InternshipRatings.com

Brian K. Bokor

Attorney

Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP

If America is a melting pot, law school is the stew.  Law school students come from every walk of life and for good reason: there is a not a set path that law school admission offices seem to prefer when considering an application.  However, most law school students have a background in history, English, political science or business. If you are majoring in one of these, you likely have already considered law school.  If you are not majoring in one of these, don’t fret - you are just as likely a candidate for a career in law.

When is the best time to go?
Many students go straight to law school after completing their undergraduate studies, while some work for several years before returning to school.  If you already know that law school is the next step in your life, you will need to take the LSAT and get your application ready well in advance.  The LSAT is the standardized test that law schools require as part of admission.

There are numerous review courses and study guides that can help you prepare for the LSAT.  Check with the law schools that you are interested in to determine the deadline that you must complete the test to be eligible for admission.

Law school admission offices vary in what they require during the application process.  You can likely find and download the school’s application online. The application is the only correspondence that you will have with the admission office, so make sure that it is in perfect shape before submitting it.  You will need your college transcript to send with your application.

If you are unsure if law is the right career choice for you, work in a law firm or in the legal field for a year or two.  This will give you a good understanding of what attorneys do on a day to day basis.  This type of work experience will help to confirm whether you want to proceed with law school.

What could I be doing now?
If you are contemplating law school, meet with your advisor to discuss your interest.  Your advisor can help you determine what law school(s) could fit your background and skill set.  Also, many schools have a pre-law society.  If your school offers such a group, attend several meetings or events and join the society if you feel it will be beneficial.

Can I get an internship at a law firm?
Law firms typically do not offer summer internships for college students.  If you are able to find a firm that does offer then, having experience working within a law firm could be a wonderful resume builder.  Chances are, however, a great portion of your summer will be filled with filing and copying.  Law firms usually hire current law students to work during the summer.  This work is often substantive and complex, (and under the supervision of a practicing attorney). Often, these “summer associates” are offered full time positions to return to the firm after completing law school.

What classes should I try to take moving forward?
Obviously you need to take all the classes that are required for graduation. In addition, take courses in political science, pre-law, government, and business.

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, its affiliates, or its employees.

By Aviya Slutzky
International Relations Major
Tufts University 2010
@aslutzk

Just a few months ago, I thought a PR person was the stereotypical short-blonde-go-getter-party-thrower. It was easy to confuse publicist with public relations and assume any publicity was good publicity.

Despite those negative stereotypes, I decided to intern at a top PR firm this summer – DKC. And with the summer coming to an end, all prior misconceptions have been thrown out the window. I am finishing my internship at DKC and I am hungry for more.

One of the reasons I decided to intern at DKC was my curiosity and desire to learn and work at an innovative firm. My past internships have ranged from translating Hebrew Holocaust survivor testimony at the Museum of Jewish Heritage to editing and updating programming at the Center of Women and Enterprise. Though they range in industry and field, the internships were challenging and demanded my commitment and creativity. DKC is no different.

I have sat in on several new client meetings and pitch presentations, several brainstorming sessions, and helped with a press conference for the launch of Climate Week NYC headlined by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

As technology continues to evolve, today’s media requires more attention. A key point that I’ve learned in my time here has been that firms can’t ignore bloggers, Twitterers, Facebook users, and rely solely on traditional media to market their products and services. PR is vital in navigating through the onslaught of communication outlets.

One of the tasks I have, as other interns can attest, is to compile media lists. For example, I searched through green bloggers and reporters to find appropriate contacts to pitch the USTA’s major green initiative at this year’s US Open. While the task is not as grand as attending the Open, I know I am a part of one of the most basic – yet important – details of a successful campaign. And I gained a better understanding of just how significant it is to connect clients to consumers.

In my mind, PR is no longer exemplified by a publicist trailing Lindsay Lohan’s escapades, but a powerhouse who networks, pitches stories, and navigates media coverage.

And while I may not be blonde, I have learned that PR holds a place for me.

