My Unsolicited Internship Advice

My Path

Not to toot my own horn, but I’m pretty happy with how I navigated the internship process. I credit a lot of it to the fact that I studied engineering at another school before transferring to MassArt. At my previous school, I wasn’t thinking about internships at all, and then suddenly, everyone around me had one. I felt like I had missed the memo. So when I transferred, I made it a priority to learn from those mistakes.

Sophomore year, I was determined to get a summer internship before junior year. Looking back, I’m so glad I set that goal. I was lucky to land one, but even if I hadn’t, the effort would’ve been worth it. Sophomore year internships are hard to get. Your portfolio is still small, and you’re competing with upperclassmen. That said, please still apply. It’s a great test run. Applying taught me how to write a resume. It familiarized me with the Boston design scene and which companies regularly hire interns. It helped me understand when applications go live. I got experience interviewing for design roles. And it gave me a head start so that when I applied again the next year, I wasn’t starting from scratch.

I updated my resume over winter break, since I had more time and knew I wouldn’t make many changes later. I waited until spring break to build my portfolio, since I wanted more work to include, but I wouldn’t push it past that because most applications open around then. I made my first portfolio using Adobe Portfolio (https://portfolio.adobe.com/), which is free with a Creative Cloud account. It’s very user-friendly and easy to upload work, but it’s limited in terms of customization.

I also started applying during spring break, which I highly recommend if you can manage it. Once the semester picked up again, I struggled to find time. Because of that, I made a template cover letter and just tweaked it for each role. I know that’s not ideal since custom letters are better, but I was paralyzed by perfectionism and missing deadlines. For me, submitting a “meh” letter was better than not submitting at all. That “meh” letter actually landed me my first internship. It might not work for everyone, but it worked for me.

After that internship, I updated my resume right away while the experience was still fresh. Then over winter break of junior year, I revised my portfolio and cover letter again. I switched to Cargo (https://cargo.site/), which is free through MassArt. Cargo is basically the opposite of Adobe Portfolio. It has a steep learning curve and isn’t intuitive, but it’s very customizable especially if you know a bit of code. I’m a big fan, but it’s definitely not for everyone.

I also reused my cover letter template again, updating it more heavily for dream internships but otherwise keeping it simple. Doing all of this during winter break made my spring much easier. I cannot imagine trying to juggle portfolio updates and applications during the semester. Because I did the prep work ahead of time, I was able to spend spring just monitoring job boards and reaching out to studios with minimal stress, and I ended up with multiple offers for the summer before senior year.

Best of luck to all of you!

Additional Things I Learned During All of This

• Different industries hire interns at different times of the year so learn when the companies you are interested in start the process so you don’t find out you miss the deadline. I have learned that typically most internship opportunities are listed from the end of February to the beginning of April but that is not always the case. I have seen tech companies look for summer interns in the fall and often found that small design firms can hire interns all the way out in May.

• Many companies will interview applicants or even hire an intern before the deadline for applications closes so try to apply for the position as soon as you can.

• A weak application is better than no application at all. As someone who struggles with perfectionism I had learned this after watching too many job listings slip past me as I was trying to craft the perfect application.

• Reach out to companies you would love to intern at. Many small design firms may not have anything listed on job boards but would still be interested in hiring interns.

• Many companies hire recent graduates for internships so if you did not seek them out while you’re in school you are still able to apply to internships after graduation to help get your foot in the door.