Tips to Finding a Web Design Internship in Chicago

Contributed by Klaus Black

Finishing Your Chicago Web Design Program

One of the most difficult parts about finishing a web design degree program in Chicago is finding the internship you will need to graduate. Although it is possible that you will get lucky and find one listed at your school, most students have to go through a long process of searching before they find a web design internship that is right for them. The following tips may help you in your search.

Look for Chicago Web Design Internships in Unobvious Places

Although the classified section of local newspapers like the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times are a great place to look for Chicago web design internships, keep in mind that this is the first place that most students will look, so the competition for those web design listings will be higher. Try broadening your search by including smaller publications like neighborhood newspapers. Another good source for web design internship postings is online classified ad web sites such as craigslist.org.

Networking with Chicago Web Design Professionals

One of the best ways to find out about internships that you might not otherwise hear about is through networking. Get to know as many people as you can in the Chicago web design industry. You can meet fellow Chicago web designers by joining a web design or graphic design group at school, meeting them online on web design forums, and through internet community groups such as groups.yahoo.com, tribe.net, and friendster.com. The more people you know in the Chicago web design industry, the more likely you are to hear about unadvertised Chicago web design internships.

Rubbing Elbows With Chicago Web Design Bigwigs

Another great place to meet people in the Chicago web design field is at professional web design conferences. Living in a big city like Chicago can be beneficial in this way because there are likely to be web design conferences held there. Sometimes these conferences can be costly, but if you dress for success and bring your portfolio, you may find the contacts you meet to be invaluable.

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