By David Charns

Journalism Major

Boston University 2010

Waking up at 2AM is not something that most people would want to do, let alone something an intern would want to do, but if you want to make it in the broadcast news industry, you have to do anything and everything to further your career. And it’s not just necessarily in broadcasting, if you want to be successful, you have to show dedication.

            This May, I began an internship at WCVB-TV Channel 5 in Boston, the local ABC affiliate. I previously interned at WBZ-TV Channel 4 (CBS) in Boston and at Prospect Pictures in London. I knew that I wanted to do something different with my summer… get an internship (or a job) where I could learn skills to forward myself in my desired field. My other internships were extremely valuable, but I wanted something new. I already had training on how to find stories, contact sources and deal with spokespeople and PR departments, but I had not sunk my teeth into real television production. The opportunity arose to intern at Channel 5, and after meeting with the internship coordinator there, I was offered an internship. But there was a catch. The highly desired, 9 to 5 shift was all filled up. While at Channel 4, I had worked both the day and the night shifts on the assignment desk. While I had some interaction with producers and the actual show, most of my work involved making sure reporters were on track while following breaking news and other stories. I was about to be lifted out of my comfort zone.

             The internship position available at Channel 5 was in the morning. I was told that the intern was expected to arrive at 3AM and stay until 11AM. That means having a wacky sleep schedule. The anxiety set in. When the idea was initially pitched to me, I shot it down. “No, I am not a morning person. I cannot do mornings,” I recall saying. However, within the next hour, I spoke with several employees who told me I would learn the most while working in the mornings, and as an intern, I would be able to do more.

            That is what sold me – I could do MORE. Rather than sit by a computer and answer phones, I could actually learn by doing. This description is what internships are supposed to be all about. And that is what my internship at Channel 5 has proved to be.

It has been less than two months and I am writing for a major market news broadcast. The first day I was nervous. It was more likely that I went to bed at 2AM let alone wake up at that hour. No cars were on the road and it took me legitimately five minutes to get to the station. Even in the dead of night, the producers were excited to have me on board. I signed onto the computer system and starting looking at the rundowns (a spreadsheet-like document showing all the stories in that day’s show). Within five minutes one of the producers turned to me and said, “Hey, you want to write something?” I was ecstatic. The first day as an INTERN and I wrote news copy. Sure I had done it in class, but this was the real thing.

Now I am writing for the morning and noon shows, digging into the scripts, as well as adding in on-air graphics. I never would have expected writing for the show, let alone being given the freedom to be creative. Channel 5 leads the Boston television market in content and ratings. It is an honor to work alongside such professional journalists.

It has been a great experience so far. Even waking up at 2AM is not all that bad. You get used to it, naps and all. I have learned that sometimes you have to make what you think will be a sacrifice. It certainly was a challenge the first few days, but now it’s fun. Sometimes I even come in early.

There is a rumor at Channel 5 that they like to hang on to their interns. I’m crossing my fingers.

By Joe Waters
Director of Cause Marketing
Boston Medical Center

A week doesn’t go by that I don’t get a call or email from four or five people looking for work.  Most of them come from marketing, advertising and public relations. Some are changing careers. Some just can’t find work in their chosen fields.  They all see opportunity in cause marketing, and they’re right.

This post is for all of you, because I know I haven’t gotten back to everyone.  And I know–despite your kind assurances to the contrary–that I haven’t been as helpful as I would have liked.  This post is also for all the people who haven’t contacted me, but I know will.  This will hopefully be a resource to them, as will all your comments, no doubt.

So how do you get a cause marketing job in Boston?  (I say Boston because that’s where I live and work but I suspect that what I’m about to say applies to a lot of other cities.  But correct me if I’m wrong.)

Cause marketing jobs aren’t so much born as they are made.Very few nonprofits in Boston have staff dedicated to cause marketing.  In addition to my own nonprofit, I can really only think of two other full-fledged cause marketing shops: The Jimmy Fund and Children’s Hospital.  The function just hasn’t been formalized within many nonprofits–yet.  Of course, you could work for “The mother of cause marketing” at Cone, Inc. on Boylston Street in Boston but that’s agency work and is different from doing cause marketing for a local nonprofit.

