR among the BAME communities

We found that PR and communications simply wasn't on the radar of BAMEs – even those who had done marketing degrees. If they considered PR at all they saw it as being about political spin or celebrity kiss and tell. There was also parental pressure to opt for 'proper' careers such as law, accountancy, business and medicine.

One of our interns, Mohammed Waheed, said: "PR is not seen as an option within the BAME community. It is not seen in the same light as other professions. Northern Lights has already influenced five interns and I am actively seeking others to pursue a PR career. I've already interested a friend in next year's internship and my sister is researching the PR market for herself."

"Being a BME myself I can safely say that PR needs PR among the BME community because it is not considered a career goal.

"The truth of the matter is that PR is not a career pursued by the black community because it is not respectable – obviously I do not mean to cause any offence."

Another Northern Lights intern, Gabriel St Aimee, said PR had possibly not grabbed the attention of the BAME community,

"The BME community is very concerned about standing and PR just has not grabbed their attention. PR is nowhere on the radar. Every black person has a family member who is a doctor, lawyer, secretary or business owner.

"Without good communications, people will continue to be excluded – whether from trains, products or government services. If more people from BME communities look at careers in communications, it can only be good for the country.

"PR requires the best possible candidates for the job. As the field of PR currently stands it is not possible that PR in the UK is the best it can be."

Training interns

The interns had three packed weeks of masterclasses, workshops and real projects for Hallmark, Northern Rail and Bradford University School of Management.

CIPR members supported the Northern Lights internship and gave up their time free to run sessions on planning PR campaigns, the media, personal branding and social media. The interns also had workshops on CV writing and interview techniques.

The interns visited Hallmark and Northern Rail for briefings on real campaigns. The Northern Lights team provided training in writing news releases, PR fundamentals, planning successful campaigns, blogging, networking and were mentors and advisors throughout the three weeks.

Benefits of having BAMEs represented in the profession

Our chief executive, Victoria Tomlinson, has a philosophy that people from all communities need to be represented in the PR profession to unite the UK rather than divide it. That is why she invested in the internship.

Our interns worked on real projects for Northern Rail, Hallmark and Bradford University, all of whom recognised the valuable insights the interns brought to their businesses.

Changing BAME community attitudes to PR

We want to encourage graduates from BAME communities to consider PR as a career, our profession needs to be far more proactive. As intern Gabriel St Aimee says, the PR industry needs a PR campaign to change perceptions of PR among BAME communities.

There is much discussion in the PR profession at the moment about how we make the profession more diverse. Others may talk about diversity but we have done something about it.

The Northern Lights' interns were absolutely brilliant and were committed to going back to their schools, colleges, university and community to talk about PR and communications as a careers choice. With the support of CIPR members and big businesses such as Northern Rail and Hallmark – who gave them real projects to work on – we opened their eyes to the opportunities for them in the PR industry.

Read the Northern Lights interns' blogs to find out more about their experiences of PR.