All About Internships and Work Experience Placements

[nyc_art_style]

i started applying for summer internships last month for the summer. so far i have applied to 15 jobs. it's been about 2 -3 weeks since i sent out my last application. however, i haven't heard back from anyone yet. is that normal?

[pinksatin]

i think so. I applied to at least as many as that so far and only set up interviews with 3. Still waiting to hear back from two (gave up on the third ). I plan to keep applying to more and trying to set up interviews until I land something. Even though internships don't usually pay anything, it seems like a lot of companies are tightening their belts and just scaling down in general and being more careful. At least that's what I'm hearing. Honestly I think it's kinda silly and they should be more eager to take on more free laborers but that's just me. Maybe because I'm one of those ready and willing free laborers.

Also, the hiring people may receive hundreds of responses to listings if that's how you're approaching your search. Say they find 10 good candidates in the first 100. They won't have time to keep reading, they will just delete the rest of the inbox, and see those first 10 to save time. So maybe your resume is awesome and you have good experience, if you are email #357 and they already filled the openings by email #117, you might just be deleted, even if you may be sadly a better candidate than the person who was hired. People are just so busy they have to be efficient and probably don't read more resumes than necessary. At least that's one of my theories for why I don't hear back from so many. Makes me feel better anyway.

I would say really, just keep applying, try to make contacts and contact companies you're genuinely interested in instead of just responding to listings. I'm trying to do that more myself too. Also, people I've spoken to who have positions they like said the ones they got, they were just really aggressive and persistent (but not in a rude or stalkerish way of course).

Anyway, good luck, just don't give up. Oh yeah, also, I'm sure you've had enough foresight to have done this already, but even if you are a good writer, have parents, roommates, teachers, whoever look over your materials before you send them to see if there's anything that could be better that you just didn't see since you've see it so much, you know? I mean what if there was something silly like an omitted word or something? Wouldn't it be horrible if that was why you didn't get calls back? I'm sure that's not the case but you don't want to have that feeling like you're been talking to everyone at the party with food in your teeth you know? Also, some places may take a longer than 2-3 weeks to contact you. Don't lose hope.! I think your situation is totally normal.

[LukeGeorge]

So I got it all sorted this week, I got an internship at Graduate Fashion Week in London for 3 weeks!

I'm so excited, this is gonna be my first one. I've been told It's gonna be hard work which I've heard in the past, load of running around/waiting etc... As It's via the PR company that handles GFW I've also been told I'll be doing things like manning the press office desk, seating the press at the fashion shows etc..

All sounds very interesting!

[Mchunu]

can someone give me any information about possible fashion photography interns? or photography interns in general? i would appreciate it

[Mods_MS17]

this is a very weird question but can you do work experiences/internships in like foreign countries likw whilst on a holiday or something?? It's just that over here there isn't much opportunities within the fashion world.

[gius]

i would like to know too.

i just know if you are being paid, you need at least a working visa

[dior_couture1245]

Originally Posted by BetteT

gius, I would say all of the above. Plus, it's required in a lot of college courses ... so it's for college credit, more often than not.

Internships are more common in creative jobs ... where you need to promote yourself and your ideas ... and impress people enough to hire you or, at least, give you a good reference. And they happen in the most competitive fields ... where there a thousands of people are standing in line ... the "glamour" jobs like working for a fashion magazine, working in a designers ateltier, working in PR. Thing is ... most interns don't get to learn a lot ... but they do get to work very hard at the grunt work but get a glimpse at the world they hope to work in, and, if they are lucky, make a few connections.

In they type of job you mentioned sounds like you just needed technical skills, which can be learned at school, so it wasn't necessary that you have "work experience" or connections.


It would be good to hear if working interns or former interns actually wanted those things and whether or not they get what they wanted out of the experience.

As a working intern for Rodarte, I'd be happy to give you an intern's perspective to these questions!