I suggest you be prepared to pitch a nonprofit on building a cause marketing program for that organization. Of course, very few organizations will hire you just to do cause marketing so be prepared to do other work: communications, major gifts, operations, etc. But pitched correctly cause marketing is a great value-add for any organization, and you should be bolstered knowing that close to zero of the nonprofits out there are doing the work.

It’s at this point that I ask that job hunter on the phone or across the table if they are skilled enough to pitch a nonprofit on building a cause marketing effort and experienced enough to execute that plan if they really got the job.  They almost always answer yes, but the real answer is usually no.  This leads me to my next point.

Get experience in cause marketing. Pretty brilliant stuff, eh?  Sadly, (but luckily for some, I guess) only a nonprofit would be dumb enough to hire someone with no experience to run their cause marketing program.  Believe me, I’ve seen it.  But it never works out so let’s not take advantage of someone and waste every one’s time, okay?  If you really want to work in cause marketing you should work in the field for a bit so you can learn the ropes and see what’s involved.  I hire volunteers all the time who become full-fledged team members, get real assignments, real experience and real recommendations when they apply for real jobs.  But you don’t have to come and work with me.  Volunteer with another organization for which you feel passionate.  Ask them if you can help them with cause marketing.  I’ll bet you a stack of paper icons it’s something they’re not currently doing.

If you don’t have someone to learn from, examples abound of successful cause marketing efforts.  Just look to nonprofits–of similar size and focus, if possible–and learn from what works for them.  When I first got into cause marketing I had no one to learn from except from what I saw and read.  Fortunately, I live in a City with two strong, local cause marketing teams, Dana-Farber and Children’s Hospital.  And it helped that my job was in a hospital too.  I started my own program by applying some of the things that had worked for them.  And you know what? They worked for me too!

I also learned a lot by reading whatever I could get my hands on, including every case study at Causemarketingforum.com.

But tapping someone else’s experience isn’t limited to one city.  It could really work anywhere.  There is a very talented young man on Twitter right now, @KyNamDoan, who is working hard to land a job in cause marketing in San Francisco.  He’s smart because he knows that he can’t just limit himself to cause marketing.  He also knows that while he’s very knowledgeable about the field, he doesn’t have a lot of experience.  After talking with KyNam on Twitter and then by phone I contacted a colleague at a public hospital in San Fran and asked if he could volunteer with them.  I wasn’t surprised by her response.

“He sounds great,” she said, “how much experience does he have running cause marketing programs.”

“Not sure he has any,” I replied.

“Joe, I appreciate the offer, but how does that help me.   I don’t need another intern to manage,” she said.

“You won’t have to manage him,” I assured her.  “I will.”

I realized I could help both KyNam and another public hospital because I knew exactly what both needed to do to be successful.  The effort would be win-win.  KyNam would get some valuable experience and cause marketing would become entrenched at a key public hospital in San Fran, the home of several important national retailers.  Not a bad deal for me as I would like to establish a national cause marketing program for public hospitals.

I’m still working to get KyNam in the door at that San Francisco hospital. I also think I could teach him cross-country what he needs to do to launch successful cause marketing programs. But the facts remain that most cause marketing jobs are made, not born. To work in cause marketing you need either some applicable experience or be a keen observer of the industry, preferably both. That’s it. That’s how it happens.

So for all of you who want to get into cause marketing, get started. As my brother, a teacher, likes to tell his students: “You have a wonderful future ahead of you. I suggest you get going.”

Joe Waters is Director of Cause Marketing at Boston Medical Center. He blogs on the intersection of business, marketing and philanthropy at Selfishgiving.com.

By John Sternal

Co-Founder

Understanding Marketing

It’s no secret that an internship can do wonders to launch any college student’s career. As I mentioned in a previous article here on InternshipRatings.com, internships provide a chance to take what is learned in the classroom and apply in a real-world setting.

However, not all students get selected for an internship for a variety of reasons. Besides the fact that there are many more PR students than internships available, today’s economic conditions have forced many companies to cut back on their internship programs, further reducing the number of opportunities available.

