They Probably will not Hire Me
They Probably will not Hire Me
Lessons learned from an internship interview.
Lessons learned from an internship interview.
You have a lot of good ideas, and this project you are working on is great, but we generally look for seniors who are about to graduate.
That’s was how I was let down easy.
Don’t get me wrong, I agree that had a good point, but at the same time I wonder if there are any companies out there that will just let me intern for the experience rather than to be funneled into their company…
Still I have no complaints, I mostly applied to do something that scared me. I am not that far along in my degree as a UX designer, but I thought I could compete with students who are further along than me because of that fact that I ‘m self taught and spend more time than the average student on the craft — which I know by observing how my classmates spend their free time.
So I confidently go into the interview, and we hit it off with smooth banter, I talk about my experience heading the redesign of the school papers website, the UVU Review, and they ask me some questions about my design process.
If you where to start this redesign you where working on, how would you go about it?
“Simple”, I said, I would Facebook and Instagram stalk students at UVU, open up a notepad and look for patterns in their language and interests…
…Then after I compiled what UVU students talked about, I would focus on creating a better social media strategy to focus on them. Yes, before I would even consider designing a website, I would work on getting more engagement on Facebook. Why? Because I would have a better chance of hit the redesign out of the park if our small readership actually talked to us. And after auditing the current state of the social media accounts at the Review, I think we distribute more than we engage with our audience.
So as a good UX designer would, I would collaborate with the digital media and social teams to create a content strategy that involves us letting our viewers know that we are listening to them to the point that they will actually talk back — yes, we first need to set up a line of communication with our users and get additional metrics to see what type of content they like and how we can deliver a better experience for them.
Then once we have actual active readers, we then get them stoked that there will be a new layout to the website that makes it easier to be informed.
Then, we start the redesign.
I left it at that for them, letting them know that I believe UX is more than making a pretty website.
And that’s was my biggest mistake.
Because I accidentally sold them on the idea.
Why after being able to do all that would you want to leave that project and work with us?
They explained to me that the internship was 40 hours a week, and asked why would not want to see the newspaper project through. They thought it was an awesome project and the fact that I get so much creative freedom on it impressed them. Essentially they wanted me to reapply later in college and talk to me in the future.
So it did go well! Just not the way I hoped. The guys then started to recommend ways to go about the re-design and even recommended a book. It turned into a mentor ship session! Good on those guys!
The big thing I learned from this interview is that if you want to specialize. Have a portfolio. Which I will build with this project I made with the newspaper. so no hating on this company, they probably need someone that isn’t as scattered as I am.
I also learned a lot about myself, I make my own projects. I find work to do. And that valuable to me. The big take away is to start working as a freelancer anyways to build the portfolio and skills I would need to get better internship or even start my own shop in the next decade.
So good news. I learned to not keep looking for the next big thing! I found more increased vigor for the projects I have right now and I just need to work these out before taking on new opportunities! See?! Millennials can learn patience!
I’m Caden, an aspiring creative professional based in Utah. Find out more about me and what I am doing at www.CadenD.com
