1. I once heard someone say, “there are three things that are hard to find in New York, a house, a man and a job”, these words could not have been any truer for the last one. As my first-time venture within the professional world and my search for my first ever job as a graphic designer, I was oblivious to how laborious and quite honestly daunting this process can be. The start of my internship seach began with the creation of my resume and this was quite a hard process for me because I never had any prior solid work experience and therefore felt very insecure about my lack of professional experience and how that will more than likely play against me. I had done some freelance work for startup companies, but I was unsure if that would be recognized and acknowledged by potential employers. Also, as a graphic designer, I had to make sure that my resume reflected my line of work, meaning, I had to inject some design flair into it. I was advised to do so by professor, Tanya Goetz, as she explained it provides a preview of your skills to potential employers and further helps your profile standout amongst the competition.

Before the beginning of the semester, I connected with Professor Rebecca Riviera, a CUNY Advertising Professor and recruiter and her help has been much valuable and insightful ever since meeting her. Professor Riviera along with Professor Goetz helped me a lot with my resume and how to improve it even further to establish me as a strong candidate when internship hunting. Through my conversations with them, I got to understand how to better organize my resume by highlighting the most relevant information about me and my work as well as being as direct and concise as possible. After multiple back and forth and reviews, I finally got to a point where I was confident about my resume and the way it represented me.

2. Networking has been an essential part of my internship search, and LinkedIn is the place to be. Building my LinkedIn profile and network is one of the most important elements of networking because it allows me to connect with professionals from everywhere with whom I potentially share mutual interests and aspirations.  I got to connect with many of CityTech’s faculty and some have proven themselves to be very helpful. Thanks to Professor Riviera and her leads, I was able to apply to 21Grams, a marketing and advertising agency that specializes in healthcare. My application was well received by Phoenix Moore, the company’s Talent Acquisition Manager, with whom I interviewed. The interview was via phone call and simply put, that was one of the most nerve-wrecking moments of my life. I was so nervous that through out the whole interview, I was speaking with such a low and monotone voice and I am afraid I came as less enthusiastic. I am hoping that I get to the next level and get an interview with their art department as that is the one that is going to define if I am good fit for the company or not.

3. Unfortunately, the 21Grams opportunity went down the drain because my status as international student rendered me ineligible for the internship. Distraught, I did some research and discovered that international students are required to have a CPT, Curricular Practical Training to be allowed to legally work an internship in the United States. Since I don’t have that, I am therefore not allowed to get a paid internship, and this is especially disappointing because I was not made aware of that. On some good news, I got another interview with Angry Young, a startup marketing and advertising agency. The interview went quite well but I have to say that I was taking aback by some questions because they forced me to think deeply about my work in a way I have never really done before. I am hoping that this will lead to an internship because this seems like a place where l will learn a lot and elevate my skills further.

I recently got an update with Angry Young, they wanted to test me to see if I was a good fit but unfortunately, it was on such short notice as I had prior commitments to attend to. Now, I am left under the strong assumption that I might not get this internship because that test was a make it or break it factor to my application and since I could not take it, I think they will pass up on me. Luckily, I have a plan B and C, which are Women’s Press Collective and NYPIRG, the latter with whom I had a successful interview and was immediately accepted.