Point of View: Internships

By day, I have contact with scores of students and one of the questions that comes up often concerns internships.

Internships can be great for all involved. They provide an ideal hands-on learning opportunity for the student. For the studio, it's a chance to give back to the profession and perhaps gain an inside edge on hiring tomorrow's next top talent. Like many things, internships are best when structured in the right way.

First, though, it's important to keep terms straight. When companies approach us with a request, we know it's a general cry for help... but what type of help do they really need? We try to help them identify that: Do they need a freelancer, a junior designer... or do they really need an intern? They need help, of course, but if you ask for a wrench, when you really needed a screwdriver, you're not setting yourself up to get the job done well. The difference between an intern and a designer is an important distinction that helps to keep the relationship and expectations balanced on both sides of the equation and the outcomes successful.

An Intern...

• knowingly works for a lower wage (at least minimum wage) in exchange for mentorship.
• is part of an existing creative team -- with senior creative leadership to learn from.
• work 20-hrs/week or less.
• helps with deadlines and projects, not manages them.
• does not displace market-wage earning designers... but instead, helps them.

A Designer (junior designer, senior designer, freelancer)...

• is paid a market-rate wage (generally $25-45/hr for a junior designer).
• has the ability to work solo.
• can self-learn or is already well versed.
• can work as much as possible.
• can manage deadlines and projects.

All internships are paid. There have been lots of recently published points-of-view on this, especially concerning unpaid interns — and many organizations have their own take on this and other topics.  The US Department of Labor also has their own guidelines. However, I've not yet found something concrete that I can point to which help guide my design students — which is the goal of this post.

When a student comes to me and tells me that they thought a 40-hour/week unpaid internship was the norm, it rattles me a bit. While that might be great for the studio's bottom line, it's not great for the current student who's juggling classes (and likely a part-time job) and it's certainly not good for the recent grad who is looking for a job at shops potentially filled with unpaid interns doing the work that they'd otherwise be hired to do.

As an academic department, we don't generally support or recommend internship-for-credit programs. Academic credits have meaning. They can't be awarded without a thorough assessment of what the student will learn and what type of evaluation they will have. When designing curriculum that would support these credits, there are a lot of inputs — some federal or state mandated — and many checkpoints throughout the process. It's a lot to manage... and when reflecting that back on a studio, the same rigor would need to be applied. Is the same busy Creative Director going to be able to step up to fulfill that role? Being a mentor in such a relationship is akin to taking on teaching a class from a time/responsibility POV, so the math rarely works out for the studio. Plus, the math never really works out for the student who wants/needs a portfolio piece from an advanced class they were looking forward to taking, but instead, pays several thousand dollars for the opportunity to work somewhere that they could have worked (tuition-free) anyway. We have found it much more effective to simply view internships as engagements similar to part-time jobs — and we've even worked to design procedure and policy to put our international students on the same competitive footing through CPT employment programs.

As an Educator and a member of the design community, my own* priorities are to our students and to the long-term viability of the profession and the below is my own* take on what makes a great intern, mentor, and internship. We will hopefully develop a departmental policy soon and I'd love to hear your thoughts on the below. I've broken it down into a few sections and put the "why" part in italics to help outline the thinking behind it.

 

Environment: Students should seek an internship within a design environment (i.e.: studio, firm, or design department) and as part of a design team — not as the sole designer in a business that is not in the creative services field. 

An internship is a great opportunity for a student to learn from other, more experienced designers in a professional design environment — in lieu of market-rate pay, they'll be learning from their mentors. If there is not a seasoned creative team from which to learn and the environment is primarily non-creative (i.e.: not a design studio), then this is not a recipe for success. In the case of the latter, a junior designer or freelancer would be a more appropriate hire.

Timing: During a student's Junior and Senior year to happen concurrent with their studies or during summer breaks.

A student who has graduated should be looking for full-time employment — fortunately, our students have a good track record of finding it. Studios open to working with our current students often get "first dibs" and the freshest (but not completely raw) talent when said students graduate — but come graduation, a studio should also respect that the student is looking for a career-oriented job (like, with dental insurance and a 401K) more than an internship. On the other end, a first- or second-semester student might not have enough experience under their belt to hold up their own end of the deal and could potentially sour the studio to the idea of future interns. As a rule, we actively support internships post-Midpoint (grad or undergrad). This means that the student would be taking an internship concurrent with some of their most important classes. This is why a lesser time commitment is appropriate... and why they'd not want to trade-out valuable academic credits.

