All About Internships and Work Experience Placements

[BetteT]

Well ... not wanting to be bored is a good thing, in my opinion. I've had many an assistant who thought they were there to sit around and watch... not to work. So I applaud your attitude and your work ethic.

 

[franki]

Well ... not wanting to be bored is a good thing, in my opinion. I've had many an assistant who thought they were there to sit around and watch... not to work. So I applaud your attitude and your work ethic.

haha thanks! the day goes so much faster when you have lots to do!

all round it was a good experience because it helped me to clarify a few things about the type of work environment/structure that i like. so for that reason i do recommend people interning as much as possible when they are in doubt.

 

[agneslo]

Hi everyone! i'm here to report my first week as a PR intern.

It was pretty hectic and the pace was fast. I was busy all the time.

Major duties covered:
- organizing the samples in & out. (not only samples in the show room, but also merchandise from the shop for shooting)
- PR clippings (making a report about the coverage of the brand)
- all the invoices regarding the dept

the list doesn't seem a lot to do, but merely taking care of the samples took me a lot of time already. especially there were a few last-minute samples requests, so i spent some time communicating with the stylists and editors, understanding what and when they would want those samples, making sure what they wanted were available and would also be available for other shootings. I even made calls to local stores to borrow some merchandise for the shootings.

everything was pretty hands-on. my supervisor was busy with other tasks, and considering the senior PR assistant was out of town, so i was pretty much on my own all the time and had to pick up things very fast.

there were also lots of details to take care of. (was totally clueless abt most of them), so one has to be very detail-minded and being systematic.

But i do enjoy the energy going on!

 

[fashionmuse]

^ that sounds great! i'm jealous at how busy you are actually

i started my internship at the worst time for the company because they are insanely busy this time of year. so i've only been briefly trained in each area (inventory, customer service etc.) but not trained enough to do things completely on my own. most of the time i'm just waiting for the next task and i feel bad because they are always telling me how sorry they are that i don't have much to do. so i'm just paying close attention to how they do things so that training won't be as long

 

[_hannah]

i'm looking for website on the internet to find internship abroad, i know free fashion internship and fahionjobs but are there more website ?

thanks

 

[fashionandstyle1]

Hey guys, looking for some opinions! I've held two editorial internships, one at a fashion website and one at a regional lifestyle magazine, and I'm aiming for an editorial assistant/assistant editor position at a fashion magazine or website when I graduate.

My question is: when I'm applying for jobs, would a prestigious mag like Vogue or Elle consider an internship at something like Us Weekly to be good experience? Or since it's weekly and is really gossipy/ not exactly high-quality journalism, would they sort of look down on it? Ideally I'd like to try to get an internship at a Conde or Hearst title but Us Weekly just posted an editorial internship position, so I'm wondering if you guys would recommend me pursuing this considering what my career goal is. Any thoughts welcome!

 

[BetteT]

Let's put it this way .... any experience in publishing is better than none. If you have a choice between a fashion mag and a gossip mag ... I'd certainly opt for the fashion mag. But .... sometimes there is only one door open ... so go through it.

 

[ad041715]

What are the chances of someone getting an internship with no previous experience? Are students more likely to be chosen for internships?

 

[BetteT]

Yes .... students are most likely to land internships, at least in the US. Our labor laws state that unpaid internships are only allowed if you are getting school credits for your service. Some small companies don't know this ... so if you are not working for credits, they might be your best chance ... although they would be breaking the labor laws.

If you are getting paid ... then it's really just an entry level job.

Experience isn't that important .... it's all grunt work anyway. You just have to convince them that you are motiviated to work hard, in exchange for getting a first hand peek at the business.

 

[C Devin]

Does anyone have any experience finding an informal internship that is flexible and only requires work on the weekend? I'm a full-time professional in an unrelated industry interested in transitioning to the fashion industry, so I'm only able to intern on weekends. If so, what steps did you take to secure such a position?

As a follow-up question, does anyone have experience interning at one of the luxury goods stores in the Bay Area? I am interested in interning at any of these, but since none of them have corporate headquarters in the Bay Area, I'm wondering what opportunities (if any) would even be available at an actual store as opposed to a corporate office. Is it just sales associates and a manager who work at these stores? I'm interested in the business side fashion and not the design side, by the way.

Thanks in advance for any insight.

CD

 

[ohmyy]

Does anyone have any experience finding an informal internship that is flexible and only requires work on the weekend? I'm a full-time professional in an unrelated industry interested in transitioning to the fashion industry, so I'm only able to intern on weekends. If so, what steps did you take to secure such a position?

