UX Design Internship Search Hack

3D target on a red background

I always hear people say:

I applied to 300+ internship roles.

I am by no means undermining this. I admire their effort and consistency.

But, this is not a must to get a UX design internship.

During my sophomore year, I applied to 30 companies. And I received offers from Roblox, C3AI, and Pegasystems as a UX Design Intern.

In this article, I want to share the application strategy and the Notion template that helped me do that.

“Referral First” Strategy

When you have time, read this article: How to Get a Job Anywhere Without Applying Online.

It’s what inspired this strategy.

Step 1: Find Internship Openings

Go on LinkedIn or Indeed to search for UX design internship openings. List out all the ones you’re interested in.

Step 2: Set Three Priorities & Sort

Organize your list of companies based on priorities (1st, 2nd, and 3rd). Some deciding factors for this can be:

  • How badly do you want to go to XYZ
  • How close is the deadline

If you want, you can also add their level of difficulty (how hard it is to get in).

Step 3: Find 8-10 People From 1st Priority

This is an important step.

By now, you should have around 10 companies in 1st priority.

Go on LinkedIn, search for 8-10 people from each of your 1st Priority companies, and add them to your contact list.

By the end, you’ll have around 80-100 people to reach out to!

Step 4: Reach Out

80-100 might sound intimidating.

It is a lot of people.

I’m an INFJ, and I was very overwhelmed at first.

So, focus on reaching out to the people you want to talk to the most. Schedule your time.

During my fall semester, I would send out 2-3 LinkedIn connection requests or a cold email every morning. I would also throw out 2 applications for the third priority companies every day.

It is a lot of work. But trust me, it's worth it.

How to Reach Out on LinkedIn

There are two types of LinkedIn connections:

  1. LinkedIn Connect
  2. Standard LinkedIn Message

Let’s go over them.

LinkedIn Connect

This is how you add people on LinkedIn. But, to make it more personal, you should always add a note before sending your request.

Here are a few templates I used:

Hi (Name), I hope you're having a great week! I’m reaching out because I saw (Company Name) has a Summer design internship! I know it's a big ask coming from a total stranger, but if you ever have 20 minutes (this/next) week, I'd love to hear about (Types of experience)!

Hi (Name), I hope you're having a great week! I’m reaching out because (Reason to reach out)! I know it's a big ask coming from a stranger, but if you ever have 20 minutes next week, I'd love to hear about (Types of experience)!

For the (Types of experience), try to be specific! Here are some examples:

  • Your experience as a design intern on the XYZ Team!
  • (More specific) Your boot camp experience, how you got started in VR, and work at XYZ!
  • (More specific) Your experience as an ex-competitive gamer and designer at XYZ!

Remember, you only get 300 characters for a note. So use your words wisely.

Standard LinkedIn Message

You send this if you’re already connected with the person.

In this case, there’s no character limit, so your message can be a bit longer. Here is a modified message I sent before:

Hi John! Huge congratulations on finishing your XYZ summer internship!

I'm Guo, a sophomore at Tufts University interested in UX/UI design. Back in August 2020, we talked briefly about team formation for the Figma Designathon on Slack before!

As I am starting my internship application process, if you ever have 30 minutes this week, I'd love to hear about your experience working as a Product Design Intern at XYZ, the company's work culture, and the application process!

I'd really appreciate your time and looking forward to connecting!

In general, the rule of thumb is to be thoughtful. Show that you did your research!

How to Reach Out via Email

Do this only if the person has not accepted your request for a while.

From my experience, people are much more likely to respond on LinkedIn than on email. Here are a few templates I used:

Mention the internship

Subject: Virtual Coffee Chat

Hi (Name),

Hope you're having a great week!

My name is (Your Name), and (Short intro)!

As I was navigating through internship search, I realized that XYZ Company has a design intern position open for Summer 2022!

Thus, I know it's a big ask coming from a total stranger, but I was wondering if you ever have 20 minutes next week for a call, I would greatly appreciate learning about (Types of experience)!

Please feel free to check out my LinkedIn profile and portfolio that are listed below!

I appreciate your time and thank you in advance.

