My internship at Kind

I first got into contact with Kind when I came across their website and sent them an email explaining that I was looking for a trainee/junior web designer role and thought they looked like a great place.

They explained that they weren’t looking for another designer at that moment, however they had a look over my work and gave me lots of feedback. I thought this was amazing as nowadays you’re lucky to get a one sentence reply (a lot of the time, no reply at all) - let alone a list of feedback from someone who has taken the time and effort to look through your portfolio! I went on to ask if they were able to take me on as an intern and was invited to come in and speak to them in person.

There are a couple of reasons why Kind were happy to offer me an internship. They liked my proactive approach when contacting them. When I went in to talk to them in person I explained that I am self-taught and haven’t got a degree or any experience in the industry but this didn’t discourage them in the slightest! They liked the fact that I was actively learning new things in my own time and as I already had knowledge on industry standard software, it meant they weren’t worried about needing to “hold my hand”.

One of my biggest worries was that I wouldn’t know as much as someone who had just come out of university, however the guys at Kind could see how I am eager to learn (both at the office as well as in my own time). Many people have “imposter syndrome” when working with lots of other talented people and going into a new industry can be daunting! When doing an internship you won’t be expected to know everything, simply show that you are keen to work hard and that should be enough to make your employer happy.

We also agreed that I will be working 3 days a week and will have flexi time (which is the best) so not every internship has to be full time. There aren’t set rules of what an internship should be like, there can always be room for discussion as to what suits both you and your potential employers.

Before this experience I had little knowledge of how agency life works and what to expect from the internship and the workplace as a whole. This is why I decided to gain experience in the creative sector by going down the route of doing an internship.

There are a lot of stereotypes and misconceptions when it comes to doing an internship. Often you are led to believe that you will be expected to make every single cup of tea, go on lengthy errands, or sit at your desk with idle hands in between these tasks. Fortunately I didn’t receive this treatment as I was treated like a real member of the team and given my own projects. During my time at Kind, I’ve been able to go through a project from start to finish and understand the importance of each stage in a project. I have also gained direct exposure to working alongside experts in different fields such as UX design, web development and operations. I was able to learn about the different roles and how these all function together to produce exciting projects for clients. This will be very useful for my future roles and have improved my understanding of the different aspects of a design as well as other sides of a creative business.

If you’re considering an internship to get a taste of what a certain job is like, or simply to gain experience, I definitely encourage it. Fortunately for me, my internship lasted 12 weeks so I had a proper experience rather than a rushed “in and out” encounter. You wouldn’t necessarily get a real feel for a certain position and know whether you would be happy if you only spend a brief amount of time dedicated to it. I was also very lucky that all of my team members are approachable and I wasn’t ever worried about asking questions or getting their opinion, everyone has been very friendly and supportive.

I now have more confidence in my abilities to undertake more roles like this thanks to the experience I have gained from being at Kind.