Should I take the Internship class?
The internship class is an option for Visual Design, Graphic Design, and User Experience majors. It is a requirement for Graphic Media Production majors. You’re eligible for this course if:
- You will have completed at least 30 credit hours of Viscom courses before the start of your Internship Course.
- You’ve taken Career Exploration in Visual Communication or UX Career Lab.
What are the course requirements?
*You may work more hours if you like. (This can be helpful if your internship is paid!)
You will be expected to:
- Secure your own internship the semester before you intend on taking the course
- Conduct yourself professionally
- Meet job requirements
- Communicate effectively with supervisors and co-workers
- Meet with your employer/supervisor at least once a week
- Meet deadlines
- Take initiative
In addition you will:
- Attend two mandatory classroom meetings at the beginning and end of the semester.
- Submit a weekly report to your instructor outlining what you’re working on, what you achieved, and any challenges you’re encountering.
- Give a presentation on your accomplishments, challenges, and lessons learned at the end of the semester so that other students can learn from your experience.
How do I get an internship?
- It is primarily your responsibility to secure an internship position.
- Begin looking for an internship position early in the semester before you intend to take the course. The sooner the better, many Internship opportunities are posted several months in advance of their start date.
- Apply to more than one opportunity and don’t wait until registration to begin.
- Once registered, your instructor will send a list of opportunities that you may apply for. These are opportunities, not guarantees, which is why you should also apply for opportunities outside of the ones provided by the instructor.
To qualify for the class you must:
- Register for the ‘Strategies for Viscom Jobs’ course the semester before you intend on taking Internship. This four week intensive course is completely FREE, and takes you through the entire job application process from start to finish with one-on-one coaching. This is a great way to get help with your application materials and get started with your job search!
Register for ‘Strategies for Viscom Jobs’ HERE
- Prepare the following application materials and send these to the instructor of the course. You will not be given clearance to register for the course until you provide these materials.
- Cover Letter – This should state what caught your interest in an internship with that company, and why you are the perfect fit for their internship.
- Resume – About you, your education, your work history, and your objectives.
- Portfolio – if you do not already have one, choose your top 3–5 projects and format them in Adobe Portfolio or in a PDF. For each project include a few sentences that explain: What was the problem you were solving? What was your approach to solving the problem? What were the results (feedback)?
- Start looking for opportunities.
- Reach out to companies you like. If there is a company that has caught your eye, begin with them. Many Interns have secured an internship by reaching out to the company that they are interested in and asking if they are hiring for the following semester. Begin by explaining which qualities of the company drew you in.
- Search the Web. Look at: AIGA (if you’re a member), Austin Ad Fed, LinkedIn, Handshake, Glassdoor, Indeed, Simplyhired, and good ol’ fashioned Google.
- Reach out to Austin based companies. Yeti, Kendra Scott, AMD, Apple, Charles Schwab, Cirrus Logic, Dell, Dimensional Fund Advisors, are all good places to start.