All About Internships and Work Experience Placements

[agneslo]

Any advices for me as a psychology major who is passionate about working in the fashion industry?

actually i have interned at the marketing department of ferragamo before (regional office). but it seems that most fashion internships here are either open for business students, art or fashion students only. And this really frustrates me. (yes.. my previous internship experience doesn't help much).

 

[YoninahAliza]

I just recently secured an internship at a local museum (which I know doesn't exactly relate to fashion but....) and I'm wondering if I only do internships at museums if it will hurt my chances at eventually wanting to work in the fashion industry? Most-likely magazines? The museum I'm working at has some fashion and textiles archives so at least I'm getting that exposure. So what do you think?

 

[BetteT]

It won't hurt ... but it won't help much either. One of the main benefits of an internship is to make contacts in the industry you wish to work in ... which might lead to a job via those contacts. And the purpose of an internship is to learn about your future industry and how it works ... which probably won't happen in a museum.

However ... it will provide you with more education, which is always good. And maybe you can use your boss as a reference later, to testify as to how you worked on you assignments (things like being on time, relieable, good attitude, willing to do whatever your are asked, quick to learn new things, self starter, etc.)

But, if you want to go into magazines, fashion or otherwise, you really should keep trying for a magazine internship ... at least one.

Here's a random idea .... if museums are all you can get, find out if they have a department that publishes their brochures, etc. ... maybe thier marketing dept. or PR department and see if you can intern there. There, you can learn a bit about publishing and writing ... which is somewhat related to magazines and might beef up your resume a bit when the time comes. And that's another way or working in fashion ... Marketing or Public Relations. Food for thought .....

 

[YoninahAliza]

Thanks BetteT for your advice. I'm thinking that for now I'll stick with my museum internship and then next summer try and secure a magazine internship. I'm thinking of NYC or London because it seems that's where all the publications I dream of making connections in are. NYC is more practical and more close by but I've alway's dreamt of working in the London fashion world. Does anyone know how hard it is to secure an overseas internship? Obviously, a lot of paperwork is needed, but is it even worth it? I know Leith Clark, eic of Lula, left Canada and did several internships in London so it's possible I'm assuming. Also, how exactly does one go about getting a magazine internship. Because I've read quite a bit and it seems like often people actually try and get in contact with editors from magazines, it makes more of an impression, no?

 

[agneslo]

i got an interview with Tod's tomorrow, for a 6-month marketing intern position. actually I'm not ready to take my coming semester off to do the internship. (we can't do an internship for credits here in HK) i'm totally fine with doing the internship this summer but not for the next 4 months. but i'm interested in doing such internship. so what i do?

 

[BetteT]

Sounds like you already made up your mind: " I'm not ready to take my coming semester off ..."

But, perhaps, if you impress them enough (more than your competition) they might be willing to work with your schedule? It's worth a try to negotiate something.

Be truthful with them, above all. If you can't commit to the 6 months and they don't want to make an exception for you, then don't take the internship. Because ... if you quit before it's over ... everyone you worked with will remember that you didn't do what you said you would do. And that will harm your reputation ... not a good thing. That could damage your future in the business. (You don't want to "loose face".)

 

[silvi]

Hi TFS'ers!
I'm studying fashion technology now and I would like to do an internship in Asia. Does anyone know a good website with career offers??
Thanks in advance!

 

[BetteT]

from prcloset/tumblr.com via gian-franco

THE ALL TOO IMPORTANT INTERNSHIP…

Internships are underrated. In my opinion, they are the best way to test the waters of a job or industry to see if it is right for you. Internships are incredible opportunities and should be treated as such. You should also try to secure as many internships as possible, starting in high school if you can. Not only will this beef up your resume, but it will help provide clearer direction as you decide what your major should be.

......

There are a few different types of internships, so let me break them down for you:

Paid internships – These are internships you get paid for, so they are harder to come by. Most paid internships are part of formal internship programs and hosted by larger (companies). .....

Non-paid internships – These are internships that you don’t get paid for that you take for the experience. Sometimes the companies will pay you a small stipend (I once got paid $8 a day), but that is like not getting paid at all, so it covers lunch and that’s that. I have to admit that the best internships I ever had were non-paid, as they were smaller companies who couldn’t afford to pay me, but they had interesting clients and a lot of work to be done, so I was ultimately exposed to more.