LinkedIn: (LinkedIn link)

Portfolio: (Portfolio link)

Best,

(Your Name)

Don’t Mention the Internship

Subject: Virtual Coffee Chat

Hi (Name),

Hope you're having a great weekend!

My name is (Your Name), and (Short intro). I was browsing through LinkedIn and came across your information. I hope you don’t mind me reaching out of the blue here.

I saw that you (list out the types of experience the person had).

As a young designer interested in (interest), I would love to have the opportunity to run some questions by you, as well as tap into any advice you may have given your diverse experiences.

I know that your time is extremely valuable so please don’t feel the need to respond in depth. If you do have 15 minutes to chat next week, I would really appreciate it.

Please feel free to check out my LinkedIn profile and portfolio that are listed below!

I appreciate your time and thank you in advance.

LinkedIn: (LinkedIn link)

Portfolio: (Portfolio link)

Best,

(Your Name)

Resources

Here is a link to a Google Doc that has a list of resources.

Step 5: Be Yourself in the Call

Let’s say you got the call. You might have a few questions about this. Let’s go over them.

What should I ask?

Any questions you want!

For me, my questions tend to follow their career journey in chronological order.

A general format will be:

  1. Background Questions
  2. Work before XYZ Company
  3. Work at XYZ Company

My all-time favorite final question is:

Imagine you're in a room, and you're facing the 20-year-old you. What will you say to him/her?

It always surprises the person.

Should I ask for a referral?

Not on your first call.

Have a genuine and curious conversation.

If a call goes well, the ideal situation is the person will offer to give you a referral towards the end of the call.

If not, after 1-2 days, send this:

Hi (Name)! Hope all is well!

I'm planning to apply for XYZ’s summer internship, and I was wondering if you would feel comfortable referring me for the design intern position for the 2022 Summer? I would be happy to send you a copy of my resume and anything needed from me!

Intern position: (Position link)

Portfolio: (Portfolio link)

Step 6: Send a Thank You Note

This is something that a lot of people don’t do.

But it’s so important.

Always send a thank you note and learnings after the call.

It helps the person to remember you.

Notion Template

Here’s the Notion document I used to keep track of all my applications and contacts.

It was sent to me by Kate Jung (Spotify designer), and I modified it to fit my needs. Feel free to duplicate it and change whatever you want.

Here’s a quick rundown on the layout:

Overview

ux design internship application template - home

There are three main sections:

  1. Quick Access
  2. Application
  3. Contacts

I’ll go over them one by one.

Quick Access

ux design internship application template - quick access

In this section, there are pages, templates, and resources. You can also add your resume, portfolio, and LinkedIn profile URL for easy access.

Company

ux design internship application template - company

This is a Notion table that links to your application and contact list.

There are already a few companies I added. Feel free to add or delete companies.

ux design internship application template - company page

Application

ux design internship application template - application

This is where you can keep track of all your applications.

It might seem a bit overwhelming with the number of fields. So I’ll explain the ones that might not be clear.

Connections

Any contacts you have from the company you’re applying to.

Stage

Your current stage in the application process.

ux design internship application template - tags

Priority

I used numbers 1, 2, and 3 to show the priority. I then used far reach, reach, and safety to show the level of difficulty.

ux design internship application template - priority

1 wk

Optional. Let’s say you apply to XYZ company today. Choose the date that’s one week away. Set a reminder to reach out if you didn’t get a response.

Contact

ux design internship application template - contact

This is a list of people who agreed on virtual coffee chats, referrals, portfolio reviews, etc.

Let’s go over the more confusing fields.

Status

Current status with the person.

UX design internship application - contact status

Format

How you reached out / Main contact method.

UX design internship application - contact format

It’s been

A formula that calculates the number of days since you last contacted the person.

Last Contacted Date

Choose the date whenever you contact the person. The “It’s been” will automatically update.

Conclusion

Feel free to duplicate the Notion template.

It’s yours now.

Applying for a design internship is not easy. So I hope whoever is reading this can get something helpful.

You got this. Let’s guo 🔥

And that’s a wrap!

Thank you for being awesome and reading this far! :)If you have any questions, feel free to reach out on LinkedIn or by email. Will love to set up a casual call and chat!

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