If you fall into this category, don’t fret. There are still lots of ways to make use of your summer to gain PR experience outside the classroom. Always keep in mind that “where” you spend your summer isn’t nearly as important has “how” you spend your summer.

Volunteer Organizations

Are there any local or community organizations that have a special place in your heart? Maybe there is a local organization that helps underprivileged children paint or go on recreation activities? These types of organizations are always in need of additional help on a shoestring budget. You could ask to follow along on a few trips getting to know the organizers and a few of the children. Learn their stories. Take photos of their interaction and experiences. Your goal is to package together a story that documents these experiences and then pitch the story to your local newspaper.

Summer Sports Leagues

Summer is a time to get outdoors and have some fun. Many people enjoy playing outdoor recreations or in sports leagues. This is a great opportunity for you to also play the “Team Publicist” role. Even if your team doesn’t win that often you can still find the story behind the team. Learn more about the background of your teammates to see if someone has an amazing or inspiring story. Is your team planning any kind of fundraising initiatives? Package some of these stories up and again pitch it to your local newspaper or television assignment desk.

Local Small Business

Just because you aren’t interning at Microsoft doesn’t mean you can’t get a valuable internship experience at a company. Get to know your local small businesses to see if you can offer to publicize them this summer. It will give you a great experience in an “agency setting” since you will be publicizing multiple companies all at the same time. When you graduate you’ll be able to mention this experience and it will impress any senior-level executive at a PR agency.

Community Newspaper

PR is more than just pitching stories to the media. It’s also about writing well in a very compelling way – either in hard news format or feature “evergreen” stories. Get to know the editors and publishers of your local community newspapers. Tell them you’d like to write some stories this summer. Make sure you have a few school writing assignments handy so that you can show them you have the skills and ability to write for the paper. The stories you write will impress a future hiring manager in any PR department. 

Your Family

If you can’t seem to find any opportunities with the above areas, do PR for your family. Are you going on any exciting vacations? Document them and write a family feature story that may be of interest to a lifestyle newspaper reporter or a community newspaper editor. Remember to take lots of pictures and tell the visual side of the story as well.

Always remember that it’s more important that you end up doing something this summer that accentuates your passion, desire and ability to practice pubic relations. The persistence and drive you demonstrate in documenting these experiences will go a long way towards giving you a leg up on your competition when it comes time to interview for the real job after college.

Editor’s Note: John Sternal is the co-founder of UnderstandingMarketing.com, and the author of The PR Toolkit. For more information, email jsternal@understandingmarketing.com.

By Becky Steinberg
Boston University 2010
Mass Communication, Public Relations & Spanish

Hola! I am a junior at Boston University, majoring in PR and currently studying abroad in Madrid, Spain. My study abroad program allows me to take an internship for credit, giving me a unique opportunity to observe office-culture outside the States. I work in a small marketing firm, Elipse Iniciativas and these are just a few of the cultural differences I wanted to share:

·    Kisses. I love the Spanish two-kiss salutation (also prevalent in other European countries). In general, I think it makes Spaniards less socially awkward and starts any relationship off on positive footing. In my experience, it also affects office culture. My 30-something boss greeted me with two cheek kisses my first day, immediately establishing a friendly relationship and making me feel like “one of them” rather than a foreign, temporary intern. I greatly appreciated it, and as a result felt more comfortable participating in the office banter and asking questions about everything from my assignments to Madrid nightlife. While this may not sound revolutionary, think about how long it takes to develop equally informal relationships with co-workers in the U.S when both parties speak English fluently.

·    Siesta. A two-hour lunch break. At my last internship in Boston, my boss wouldn’t take lunch breaks most days, sending me to get a salad and Diet Coke from the Au Bon Pain downstairs instead, which she would eat at her computer. Here, the siesta allows professionals to eat with co-workers, go home to eat with their families and even take a quick nap. I don’t have time to go back to my apartment, so I spend the time eating a three-course-meal with my co-workers or grabbing a sandwich and sitting on the patio with them, ultimately allowing us to be friends in addition to co-workers. Siesta also provides a break from the stresses that accompany deadlines, last-minute changes and computer malfunctions. My boss, for example, at the height of the craziness of planning the Madrid Marathon, would still come out to a long lunch. The siesta seems to help everyone stay sane, even amid event-planning frustrations. They say Spaniards have generally long lifespans, and it’s definitely not because the smoking restrictions (smoking in restaurants the university hallways is still custom). My money is on the siesta.