Intern for credit – A lot of corporations will provide credit for internships as opposed to paying you, and that’s just as great. If you can spend your credit hours working and figuring out if a career is right for you, that is a cool scenario. My very last semester in college was set up as a work study, so I got a head start on entering the workforce while completing my course credits.

So how do you find any of these types of internships? You put in the time researching and putting yourself out there. ..... I always suggest that you think about the brands you love most .... If you love Clinique, let’s say, and you find out they are owned by Estee Lauder Companies, you should research the Estee Lauder Companies website for opportunities. And if there isn’t a formal program and you can afford to work for the experience, offer yourself out for that, or see if they will offer credit. People will almost always take free help.

Going to a company’s website and reaching out to them directly is always your best bet. There are sites like mediabistro.com, wwd.com, and cew.org that are very helpful too;....

Bottom line is that you have to treat an internship like a job and put the work into finding the one that is right for you…but more on that later…

What makes a good intern?

I just posted about internships and how to find them, but what do you do when you land one? What makes a good intern? Well, I’ll tell you…

Be on time – I once had a boss who used to say, “Early is on time, on time is late, and late is unacceptable.” What that simply means is be on time for your job. Don’t roll in late because what that says is that you don’t care about this position at all.

Be enthusiastic – I can guarantee that a lot of people applied for the internship that you landed, so be grateful that you got the opportunity and come to work with a positive attitude. Nobody likes a bad attitude, and you’ll find yourself out of there before you know what hit you.

Be hungry – When I don’t see my interns all day, I start to worry. Most of the time, I am just too busy to keep tabs on them, but I appreciate it when they make themselves available and pop by to check in to see if I need anything or to follow up or report back on something they are working on. Don’t be annoying, but make yourself visible and ask for work. Do NOT sit on Facebook all day or online shop—get busy!

Do not act like you are entitled – If there is one thing that gets under my skin, it is an entitled intern. Nobody really cares who you know or how you got the job. Bottom line is that you need to respect the people you are working with if you want them to provide you with an enriching experience.

Be a sponge – Take in as much as you can as often as you can. This summer, we had an intern in the online department that everyone in the company knew because she had such a great attitude, introduced herself to all of the departments, and asked to meet the people whose jobs she might be interested in learning more about. She took it all in and absorbed as much info as she could during her stay with us. She also left a lasting impression.

Be accountable – Take responsibility for your actions and be accountable for your work. One thing I find unacceptable is when interns do projects half-***ed because they know they are leaving in a few weeks or months. You don’t realize that that, too, leaves a lasting impression—a very bad one. But when you have a sense of ownership and see a project through, not only is it impressive, but it can be an accomplishment to note on your resume as well.

If you don’t know, ask – That is the entire point of the internship. You are not supposed to know anything, let alone everything. Ask a million questions so you can arm yourself with knowledge. I am always weary of interns who don’t ask questions. Again, that says to me that you just don’t care.

Treat it like a job – Internships are jobs. Treat them that way. The more you put into them, the more you’ll get out. It’s that simple.

 

[CrisGalaxy]

So the school that Im gonna go to can give you internships at some major fashion houses like Prada and Chanel. But I am wondering... how do they work? I live in Chicago and I'd love to get an internship at Prada but their HQs are in NYC and they only have one boutique here in Chicago, so Im wondering how do internships work on boutiques. Would it be the same as interning at their HQ?

 

[morpis]

Help, guys!

Maybe i'm too uninformed.
I want to work in London, which has been dead-super dream place for decades to me. and especailly i want to work in Comme des garcons. (This is just my little hope. It is not compulsary.)
Should i study fashion in London fashion college? and around gradulationg period, Could i apply internships then for Comme des garcons or any other brands?
I was supposed to study in London's fashion college however by my private situation, I couldn't do that at that time. But I'm trying to re-try to do that in 1~2 years If i absolutely should do that.

However if I can apply internship with my country's gradulating diploma for London's jobs, that would be more great because of MONEY.(As you guys all know, Studying abroad costs massive a lot.)
So basically I am in my country, which is Asia. And i want to work abroad especially London or..New York.


I am recently tremendously extremely scared beca use of feeling time is ticking.
Can somebody can give advice or just bit of information for me, please?
Thanks a lot, dears.

 

[ohmyy]

does someone know of companies that offer long paid-internships for students? in europe?

 

[myown]

^most of long-time internships are paid in germany.

