DesignBro is a platform which aims to provide agency-level design for freelance prices to small businesses in need of creative designs. I got the internship after weeks of searching. It was the first application that actually led to an interview. I was very ecstatic. I came in having done quite a bit of research on the company and met the founder himself. The interview was planned to be twenty minutes long, however, it lasted for forty minutes. We had connected over similar experiences at university and by the end, he actually offered me the position for the internship. I was blown away by this.
———
Picture yourself moments before an interview, with all the stress and anxiety. You prepare to the best of your ability, but there is still so much that can go wrong. You wait to meet your interviewer in the hallway and the moment you see the person, you spring into action. Question after question, something starts to change. You calm down a bit and become the official expert on yourself. With your inner Kanye unleashed, you emphasize every achievement which made you stronger and reflect on your weaknesses. How surprised would you be to find out your endless confidence worked?
———
The experience outlined above is what I noticed during the interview. The unexpected finding was that the founder and I actually encountered similar study-related issues during our times at university. I guess this would be my main takeaway from this interview. If you are able to connect with the interviewer over a prior experience, try and make that happen! According to Dr Robert Cialdini, author of Influence: Science and Practice, he states that there are six principles of persuasion. One of these principles is called liking. It states that we like people who are similar to us. Applying this to the interview experience, both the founder and I shared similar issues that made us rethink what we wanted to do with our education. Interestingly, both of us decided to pursue communication science at the University Of Amsterdam 🙂
One must be conscious of the fact that getting an actual interview in the first place is quite hard. The internship market is competitive and there are hundreds of other students who continuously check to see if new positions are listed on Linkedin and other platforms. Therefore, I would not underestimate the competition. The earlier you apply to a role the more likely your application is going to get to a hiring manager. This is something I learnt after going to several career events. In addition, it’s important to make use of opportunities to build your network. You can never start too early!!! Websites like meetup.com have events in all different categories, such as finance and marketing. Once quarantine ends, I intend to attend the marketing and business events as these were the ones where I met people in positions that I was really interested in. Apart from the presentations, they also sometimes have beer and snacks. Need I say more?