How Soon Is Too Soon for Design Students to Get In the Game?

As we ease into summer, there are usually some new faces around the office - the summer interns have arrived! Many professionals currently in the design and architecture field had internships prior to finding their first full time jobs and can still remember (hopefully fondly) what it was like.

Prior to the 1960s, internships or co-ops were not common. Now they are seen as a prerequisite to finding a good job in a desirable field. The question for most students now is not if, but when, they will apply and hopefully get an internship. For many, they will wait until their Junior year of college to get a summer internship or to take part in a co-op through school, experiencing working at a firm as they near the end of their education. This can be a competitive process with limited open positions and many students hoping to secure one. For some ambitious students, the solution is to get ahead of the competition and reach out to firms prior to entering college to get a feel for what they might like to study and eventually have as a career while still in high school. This is certainly not the norm at this time, but should it be?

The advantages of getting an internship as a high school student would appear to be many, from making money while gaining real world experience, narrowing down a field of interest to study, or beefing up a college application. However, there are disadvantages as well. Being 18 or under in a world of professionals where cocktail hours, roof deck parties, and events are often the mode of networking has limitations as well as a potential gap in maturity and life experiences. In many cases, students can take the disadvantages that their age may present at a firm as a younger student and turn it into an experience-based advantage over their peers in the pursuit of their next internship or an entry level position after college or graduate school. It does not hurt to be open to all opportunities, even if they may seem a little premature.

Interested in reading more about setting up an internship program at your firm? Check out this article from TrueNorth Companies.