Compensation: Interns working on for-profit projects (or at a for-profit studio) should be paid. The current average hourly rate is $15/hour. Stipends should be commensurate with this range.

For the studio, this is far less than comparable freelance rates and often our best Juniors and Seniors rival entry-level freelancers insofar as talent, so it's still a solid value. Moreover, the country — and in many cases, a given city (currently $13 in San Francisco) — has a minimum wage law and any attempt to undercut this is simply unscrupulous. The latter is what makes "stipends" particularly pesky as most stipends — when averaged out — add up to far less than the legal minimum wage per hour. The US Department of Labor has very specific guidelines as well... and given these, I can't say that a single unpaid internship request that has crossed my desk has met these.

If the organization is a bona fide 501c3 and doing great things for the world and has a creative team who can shepherd the intern, unpaid internships are worthy of consideration. However, there's a difference between official "non-profit" status and "lack-of-profit". Students should investigate thusly.

Duration: A 3-month to one-year duration is best for the student, the studio, and the industry. Internships longer than one year begin to bend the definition of the term.

An internship shorter than three months makes it hard for folks to get into a groove. One longer than a year finds that groove starts gets a bit too worn in. For students, it's also important to note that this kind of stagnation isn't necessarily good for professional growth nor is it good for other students seeking internships. Being an intern at a reputable shop for an extended period of time might indicate to an employer that the student is complacent, unmotivated or not worthy of promotion to a junior designer.

Commitment: A 2-3 day/week commitment works best with students who are still in school. This allows them to balance work and school most effectively. During summer breaks a 40-hour/week commitment is possible.

If a studio finds that they need someone 5 days/week, that might be a good indicator that a full-time hire or freelancer might be in order rather than looking to an intern to fill these crucial needs... and again, interns help rather than manage. Or, perhaps if a studio needs more help, two or three interns two days/week might be a good option — it gives more people a chance at some experience while not dominating the time of any one intern.

However, during the summer when students often don't take classes and would otherwise be idle, 40+ hours/week is fantastic.

Responsibilities: We love it when employers trust our students with things, however, it's always best to remember that an intern is not a junior designer or freelancer and should shoulder responsibility accordingly — an intern helps with things (team assistance)... a designer (junior designer, senior designer, freelancer) is in charge of things (sole-ownership). An intern performing the task of a designer undermines the profession from within.

On the part of the student:

• Remember that you bring an immense amount of enthusiasm to the engagement, but admittedly don't have much experience and should gauge expectations accordingly.
• Be professional, timely, responsible and proactive.
• Be honest and up-front about abilities as well as limitations.
  
• Stick to the agreed-upon parameters: time, duration, etc.
• Serve as a student ambassador, representing your school and classmates accurately and respectfully.
• Communicate openly with your mentor about conflicts and opportunities that might arise.
• Set goals with your mentor — monitor them jointly and work to reach them.
  
• Ensure that your actions, policies, and procedures uphold ethical standards of the design profession and follow general "good citizen" behavior.

On the part of the employer:

• Remember that your interns are students with limited experience — not junior or senior designers — and gauge expectations and assign responsibilities accordingly.
• Acknowledge that in lieu of market-rate design fees, you're providing the student with an enriching experience, mentorship (by senior creative staff), and otherwise agreeable compensation (that's less than said market-rate, but not unpaid).
• Be honest about expectations and opportunities.
• Stick to the agreed-upon parameters: time, duration, responsibilities, etc. (i.e.: monitor scope creep)
  
• Be available to answer questions in the short-term and serve as a mentor and role-model in the long-term.
• Set goals with your intern — monitor them jointly and help the intern to reach them.
• Support the notion that education the main priority of the student and will work with the student so that their schoolwork, class schedules, etc. are supported by the engagement.
• Ensure that your actions, policies, and procedures uphold ethical standards of the design field and follow general "good citizen" behavior.

However, these are just one person's thoughts who's been sitting on one side of table for a while. What do you think? Is the above fair? What's your take on the internship process?

* The above is not official departmental or University policy, but my own, personal, singular point-of-view on the topic written on my own time on my personal blog.

Comments

[Janna L]

Developing a departmental policy is a great idea. Too many people abuse the idea of an internship, and it's sad that students have come to expect this.

A database of student internships might also be a good idea, listing all offers (whether accepted or not) as well as basic info like pay and work experience. Perhaps an online survey form at the end of each semester would facilitate gathering this data?

This would put together a reference manual of sorts, which would help students figure out where to start when seeking an internship. It might also have the effect of raising the bar among firms around town if it becomes known that this info lives in an easily searchable database.