Among the challenges faced by work-integrated learning (WIL) educators, recruiting, selecting, and retaining outside organizations as 'clients' or 'community partners' to work with students looms large. The gap between classroom needs and professional practice often leads to a tangle of unrealistic expectations. These challenges grow even more acute given that faculty often lack the experience, skill, time, and resources critical for fostering partnerships with organizations. To gain a clearer sense of the challenges involved, this article considers the body of literature on one course taught at U.S. universities: the public relations campaigns, with a specific focus on clients. The intention is twofold: first, it aims to identify opportunities for future research on the course to fill gaps in best practices for faculty working with client organizations; and second, to show how these course-specific issues echo, and potentially expand upon, challenges WIL professionals grapple with regardless of what they teach.