What I wanted out of the internship position was...I know this sounds selfish...having the experience on a resume. I knew that going into this job, I'd be doing nothing but, as Bette puts it, "grunt work." Seriously, everyday it's paperwork, packing, shipping, orders, making phone calls, cleaning, etc. What experience I have gained is accomplishing tasks, thinking ahead, being efficient and thorough, etc. I've made more phone calls to FedEx, UPS, DHL, etc. in the last few weeks than most people ever make in a lifetime. I've processed orders. I've filled out applications. I've orchestrated the shipping of items from one place to another. I've taken inventory...you name it. I will be able to take all of this experience and knowledge, and at the next internship I have, after school maybe, I'll be ahead of the game...and who knows where that will lead me.

So, knowing these things, I applied for the position because I wanted to just be a fly on the wall. I wanted to just be a part of a business that I admired. And, like I said before, working at a high profile label says a lot on a resume.

And overall, I've really enjoyed the experience. It's certainly a thankless job, but working for fashion designers that I love seems to make up for that...sometimes.

[Cicciolina]

Originally Posted by Mods_MS17

this is a very weird question but can you do work experiences/internships in like foreign countries likw whilst on a holiday or something?? It's just that over here there isn't much opportunities within the fashion world.

Yes you can, but you might want to double check with visas and all that stuff, just in case.

Also for internships, they'd want you at least a month (at least in the US). Work experience maybe a week - I know a few people who have done them for a week, but they were more for special circumstances (like they had a blog which had lots of hits, or they had good contacts!) Overseas isn't like Australia (I'm assuming you're from Sydney, Australia, based on your location?) where many companies do work experience for just one week. Or at least not to my knowledge.

But anyway, you're in Sydney, there's quite a few opportunities if you know where to look! Definitely the most in Australia I'd say

[Cicciolina]

Part of interning is also to put it bluntly, show what you're made of, put your money where your mouth is, so to speak.

Think of all the millions of people out there who sit there and are like "You know what, I'd love to be Karl Lagerfeld/Anna Wintour/Andy in Devil Wears Prada". Interning sets yourself apart from these people - it shows that you are dedicated, driven, passionate and obsessed enough with fashion/working in the fashion industry enough to pretty much do admin work/slave labour/etc for minimal pay (or most of the time, for free).

On the brighter side, it does teach you to pay attention to detail, to be careful and to realise that every single element is necessary in producing a certain, required, and optimum result. Oh and to show that fashion isn't just glamour The people who think that fashion is all about swanning around in the latest outfit that Marc Jacobs Fed-exed to you will drop off like flies, so in that way, you can think that interning is like some preliminary audition process.

[dior_couture1245]

^^Very true.

[Miss-V]

very true. it also takes up so much of your spare time. holidays, weekends, evenings. you'll soon find theres a price to pay. i gave up 10 weeks of summer ( i had 11) last year to intern.

[gius]

when you guys ask for an internship
does your employer ask you what your expectations are of the internship?

or do you yourself say what you hope to gain out of the internship

[Cicciolina]

They often ask when I'm due to graduate, but to be honest, it's only the nice, caring employers who truly care about what the intern wants to get out of the internship, I haven't ever been directly asked but I've always been treated very well, perhaps what I am to get out of it is a given?

At the end though they all have been very helpful in providing a reference letter and I've kept in contact with a few of them to ask for advice and so forth. I think what the intern gets out of it (in terms of a great contact, an amazing reference letter, provided you work hard!) is implicit? But that's only with my experience.

[gius]

it's just odd for some of the interns who go to fashion design studios and they write they do things like shipping, answering calls, etc. i don't mind those, but if that's the only thing i get to do, it seems a waste. i already have experience in that kind of work at my usual job
i guess you can never be sure what they will use you for.
but maybe you can kind of hint at it in your request for the internship and have it as a focus on your resume
if grunt work, i want to be placed on the production side..


i want to try moving to a different city for an internship
it will be a big step.. i've never travelled alone..
it might even be a new country, where i don't know anyone

[LMM]

Hi everyone,

I'm starting an internship at a modeling agency in New York this summer...mid May and was wondering if anyone here has had any experience working at one ? I'm not 100% sure what to expect!