What I’ve Learned: A Proposal Intern’s POV

Education and community support are cornerstones of RMR Consulting. This is why, when I heard that communications students at UT Austin (my alma mater) were struggling to secure summer internships due to the COVID-19 pandemic, I decided to bring on my first ever intern. Audrey shares her experience at RMR Consulting in the following post. These words and experiences are entirely hers, and I am deeply appreciative of her assistance and the support UT is providing its students at this time.

– Rachelle

What did I expect?

I think we can all agree these past couple of months have been like no other. COVID-19 has affected so many in such negative ways. However, I was fortunate to be given an internship for this past summer with RMR Consulting as a Communications and Marketing intern.

This was my first internship opportunity and I was eager to work and learn more about the proposal management process. Prior to my first day, I didn’t know much about proposal writing; I had heard of a Request for Proposals (RFP) and Proposal Management Plan (PMP) but that was about it. Even though I had little (basically zero) experience in the world of proposal writing, I was reassured that I was a good candidate to take on the challenge. I was encouraged to voice my opinion on what exactly I wanted to gain from this experience. Writing was the main skill I wanted to work on and would be given many tasks that would allow me to practice, such as writing blog posts for the RMR Consulting website or reviewing proposals for grammar and spelling.

What have I learned?

Right from the beginning (the first day to be exact), I began learning about the proposal management process. Rachelle had set up a Google meet for ‘orientation day’ and informed me more about her brand and what we would be doing, such as, collecting content from clients, project managers, or our clients’ subject matter experts. We would also keep proposals on schedule and coordinate resources. Rachelle walked me through an informative presentation on the RFP and proposal writing process (I have pages of notes to prove how much I learned in just the first hour of interning.)

Each week I was given a variety of tasks and each task enabled me to develop important knowledge. One key lesson I learned was the value of paying close attention to detail. In my opinion, putting together a proposal is equivalent to an elaborate art project. The look of the proposal needs to be professional and aesthetically pleasing and the content inside needs to be accurate. I learned you can never go over something too many times. I would find myself reviewing resumes and correcting occasional typos, then sending it back for review. I learned that focusing on every aspect of the project is paramount to generating a thorough proposal.

I learned that deadlines are important but taking your time on the task is just as important. I would find myself feeling stressed if I didn’t turn something in earlier than the deadline. I constantly felt like the faster I worked and the earlier I turned something in, the better it was. This was not true (shocker right?) Rachelle noticed this habit of mine and advised me to work on a task then take a couple of hours or a day until I went back to it. This allowed me to still get a head start on the assignment but forced me to take extra time while working on it and to review it multiple times. After incorporating her advice into my routine I found it helpful to come back to my work and look at it with a fresh perspective.

I learned that it is okay (and encouraged) to ask questions whether you want to know more about something or if you need reassurance. While interning for RMR Consulting I knew it was a safe space for me to contact Rachelle with questions or to ask advice but, at times I would feel self-conscious because I didn’t know how to do something. Rachelle reminded me that it is normal and preferred to stop and ask for help on tasks I found tricky so then I could focus on higher priority tasks. The weekly Google meet check-ins were a beneficial way to communicate easily with questions and comments on tasks for the week. Email, phone calls, and even video calls were always available when I needed assistance on completing something.

I even learned (thanks to the help of working on proposals for client organizations in New Mexico) how to spell ‘Albuquerque’ correctly without the use of spell-check.

Most Interesting Assignment(s)?

I don’t think it’d be fair for me to choose just one assignment that I considered beneficial and interesting. I was given a variety of tasks that had to do with writing or marketing for RMR Consulting and the clients we worked with. I remember the first week I was given an RFP and was asked to fill in the PMP for it. That was my first shot at analyzing anything proposal related and it was foreign to me. I am now more confident with the RFP process although I still have much to learn.

I was invited to sit in on kick-off meetings for several proposals I worked on. Being able to get that hands-on experience was fascinating to me and I was fully engaged in listening to everyone involved with the projects. Mostly for proposals, I was in charge of putting together team resumes and project sheets so I had gotten familiar with a lot of the members involved in both the kick-offs and proposals. It was interesting to put a face or just a voice to the people who I met on the calls after working on their resumes for various projects.

As mentioned above, I got to write blog posts for the RMR Consulting website. This was a task that required me to test my writing skills and ability to educate readers through given proposal topic prompts. I wrote blogs on specific proposal topics such as Words for Proposal Writing or A Beginner’s Guide to Proposal Drafts. I even designed thumbnails for all the blog posts on the website which is where I put my InDesign knowledge to the test as well as my image choice expertise.

How do I plan to use the experience I gained moving forward?

I am beyond grateful that this was where I experienced my first internship. I couldn’t have asked for a more professional and accommodating company and proposal manager to have me as an intern. I went into this internship with an open mind and ready to learn whatever would be thrown at me and that is exactly what happened.

I will always remember the importance of time management and that it is okay to get things done early but only if you take your time on it and go through the assignment and triple check all your work. ‘Proposals’ and ‘meeting your deadlines’ are two things that must go together but I believe that applies to any job as well. I am a public relations major and I expect proposal writing to pop-up in my future career so I found everything I learned during this internship to be something incredibly helpful for my career.

All of the writing assignments I completed were expected to first be edited by me before I sent it in for review by Rachelle. I took every edit she commented and tried my best to correct it in order to make the final product the best it could be. I am appreciative of all the critiques I was given because they were ‘mini’ lessons that I will keep in mind for my future job assignments. Rachelle always provided me with positive feedback and was incredibly encouraging.

Staying organized is another key principle that I observed from this internship and how easy it makes your job. I become friendly with Google Drive and all the folders and files that were arranged in an orderly manner. It was never difficult to find a certain file and I plan to maintain my work in this way moving forward.

Getting to observe the RMR Consulting brand and the development of it within the website and Rachelle’s work ethic with clients is another thing I found valuable to observe. The social media skills involved with the brand was a noteworthy lesson. Maintaining a professional and positive image of the brand on social media platforms is an essential part of brand development and that is a prime factor for any PR job I will take.

What did I like?

This internship experience was one that I can only give a positive perspective on. Naturally, it was my first one and I was very nervous about whether I would be ‘good enough’ for the position. But, I always felt welcomed and free to learn and ask any questions. Rachelle would always be on-call and ready to walk me through any assignment for the first time or more times if needed (which was usually the case.)

I learned something new every day and I can’t communicate enough how appreciative I am for having the privilege of learning from someone so experienced in the proposal field. Each day I felt a sense of accomplishment with whatever task I was assigned. This remote internship gave me the chance to not only feel productive but – also to learn an abundance of things in a short amount of time.