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Profile
of Manfred Fisher, Intern, 501(c)(3)2,
4/05
By Amanda Harber
PPW/Writing Center Publicity Intern
 Manfred
Fisher currently interns at 501 (c)(3)2,
a full service consulting practice that works to optimize the performance
of non-profit organizations. They provide strategic planning facilitation,
business plan preparation, crisis communication and government consulting.
Manfred landed the internship because he knew the owner, Linda Dickerson,
from his previous employment with the Greater Pittsburgh Convention
& Visitors Bureau. He chose to intern there because the “PR
contacts and writing experience far exceeded any other firm in the
city.”
Manfred is currently pursuing a double degree in Legal Studies and
Political Science. He believes that this academic experience, combined
with a PPW certificate, will prepare him for law school. A PPW certificate,
Manfred believes, will help him “expand and excel” in
the intense writing requirements that the study and practice of
law requires. In addition, Manfred would like to pursue travel writing
in his career, and he finds that the options that the PPW certificate
offers are more than adequate to help him pursue this goal. He states
that PPW is “a great and advantageous program offering a 'kick
start' into the real world.”
At his internship, Manfred proofreads, writes, and researches proposals
that his sponsor has agreed to fulfill. Additionally, he has met
with “representatives from the Mellon, McKune, Benedum, Pittsburgh
Foundations and Heinz Endowments . . . leaders in the educational
community including the President of Carnegie Mellon University,
Dr. Jerry Cohon; former County Executive, Jim Roddey; [and] Martin
J. Stanek, Esquire, of Leech Tishman Fuscaldo & Lampl.”
Furthermore, Manfred attends regular meetings of the Pittsburgh
Council of Higher Education as part of his duties.
During his experience so far, Manfred has learned how important
communication, particularly mastering corporate communication, is
in the business world. He has learned much of this from observing
his sponsor, Linda Dickerson, as she interacts with clients and
potential clients. He completely agrees with the PPW program’s
advice that “the key to learning at an internship is watching
and listening.”
In addition to what he’s learned about communication in a
business context, Manfred also thinks that he’ll take a good
sense of his writing skills, a wealth of career contacts, and potentially
another internship. All of these add up to good potential employment
opportunities for Manfred.
Manfred advises potential PPW students and current PPW students
considering an internship to decide what they would like to get
out of their internship and reflect on what they can bring to their
sponsors. He stresses the need for potential interns to be prepared
and research for internships the same way that they would for job
interviews. He believes that the PPW internship program as well
as the certificate program itself can expand any student’s
horizons. PPW in particular, with its acute focus on writing and
communication, will help students in a business arena in which these
skills have become so keenly necessary. |
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