As a follow-up question, does anyone have experience interning at one of the luxury goods stores in the Bay Area? I am interested in interning at any of these, but since none of them have corporate headquarters in the Bay Area, I'm wondering what opportunities (if any) would even be available at an actual store as opposed to a corporate office. Is it just sales associates and a manager who work at these stores? I'm interested in the business side fashion and not the design side, by the way.

Thanks in advance for any insight.

CD

there are opportunities to intern only on weekends/part-time/freelance but noone ever advertises for those kind of positons. i would advise to you to network your way in to such a position. try talking directly to the person at whatever company who manages the interns. then maybe, if they like you they will come up with a special way for you to work there, such as on weekends or seldom.

 

[BetteT]

HR (at corporate headquarters) usaully controls the incoming interns. Be aware that and US law states that you must be receiveing college credit in order to work as an upaid intern. So ... if you find they won't bring you on for that reason ... consider small companies, new designers ... those who would not have knowledge of the labor laws (if you can risk such a thing, in your existing job). Your best bet would to be in some sort of school (even night school) that has an intership program so you can get that opportunity, perhaps.

Look into other avenues ... other than retail. Retail is about sales and not much else. If you are wanting to learn how to run a retail shop as a manager for a large company, that might be helpful. But .. if you really want to get into the business side of fashion consider merchandising and buying as an avenu ... that's the big picture. We have a few threads about business careers in fashion ... use the search engine to search this forum's thread titles (keywords: business, merchandising, marketing, career, lawyer, retail, buyer ) and you will find several threads that will probably be of interest to you and might help you find your direction.

 

[NYCStyleGirl]

Burberry!

 

[BetteT]

What about Burberry? Do you have something to share about getting and internship at Burberry?

 

[Gemint]

has anyone had any experience working at any of the houses in london e.g mcqueen, preen etc?
if i have never had any work experience before will they not consider me for a summer internship?? and do you get interviewed??
cheers x

 

[Crying Diamonds]

^ It depends on a number of different things, it is very much preferable that you are a still a student to do an unpaid internship in London, because they cannot hire graduates without paying them.
Your portfolio is important, the work you have done, and to convey your capabilities and what you could bring to the company.
For example, if you applying to Mary Katrantzou a high level of interest, a high level of capability and experience in digital printing would get you noticed, I am sure.
You will almost certainly be interviewed, I have interviewed at two different brands in the past, in remote parts of London, I think it's very rare for brands to cover travel expenses. Different brands will require different things (aside from your portfolio), for example, I was asked to bring an example of my sewing skills, I have heard of others being asked to do small projects to bring with them.

As with all internships you also must be aware that you aren't necessarily going to be doing the most creative things, the interns there will all be fashion students or designers but will still have to do menial tasks like photocopying, flat drawings, fetching coffee, etc.
You are there for whatever experience you can gain out of it and at the end of the day you will have 'Intern at Mary Katrantzou' or whatever on your C.V. which will be a boost for your future endeavors.
Indeed, I interned at a London brand only for one week one season and another week the next season and all I did was hand-sew and run errands; often the brands are small and just need the extra hands to work for them without having to pay them.
It seems very strange, and can be expensive (especially in London) but you meet great people and gain experience which is so necessary to further yourself in fashion.

 

[glitterpeacock]

^ It depends on a number of different things, it is very much preferable that you are a still a student to do an unpaid internship in London, because they cannot hire graduates without paying them.

Are you sure? I know a few people who have done unpaid internships, with only travel expenses covered.

 

[BetteT]

I don' know about the UK ... but in the US, labor laws clearly state that they must pay you .... unless you are doing an internship for school credit. It's likely that they have a similar law. So usually ... they want only students.

Of course ... sometimes smaller businesses don't abide by the law (they either willfully ignore it or just don't know the labor laws) ... so they take interns on just to get free help. I guess it's their decision .... they pay the penalties if they get caught.

 

[Andrea.RL]

hey guys, I'm finishing fashion design school and the next step is finding an internship. Thanks to some contacts I have I might be able to get into a big french house in Paris, I was wondering though what to expect when it comes to being a fashion design intern..? I'm more interested in photo styling and journalism but I'm figuring this could really be an opportunity, and it's kind of stressing me...

 

[Mathewthew]

I have done some internships in Paris. They normally would told you in the interview what they are looking for and what's your job. Different Studio have different way to work, so as an intern you should be able to take the job quickly. Dont stress out, Do you best and that's would be fine. If you could stay till the fashion show, you may probably see the BIG one working on styling, it's always fun. Tired but Fun. X