The competitive nature of the creative industries is an ever-present reality for anyone studying in the field. María Fernanda Soto, a student of IE University’s Bachelor in Design is experiencing first-hand how the opportunities offered by the internship program can help her gain the experience she needs to stand out in a saturated job market.
As she explains, the opportunity to apply the knowledge she has gained in her program in a professional setting has really helped her grow. In her role as a visual design intern, she is tasked with taking ideas from the strategy team and bringing them to life visually, so that Frog’s clients can understand and use them effectively.
Putting theory into practice is just one positive takeaway from María Fernanda’s time at Frog. Indeed, she has also been impressed by her colleagues’ willingness to help her learn new things. Beyond her expertise in visual design, she has also benefited from professional guidance in areas such as design research and user experience. The time she spent at the consultancy will undoubtedly prove invaluable when it comes to finding her first full-time job, not to mention the contacts and networking opportunities the experience has provided.
But it’s not just the students who are reaping the rewards of IE University’s extensive internship program. Frog’s associate strategy director, Phil Sang G. Yim, explains how passionate he is about the collaboration, highlighting the impressive level of preparation our students bring to the firm. He does admit, however, that “no one comes in knowing everything,” reflecting on the fact that it can take time for interns to adjust to the workplace. Conversely, he believes that the world of work would be wise to make a greater effort to adapt to young people taking their first steps.
He insists that one of the greatest benefits of working with young people, besides keeping himself young, is that their youth brings with it new and different ways of looking at the world. For obvious reasons, this is an invaluable asset in the world of design, and the one thing he says he values most in his interns is a high level of curiosity. That is one virtue that IE University students possess in abundance.
