Lauryn Marshall (MDIV)
Describe your internship. Where were you and what did you do? This Summer, I interned at Mohawk Industries, a flooring company in Calhoun, Georgia. For this internship, I worked in the video department as a Marketing Intern and helped film and edit large scale video content to promote Mohawk and its products. I also assisted in the photo studio with various social media projects to advertise the company's products and their features.
How did you develop this internship? What advice do you have for others? I conducted extensive research to find my internship, but this was an opportunity that I found on LinkedIn. Here’s my advice for finding internships:
Start your internship search early! I suggest that you start searching for internships at least 3-5 months before the semester you plan to complete the internship course. You can always start earlier but some companies have more than one round of interviews for their internship programs. This likely means that their applications close early since it takes time for them to sift through applicants and conduct multiple rounds of interviews. You can miss out on some of the higher quality opportunities by waiting too late to search. So, get started ASAP!
Never limit yourself to the internships listed on the school internship website. This is especially true for Visual Media students. The school internship website is simply a resource that will give you a glimpse of the opportunities available, however, it’s NOT the only resource available for finding internships. There are lots of websites available for finding internships you may be interested in. A few websites that were helpful for me were LinkedIn, Handshake, Indeed, and Glassdoor. Conducting an in-depth Google search using specific words was also helpful for me. In addition to doing your research, I encourage you to ask others about internships as well. Try talking to your professors or students within your major, and even utilize CLA Career Services, as they may be able to recommend certain opportunities for you to seek out. If you want to find a good internship, you need to put in the work to do your research!
What are the most important things you learned during the internship—both inside the office and out? The most important thing I’ve learned during my internship was this: do not merely limit your learning to what’s been planned for you during the internship period. Always be willing to ask in depth questions and learn as much as possible about what you’re being taught or what you’re working on during your internship. That way, you understand how to apply what you’ve learned in future jobs/opportunities, and even in your own work.
What advice do you have for interns during the internship experience? Your internship experience is only going to be as good as you make it. It sounds super cliche, but it’s so true. What you put into your experience is what you’re going to get out of it. So, take every possible opportunity to learn new skills, network, and get as much hands-on experience as you can.
Is there anything else you want to add? Some additional advice:
Don’t think of your internship as merely a required credit to fulfill. Challenge yourself to find an internship that will give you the opportunity to grow and that will prepare you for your career after college.
Consider your goals and the skills that you want to learn when applying for internships. Doing this can guide your search and help you choose which internship opportunity will allow you to achieve your goals.
On a similar note, when researching you should also consider your needs and think about what’s most important to you. There are many internships that are not local/remote. So, if you need a paid internship or an internship with free housing/relocation assistance, conduct extensive research to find opportunities with those benefits. Use key phrases/words in your search such as “housing provided”, “relocation”, or even “paid internship”, and search for different variations of those phrases. I’ll be honest in saying that finding internships with those benefits was very challenging. However, those opportunities DO EXIST. You just have to be diligent to put in the work to find them.
