How to Get a Summer Internship as a Web Designer

Interning as a junior web designer or apprentice while you're in college will be very rewarding. It's a chance to rapidly learn on-the-job skills and knowledge. You'll get first-hand experience with the pace and volume of work at a design studio. It's GREAT for your resume. And of course, you can make sure this is the right career path for you. This guide will help you get a web design summer internship.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

1. WHEN TO LOOK. The best time to apply for summer web design internships is during your spring semester (or quarter), just after your semester starts. You'll want to have something lined up before you get close to your end of the semester exams and final projects when you'll be really busy. If your school has an internship program, check to see what their deadlines for being a participant are as *soon* as your spring session starts.

2. DOES YOUR SCHOOL HAVE AN INTERNSHIP PROGRAM? Check with your faculty advisor about design internship programs at your school or in your design department. If your school already has an internship program in place, your advisor can guide you through the time tables, what you'll need to apply for web design internships and what responsibilities you'll have while interning. Your advisor will likely have recommendations on what internships would be a good fit for you. ***This is the EASIEST way to get an internship.***

3. ASK YOUR ADVISOR FOR RECOMMENDATIONS. If your school doesn't have an internship program, ask your advisor, web design teacher or other favorite design teacher for recommendations about design firms that hire or might hire summer interns. Your advisor or teacher may have a connection or know of a contact at local firms. If so, ask them to put you in touch with a contact at the design firm. ***This is your NEXT EASIEST way to get an internship.***

4. RESEARCH LOCAL DESIGN FIRMS. If your school doesn't have an internship program and your advisors and teachers don't have any suggestions, you'll need to find design firms, agencies or studios that have internship programs where you'd like to intern. First places to look: craigslist, a local AIGA chapter, a local Art Director's club chapter. Next places to look: search on Google. ***This will be the most CHALLENGING way to get an internship, but you can get an internship if you put in time and effort.***

5. WHAT KIND OF FIRM ARE YOU LOOKING FOR? The most valuable internships will be with graphic design companies, web design firms, boutique design studios, advertising agencies or a large firms with an in-house design team that does their online media. To get the most out of your internship, stay away from companies that don't focus on design or don't have much web design experience, you may not receive much guidance at an internship there.

6. SKILLS YOU NEED. If you're a college level student, many firms won't expect you to be able to whip up a web site from start-to-finish your first day as an intern. However, most will expect a certain level of competency in core design programs and applications as well as awareness about the tools they use. Look at the company's design portfolio. Do they concentrate on flash-based web design? If so, then you should know how to use Flash at a beginner/intermediate level. Do they focus on XHTML/CSS based web design? If so, then you should understand XHTML/CSS and know how to code at an intermediate level. Other programs you'll be expected to know are Adobe Photoshop, and likely Adobe Illustrator. Make sure to include these skills on your resume.

7. GATHER DESIGN SAMPLES. Be prepared to show samples of your work: school projects, freelance projects if you have any, and other quality personal projects. 3-5 of your best samples will be sufficient. If you have a web site with your design portfolio online, this is the BEST way to show your work. If you don't have a web site yet, make a PDF with samples of your work (and be sure to make sure the file size of the PDF isn't too large to email). Be sure to include any URLs of web sites you've worked on that are online. Include short descriptions on your web site or PDF of what you did for the project and the applications/tools you used.

8. SEND YOUR INITIAL EMAIL. Draft an email *briefly* explaining four things: (1) who you are (2) what you like about their firm or their web design work (3) why you're looking for a web design internship (4) why they should consider you for an internship at their company. Attach your resume and samples of your work (see above). Be bold and insert an interesting item or two about yourself that reflects your personality and style. Design firms LOVE uniqueness and will want this trait in their interns too. Plus, you need to stand out in their minds.

9. FOLLOW UP WITH A PHONE CALL. You may not hear back from a web design firm from the email you sent. After 1-2 days, give them a call. Be nice, be slightly assertive. If you don't get to talk to a person, leave a friendly message saying you'll call back (and leave your number in case they'd like to call you back). Then followup at a different time of day.

10. COORDINATE WITH YOUR CONTACT. A web design firm may ask you for more detailed information or they may request an interview and other items. This is good practice for future full-time job interviews. Stay on top of any requests, answer promptly and thoroughly. If you don't hear back from them for a while a week after you've initially heard from them, it's fine to send a followup email. Design studios get busy!

11. GET READY FOR A REWARDING EXPERIENCE. Once you secure your internship, get ready for an important learning opportunity. Make sure you understand your responsibilities for your internship, such as when you need to show, how many hours per week you'll work, what you need to do for possible school credit. If you don't know these before you start, make sure to get them outlined on your first day.

Tips & Warnings

• The best way to send a resume to a design firm is as PDF (not as a Word document). Make sure your resume is well-designed, this is another way of showing off your skills.
• Smaller to mid-sized design firms are generally casual. Hopefully you know the name of the person who will receive your email so you can address it to them. If you don't know anyone's name, turn the standard "Dear Sir or Madam" in your email into something more friendly and offbeat like "Hello [Insert Name of Design Studio]" or "Hi there [Insert Name of Web Design Company]"
• Consider transportation when looking for the best web design internship for you. Most internship programs will expect you to work on-site during the internship. With a web design internship, it's possible (though rare) that you'd be able to work off-site with your own laptop. It's most advantageous to you to work on site, you'll learn and absorb the most! All said, you'll need to be able to get to and from the office, so make sure it's close enough to be convenient. If you don't have a car, make sure your public transit options, walking or biking are feasible options.
• When you make your phone call(s) try to avoid calling on a monday morning, people are often overloaded with schedules.
• Looking for places to intern on Google can be challenging because there are so many results and no quality filter. Use search phrases that include "internship" first (such as "web design internship denver"). If you don't find anything this way, broaden your search to remove "internship". This way, you'll get lots of results for web design firms -- but they may not be reputable so investigate thoroughly.
• If a design firm doesn't ask to see sample work, be cautious, and make sure to find out what you'd be doing at the internship. If they don't ask to see web design related work, you may just be making copies or coffee at their office.

Resources

• AIGA
• Craigslist
• Art Directors Club

[thewisestarfish]

on 2/11/2009 I like the headers on the steps!, good idea and good info especially pertinent to me as i am in the process of looking for an internship, Thank you!

[Teachforever]

on 1/7/2009 Easy to read. Great article.5*****