·    Politically Correct—the Spanish are not, or so I’ve been told. While I’ve never had a personal experience that speaks to this, in preparation for our entrance into the work force here, our internship-director shared one of her experiences. Apparently, her co-worker didn’t know she was pregnant and told her frankly that she looked like she was gaining weight and should probably stop eating so much. She told him she was indeed pregnant, to which he replied she should still maybe think about eating less.

To sum up, my experience at Elipse definitely verifies how my host-brother describes the Spanish attitude towards work: “We work to live, not live to work.”

By Catharine Bennett
Boston University 2010
Mass Communication, Public Relations & French

My internship at an international corporate event planning firm through a study abroad program in Paris, France, began six weeks ago, and will last a total of eight weeks. Coming into this company and knowing very little—except what I could find on their website– I had some ideas of how my internship would play out, most of which were wrong. I’ve learned a lot in the past few weeks, and I’ve compiled the most pertinent lessons to help students who plan to participate in study abroad programs with an internship component.

1. Internships are not the same everywhere. Starting an internship in a foreign country and thinking that it’ll be the same as your internship at home makes it really difficult to adjust to a foreign office’s day to day activities. I thought that I would have it all figured out, since I’ve interned for large companies in the States. However, my office experience in France in no way resembles my offices in New York. This office is very interactive and social. Given the seriousness of their work, I was surprised to find fellow employees sharing a cigarette in the parking lot, gossiping by the espresso machine, playing practical jokes on one another during lunch break, and taking long lunches at the local Japanese restaurants.

2. Make the cultural differences work to your advantage. My work day in France is much longer than in the United States; I work from 9:00-6:30 every day, but I get a 90-minute lunch break. Often, other employees opt to take an even longer lunch and stay later into the night. Take the time to learn the office culture and get involved. Find other interns, practice your language skills or help them with English during lunch. If the mood is very serious, act as professionally as possible. If not, engage in office banter (but tread lightly). You need not take up smoking or pretend to like sushi in order to fit in. Just be personable and friendly to co-workers and managers.

3. Don’t be afraid to bring what you know to the company. Especially in the context of an international business, employers will be looking to you in many cases to deal with their English-speaking or American clients. At the very least, bring your excellent English grammar. I offered to work with the clients in the United Kingdom and North America from the beginning, and doing so has made me a valuable member of this team. If you are working in an English-speaking country, you can bring your knowledge of American businesses and appropriate business language to the office. Just because companies share a common language does not mean that they share a common approach to business affairs.

4. At the end of the day, take your internship experience abroad in stride. You might love your co-workers and your job, or you might hate it. It’s all a learning experience. Take advantage of every aspect of your time in a foreign office: go to every meeting, answer every phone call, take on challenging projects and make friends with your co-workers. In non-English speaking countries, an internship is the easiest way to apply your language skills outside of the classroom. Being able to communicate effectively with native speakers in a professional environment speaks volumes, while sitting in class in the United States might not. It’s been my experience, in applying to summer internships, that American employers are very impressed with the fact that I’m interning in a non-English speaking country.

The advantage of a study abroad internship experience will definitely help you out in the future. As I begin to wrap up my internship in Paris, I am taking stock of the lessons learned, contacts made, and new experiences. I wouldn’t have been able to achieve such feats had I stayed in Boston for the semester and completed an internship there.

Erin Everhart
Marketing Intern
352 Media Group

It’s the end of an era. OK, so maybe not that dramatic, but it’s definitely the end of something. Last week, I packed up my belongings and trucked out of 352 Media Group having successfully completed a marketing internship.

For four years, I’ve been doing nothing but journalism. And I’ve loved it. But for the last semester, I left my reporter’s pad at home and did something not journalism-related and did something I’ve never done before. Taking a marketing position at 352 Media was my biggest step out of the box. And since, everytime a journalist interviewer sees my resume, they question my decision to take a marketing internship when my passion for newspapers and magazines is obvious through the other lines under “Experience.” And everytime, I defend it.