 

[ffashionist]

I have a lot of experience with internships since I live in Italy and with this financial crisis there are more internship offers than job openings. Anyway, last year I got a chance to work as an intern for 6 moths at Vogue Italia, in particular for Vogue.it website. Since I had some previous writing experience, the fashion editor of Vogue Italia allowed me to write articles for Talents channel, in particular for Eco Talents which is dedicated to eco-sustainable fashion which is one of my passions. I was very happy with the fact that after 6 months I had about 35 articles in my portfolio. On the other hand, I didn't get paid anything, even though I worked much more than all other interns whose job was just to upload articles on the website... I know that in most European countries - Austria, Germany, Spain included- internships by law have to be paid... Unfortunately this is not the case with Italy.

 

[CaoticaClaudia]

Hey, guys! At the moment, I am a Film and French student, second year, in the UK, with a major passion for fashion.Anyway, thepoint is that I am a fashion obsessed person and I'm planning to go for a career in fashion editing (hopefully, it will be more than just a plan ).
I am originally from Romania, and I just found out that they have summer internships at Elle Romania and Harper's Bazaar.Do you think that I should take this opportunity? I mean, would it count as a real work experience even if it's not London, Paris or NY? Thanks in advance

 

[BetteT]

Take anything you can get that is related. I agree with you ... it's still work experince so it counts ... but probably not as much as in a fashion city.

 

[teaandtattoos]

I'll graduate from fashion design school this summer and want to do at least one internship in london (I'm from switzerland). My biggest question is who to contact? The press contact of the label or...? And is it fine to contact them via email or should I send in my portfolio?

My school isn't very helpful with these thing
Also I found someone on the linkedin website who's an intern at one of my favorite designers. Is it rude to just message them asking if they can tell me how I can get an internship there too?

 

[BetteT]

I think asking anyone who has interned, anywhere, how they found the job, who they had to contact and so on, would be helpful to you. Asking someone you don't know to help you "get their job" (there may only be one internship, not many, you don't really know)... well ... I would suspect that they would not want to talk to you if you were going to compete with them. You will probably get a better response if you just say you are doing research about the best way to apply for internships and are asking people what the process was for them.

Secondly, I always suggest that you contact the headquarters of the company that you want to intern for and ask whoever answers the phone, if they take interns and if so, ask who would you need to conatct about that. Get a name, if you can ... it's always better to talk to someone directly. Then see if you can talk to that person, or at least, that person's assistant and ask for the procedure to apply. They should be able to tell you if they want portfolios or not, whether or not they take it via email, etc. They might have an online application form and instructions ... so you can also look for that on their corporate site.

I'm really suprised that your school ... if it's a fashion design school ... can't help you. I would think they'd have student advisors to help with these sort of things and usually they have a list of names for companies who take interns from thier school.

 

[teaandtattoos]

I think asking anyone who has interned, anywhere, how they found the job, who they had to contact and so on, would be helpful to you. Asking someone you don't know to help you "get their job" (there may only be one internship, not many, you don't really know)... well ... I would suspect that they would not want to talk to you if you were going to compete with them. You will probably get a better response if you just say you are doing research about the best way to apply for internships and are asking people what the process was for them.

Secondly, I always suggest that you contact the headquarters of the company that you want to intern for and ask whoever answers the phone, if they take interns and if so, ask who would you need to conatct about that. Get a name, if you can ... it's always better to talk to someone directly. Then see if you can talk to that person, or at least, that person's assistant and ask for the procedure to apply. They should be able to tell you if they want portfolios or not, whether or not they take it via email, etc. They might have an online application form and instructions ... so you can also look for that on their corporate site.

I'm really suprised that your school ... if it's a fashion design school ... can't help you. I would think they'd have student advisors to help with these sort of things and usually they have a list of names for companies who take interns from thier school.

thank you so much for your response!

well, I think my school would be more helpful if I'd want an internship in my country or germany. Most of the students don't want to go to other countries because they don't want to do unpaid internships (here and in germany most interns do get paid).

 

[fashionandstyle1]

Hey guys- I have a question about receiving college credit for an internship. My dilemma is that I want to do an internship over the summer (hopefully a conde/hearst mag) but they require you to receive credit, which means I would need to pay $1400 tuition for a class because I go to a private school. So, my question is: is there anyway to just sign up for a community college course and get credit there, even though that's not where I'm enrolled full-time? Or is this not allowed? Thanks in advance.

 

[BetteT]

You would have to ask the community college (maybe a counselor?) if they have an internship program where you can get credit in any of their courses ... that's the only way you can know for sure.