Preparing for an internship can be kind of scary. You have no experience and have to gather all of your best work into a portfolio. It is my last semester at NYCCT. Now it is time to begin my search for an internship. The process was very stressful and nerve-wracking. I want it all to be perfect. Creating my portfolio did take some time because I was revising my previous work. I always think to myself, how can I make this project better? I believe my portfolio is very different because it shows many deliverables for different platforms. In my portfolio, you will find illustrations, campaigns, branding, and packaging work. Building my portfolio was a process that made me feel anxious because I didn’t have one created and I didn’t know how much work should I have uploaded or was my work even good enough…?
While I’m taking this Internship course, I am also taking the Portfolio course. The professor for this class has been very helpful in giving me feedback on the projects that I have on my portfolio and the support I needed to not be so hard on myself. The professor also provided very helpful examples. Nevertheless, I still needed inspo so I went on Pinterest to look for more examples and guidance. To create my site I used Adobe Portfolio. I believe this platform made it very simple for me to upload my work and has the best layouts to showcase my work. I also feel like it fits my personality as a designer too.
Preparing for an internship also requires having your resume up to date. While I looked for inspiration on Pinterest for portfolio examples, I also came across some resumes. This made me want to revise my resume. To create my revision I used Adobe Indesign because it is the platform that I feel the strongest using when there is a lot of text involved. Limiting my color usage helped me focus on the structure and layout of my resume. I also made important links on my resume interactive. So if the employer hovers over the PDF it’ll take them to my site, Linkedin, and email. I believe this is a huge game-changer and a time-saver now and for any other future job applications.
Lastly, preparing for an internship also requires being prepared for any interview questions that I might have difficulty responding to. For example, what are my strengths? What are my weakness? What’s the companies background and what is its mission? So if the company reaches back to me I’ll be prepared for any next steps or questions they may ask. I like to also have a set of questions of my own to ask the employer. This gives them a sense that I did my research and I’m enthusiastic to learn more.
Overall, I think I will only be applying to internships that are graphic design related (typography, poster, campaigns) because I feel the most strongest and comfortable there since I never had an internship before. I hope to also gain more knowledge and learn things I didn’t know before. However, I don’t want to limit myself because I’m comfortable. The goal is to keep expanding, make new connections and become better with each project/design.
