hello archinecters. sorry to be that dumb little undergrad kid asking for help, but i'd really appreciate any advice concerning this.
soo I'm on the great search for a summer internship. I know it's quite late, but eh. only thing is, I have absolutely no clue how to do this without connections. Places like craigslist/the archinect jobs section are kind of fruitless for students right now.
Is it better to just e-mail firms asking if a position is open? and if so, what's a good way to find interesting firms? I really only know of the starchitect firms, so my current intuitions aren't exactly too helpful.
also, I'm honestly willing to work for free. Is this something I should indicate? and if so, how is it possible to do so with tact?
any advice at all would be greatly appreciated. sorry if this was mentioned in a previous post, I was unable to find anything with the search engine.
a) select 1 or 2 cities where you would like to work - 3 at most;
b) do a search on the career center on aia.org, and the career center here on archinect, to see which firms in those cities are hiring;
c) research those firms to see if any are places where you think you might like to work
d) send the firms that interest you a letter and resume, indicating that you are looking for a summer internship and why you targeted their firm
e) do NOT volunteer to work for free
f) don't necessarily expect an instantaneous response ... our firm doesn't focus on summer internships until late april / early may
g) after a decent interval, follow-up by phone or e-mail
i) be polite, but persistent -- you are not the center of their universe, but polite persistence pays off more often than not -- don't be a pest
j) do NOT accept any offer to work for free
check out your local AIA chapter website - they should have something called "architect finder" which lists various stats of AIA firms, things like: number of employees, type of work, awards won, etc. as well as contact info and url. that should at least get you going.
i would hold off on the "working for free" bit, there is no need to devalue yourself, all of the internships that i have had paid hourly as a consultant (ie. you are responsible for all taxes and social security), but have yet to encounter anyone taking an unpaid internship. good luck, if you really are a superstarchitect you should have no problems finding something paid and interesting.
Also, if it's a larger firm, make sure it's addressed directly to someone, most likely the Human Resources person. If it's not on their website, just call up the main line and ask for their name. If it's not directly addressed to someone, it has a high probability of being thrown in the junk mail file.
Apr 5, 06 10:23 pm ·
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tips on finding a summer internship
hello archinecters. sorry to be that dumb little undergrad kid asking for help, but i'd really appreciate any advice concerning this.
soo I'm on the great search for a summer internship. I know it's quite late, but eh. only thing is, I have absolutely no clue how to do this without connections. Places like craigslist/the archinect jobs section are kind of fruitless for students right now.
Is it better to just e-mail firms asking if a position is open? and if so, what's a good way to find interesting firms? I really only know of the starchitect firms, so my current intuitions aren't exactly too helpful.
also, I'm honestly willing to work for free. Is this something I should indicate? and if so, how is it possible to do so with tact?
any advice at all would be greatly appreciated. sorry if this was mentioned in a previous post, I was unable to find anything with the search engine.
thanks in advance!
a) select 1 or 2 cities where you would like to work - 3 at most;
b) do a search on the career center on aia.org, and the career center here on archinect, to see which firms in those cities are hiring;
c) research those firms to see if any are places where you think you might like to work
d) send the firms that interest you a letter and resume, indicating that you are looking for a summer internship and why you targeted their firm
e) do NOT volunteer to work for free
f) don't necessarily expect an instantaneous response ... our firm doesn't focus on summer internships until late april / early may
g) after a decent interval, follow-up by phone or e-mail
i) be polite, but persistent -- you are not the center of their universe, but polite persistence pays off more often than not -- don't be a pest
j) do NOT accept any offer to work for free
good luck
check out your local AIA chapter website - they should have something called "architect finder" which lists various stats of AIA firms, things like: number of employees, type of work, awards won, etc. as well as contact info and url. that should at least get you going.
i would hold off on the "working for free" bit, there is no need to devalue yourself, all of the internships that i have had paid hourly as a consultant (ie. you are responsible for all taxes and social security), but have yet to encounter anyone taking an unpaid internship. good luck, if you really are a superstarchitect you should have no problems finding something paid and interesting.
Does your school have a career services center? Thats how I got my summer internship..
thanks so much guys, this info was really helpful.
Also, if it's a larger firm, make sure it's addressed directly to someone, most likely the Human Resources person. If it's not on their website, just call up the main line and ask for their name. If it's not directly addressed to someone, it has a high probability of being thrown in the junk mail file.
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