Before starting 352 Media Group, I questioned if I really wanted to write for the rest of my life. I took it to get outside experience, but I walked away from the Web site design company thankful for my degree and the little extras I picked up that will make me a better journalist in the long run. I know a bit of programming and web design. I know how to market something, but better yet, I know how to market myself. I know SEO, keyword research and what really goes into being the No. 1 search hit on Google. It might not have anything to do with my major, but at least I can say I did something different.

Isn’t the point of college to learn as much as you can? For four years, you have the unique opportunity to throw the “student card” and explore companies to figure out what you want to do. Sure, 99% of the time, you’re not going to get paid. And that sucks, but at least you get some experience so when you are applying for a “real job,” you’ll have more than just a GPA and a waitressing job on your resume.

I’ve since landed a job (Yes, a recent grad fresh off finals has got a full-time job in this blistering economy: Yes, it is possible, but that’s for another post) as an assistant editor at Atlantic Publishing Company. And while “marketing” isn’t in my job description, I know that I’m not going to forget about what I learned at 352. Even if I’m knee in deep in editing a manuscript to be sent to publishing, I’m still going to need to know SEO and how to publicize on Google. Because let’s face it, we can’t do anything without the Internet.

By Jay Preble
Director of Public Relations
Tampa Bay Lightning

As director of public relations for the Tampa Bay Lightning, I try to accommodate every meeting request I receive from college students who are interested in working in sports public relations. Sometimes it’s just an “informational interview,” and sometimes the student is working on a paper for class. Without fail, the question is asked.

“What do I need to do to get a job in PR with a sports team?”

My somewhat hypocritical answer is always the same – “You have to do an internship to even have a shot.”

I’m a hypocrite because I got hired by the Lightning in 1996 basically because I was the right person in the right place at the right time. Though I was a Mass Communications (Public Relations) major in college, I caught the sports writing bug while still in school and went to work for a local newspaper upon graduation. When the Lightning joined the NHL in 1992, I ended up covering the team for The Associated Press. Four years later when the team’s VP of communications needed a PR person who could write and edit, I slid into my new career.

Most of you, unfortunately, aren’t going to get as lucky. We receive dozens upon dozens of resumes each season and many are from bright, hard-working college grads who would do well in the business. If we have an opening in our department, however, 95 percent of the time we’re going to hire someone we already know through an internship.

This is where it gets tough for most recent or soon-to-be college grads, because the market for sports internships (PR or other departments) is daunting. Most require extremely long hours (15-hour game days are commonplace in hockey) and provide little, if any, compensation. I’ve commented to many people that I never cease to be amazed by those college grads who find the means to move to a new city and work long hours for almost no money - just for the possibility of getting a job when the internship ends.

That said; if you’re one of those industrious types who can pull it off, and you’re a hard worker who “gets it,” I’ll do everything I can to help you get hired once your internship ends. We’ve had a pretty good track record at the Lightning in this regard, with some of our former PR interns currently holding the following titles:

Coordinator, Communications – Ottawa Senators (NHL)
Media Services Manager – San Antonio Spurs (NBA)
Assistant to the General Manager – Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL)
Public Relations Coordinator – Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL)
Assistant Director of Media Relations – Atlanta Thrashers (NHL)
Coordinator, Media Relations – Toronto Marlies (AHL)
Communications Coordinator – Columbus Blue Jackets (NHL)
Ticket Sales & Operations Manager – Depaul University (NCAA)
Manager of Internet Development – Nashville Predators (NHL)

Now, for the second part of my standard answer to the “how can I get a job??” question:

If you’re still in school and you’re convinced sports PR is your path of choice, do yourself a huge favor and walk into your school newspaper’s office. Ask for the editor, and tell him/her that you want to write. It doesn’t matter if it is sports, news, features or opinion/editorials - you need to know how to write and edit and the best way to gain practical experience in a short time is through a school paper or magazine.

The writing and editing in sports PR can be nonstop, from press releases to media guide bios to website features to letters from the president or general manager in the game program.

