So You Want To Intern in Fashion?
For over a year now, I have been recruiting for and offering a design internship with my current employer. This has been an overall, amazing experience for me as a professional and I highly recommend it to anyone who is thinking about hiring an intern. If you are willing to do a little footwork, it can pay off big time for both you and the interns. In this article, I will be focused on my advice for prospective fashion interns. Normally, I try to tailor my blog to handbag and fashion accessory designer's, but in this case I think anyone wanting to intern in the fashion industry can benefit from my insight.
Play Your Part
No matter where you are interning, your role is to support the team by preforming tasks, observing, anticipating needs, and learning new skills. Sometimes this is by taking notes in meeting. Sometimes this is by cataloguing samples. Sometimes this is by helping CAD on a big project. Sometimes this is by breaking down boxes. Keep in mind that not every task will be high level, fun, or challenging. The key is to make sure it is supporting the team, which makes you part of the team. The faster you can on board and learn the ropes, the better. You want to start showing the team/company/supervisor that ROI (return on investment). Many people erroneously think that fashion is a glamorous place to work. It is not. It is work and you should be prepared to work when you get to corporate.
Task At Hand
Every day, you should be getting tasks/ assignments/ projects at your internship. Many interns with no corporate experience struggle with the question as to whether or not to ask questions once they have been assigned a task. Suddenly, they realize they need to interrupt their boss every time they have a question and they didn't write anything down! Crap! Maybe, there are things their boss forgot to mention or they don't have enough information to complete the task! Oh well. Never be afraid to ask questions. I would rather my interns ask a question and get a task done right the first time than not ask and have to waste time redoing a task a second time. But be mindful; after being briefed on a task (that you took notes on!), work on it as much as you can on your own. Check your notes and the intern handbook and Google for answers- THEN come get your boss to go over things. If you run into a problem, come to them with suggestions on how to solve it if you can. If your struggling with a task- ask for help before you waste a lot of time- but take notes when someone is explaining what to do! Remember it’s your responsibility to manage your time and hit project deadlines. Of course, it is always wise to 'read the room' and tailor your behavior to your boss and situation. The best interns are masters at this.
Fail & Fail Again
Additionally, never be afraid to make mistakes or fail at a task. You are an intern, which means you don't know everything and your here to learn. If you approach every task with an 'I am willing to learn' attitude, you will help facilitate the same mentality in your supervisors: Inter new at this and wanting to learn. This will help them be more understanding towards you when you fail and fail you will. If you do fail, ask for feedback, reflect on that feedback, and figure out what to do better next time around. Employers don’t expect perfection, they expect thoughtful efforts. I love to see interns that actively learn from their failures. It communicates to me that they care about their progress, they are making an effort to improve, and they are emotionally resilient.
Take Note
Always. Take. Notes. Today, more than ever, a person has so much information coming at them. It is not possible to remember everything and easy to get overloaded. I have been at this for almost a decade, at the time of writing, and I still take down notes for everything. If you are not taking notes and constantly forgetting what was explained to you or asking the same questions repetitively, you stop supporting the team and the team has to take extra resources to support you (not good). Also, no one likes explaining themselves repeatedly and feeling like you were not paying attention the first 3 times…. I would much rather you take your time writing down good notes the FIRST TIME we go over things; I’ll be happy to slow down or repeat myself. It’s much easier to repeat yourself to someone who is making an effort to remember things than to someone who didn’t bother to take notes the first time around. See where we are going with all this? If I don’t see interns taking notes, I will wonder if they have an eidetic memory and expect them to never get anything wrong- in which case why are they interning when they could be working for the CIA? If your learning something new, I should definitely see that note pad out!!!
Meetup
When you attend work meetings-
-be prepared to take notes
-observe all dynamics
-only offer opinions when asked
-if a manager asks for something – be the first to offer to go get it
-be punctual and prepared
Ideally, you should be learning something at every meeting. It could be new information about updating the line or about how the team interacts with each other or how they arrive at a decision… Pay attention- this is your chance to learn how things work and why!!!! The best interns are they ones I can turn to and say, "What did we decide in that meeting about X?" And they can look at their notes and tell me. It is very important to present your best self in meetings, especially ones with high level management. For one thing, it is the professional thing to do and for another it makes your boss look good, but most importantly, it makes young people look good. It can be difficult for older generation workers to see the value in having an intern. Some of them believe it is more work to have an intern, than to just do it all themselves. This brings us back to the roles, and why it is so important that prospective interns remember that they need to be of service to the team. Conversely, make sure your supervisor is aware that you want every available opportunity to learn. Volunteer to takes notes at meetings, sort things, pick up samples, catalogue... Any chance you get to observe and learn is a win-win.
Down Time
If there is a lull in the work load- make sure you ask around the office for other tasks to be done. This is your chance to work with other people/departments in the company. Respectfully interrupt and ask if people need help with anything, even if they aren’t in design. That is right, I said interrupt! Respectfully. I know we all want to be efficient and professional, but interruptions are a hazard of doing things IRL. (Also why I love companies that schedule their employee collaborative times and quiet times.) If no one needs anything, work on a school work or personal projects. Be ready to change gears if someone suddenly has a task and comes looking for your assistance. I encourage interns to use down time to update Linkedin profiles, work on their professional portfolios, portfolio websites (yes you need one!), or look for the next work opportunity. Check with your supervisor what they might want you in this scenario. Some might have 'back burner' or low priority projects you can default to when nothing urgent needs doing. Definitely do not leave without letting people know or not come in at all just because you know it will be a slow day.
Reason For Being
Overall, be professional and use your common sense. If you need a day off or need to leave early one day- work with your supervisor to get it scheduled. If your missing equipment or need help or can't find something- communicate that. You should never be sitting around doing nothing because you couldn't find something or 'forgot' what you were supposed to be working on- or ran out of things to do. Internships afford you the opportunity to start being responsible for yourself. This can mean time managing yourself and it can mean owning up to mistakes and it can mean exponential growth. Remember, no company hires interns because they wanted to create more work for someone in the company to do. You're there to help the company and the company is there to give you a chance to learn. The best business deals are always win-win.
