hello,
i am currently a 4th year student in 5 year long industrial design program in syracuse university and i am trying to get an internship this summer. the only problem is i have no idea how to find an internship. what i’m wondering is how did people get their first internships? should i search for design firms in the cities that i’m interested in online, and e-mail them my portfolio, or try to get my professors to get me an internship, or what should i do?
Get on the IDSA or ID websites and start making your own database of firms/companies that you’d like to intern with…maybe even ones you’re not sure about. Don’t be picky at first, chances are you’ll learn a ton where ever you go. Then start making cold calls…so people will shrug you off, but most of them will talk to you. Make conversation, be interested in what they do, and ask if you can send them a portfolio for possible consideration for an internship. Then do what you say and send it out…right away!
Give them a couple weeks to look it over and then call them back to make sure they recieved it and ask if they have any questions. See if they can give you some feedback…don’t be too pushy about the internship position, if they like you they’ll ask. If you are going to be in the area at a specific time it doesn’t hurt to ask if you can stop in to show your portfolio in person.
I had no connections when I started looking and got my internships from just calling and calling till I found places that needed help and were interested in me. But I must say I probably called 100 or so companies in teh course of a couple years. So, get going!