If you’re already a decent writer by the time you start your internship, expect to have some press releases thrown your way as a test of your abilities. If you pass the test and you’re a hard worker, you can expect my endorsement when your internship ends.

Editor’s Note: Jay Preble is the former Director of Public Relations for the Tampa Bay Lightning (NHL).

By Christine Daves

Director of Career Services

Minneapolis College of Art and Design

I always tell students that we need to have two conversations before they graduate. One is about their artwork - how can we promote it and develop their creative, fine art careers. The other discussion needs to cover how can they support themselves while their fine art careers grow. Good internships can help students in both of these areas. While learning about promoting artwork, networking with professionals, developing new techniques, and gaining industry knowledge, interns gain practical skills that can be an asset during a job hunt.

Every year I encounter a few students that purposely avoid my office because they assume that the Career Services office only refers to traditional, 9-5, Monday through Friday, ugly cubicle positions. Of course, after studying fine arts for four intense years, a student’s post-graduation intention is to practice it! As fine artists consider their revenue-generating options (because everyone has to eat, and fine artists usually need to buy supplies, and pay back those pesky student loans) it is important to remember that their career can be as unique as their artwork.

That said, a career in fine arts does not promise to be easy. One cannot go to the Sunday paper and find many listings for “Fine Art Sculptor. Make your own artwork. Great salary, full benefits, and incredible 401k plan!” Thus, to secure futures as fine artists, art students need to gain the knowledge necessary to effectively promote their fine art. They also need to build skills needed for jobs that can support them. After all, if there is no income they can’t make any art!

Students should start by examining their personal career goals and understanding of success. They need to consider what type of lifestyle can support them physically and mentally (to eat and be happy). 

Once long-term goals are articulated, students can consider what types of internships will be most effective helping them reach their professional goals. Most important, is that the artist selects an internship that will allow them real experience. Sitting at a gallery and greeting patrons won’t be as valuable as an internship that includes preparing press kits, sorting slides, or packaging and shipping artwork.

So where might fine art students intern? The most obvious answer may be a gallery. Interning at a gallery or exhibition space can teach students about handling artwork, hanging a show, marketing artwork, reviewing portfolios or making curatorial decisions. Of course, working at gallery receptions is fun and offers a great resource for networking.

Assisting established artists - preparing canvases, researching marketing opportunities, creating press kits, or helping with a large installation - gives students a lot of one-on-one time when they can learn about the professional’s career. In addition to understanding the industry and available resources better, students can also find out how the artist built his or her career and what it takes to sustain it.

Many fine artists find themselves employed in arts administration after college. When interning with community art centers, public art councils, or artist support organizations, fine art students can learn about opportunities and resources for artists and how such programs are run. For example, while interning at an organization that provides grants to artists, a student may be involved in coordinating the review process or meeting with the jurors. The intern can observe how applicants present themselves and later use that information when he or she is applying for his or her own grants.  

There are a lot of internships available at museums. Students may benefit from working with a curator, fundraiser, archivist, registrar, historian, or outreach facilitator. Many museums and art centers have classes that teach art history, theory, or technique. Gaining experience as a teacher’s assistant can be beneficial in preparing artists to teach in any number of settings. If a student decides to pursue teaching as a career, such experience may help them get into to graduate programs.

Props for theater, media production, or retail spaces employ people with skills in painting, construction, carving, and a number of other techniques. Internships in these industries can provide students with relevant portfolio material to aid in their job hunt. In addition to scenery, artists with painting and drawing skills may be interested faux painting or murals. Many communities have projects with independent muralists and a team of people working together on a piece for a public space.

Other areas of potential relevancy include model-making (for architecture or product development); art criticism (assisting a critic or writing reviews); developing surface design for merchandise; patterns for rugs, wrapping paper, or stationary; tattoo design; storyboards; courtroom drawings; illustration; screen printing; concept sketching; interior planning; metal casting; floral design; and any number of other things. Basically, any visible, person-made, object has been touched in some way by a creative person.  Sometimes the creative person is an intern learning how to support his or her career in fine arts.