How to Get an Internship in the Fashion Industry: Ultimate Guide

Love fashion? Or you’re bored during quarantine? Or need something to make your resume look better? This is the ultimate guide on how to get an internship in the fashion industry. These tips can also apply to other industries you’re interested in but since this is a fashion blog, it can apply more to this.

Since COVID-19 has drastically affected our everyday lives, you can apply for a remote internship as well which is what I have been doing since the beginning of my senior year in high school! Grab a pen, paper, or open your notes on your phone and write down these tips to never have employers think twice before deciding to hire you.

1. Need a resume!
   1. A resume is one of the most important things you need before you even decide to apply for a job or internship. A resume is where you reflect not just yourself but everything you have ever done. When you are applying to specific jobs, make sure that your resume is altered to reflecting the specific experience you have that will make you stand out more to employers.
      1. You can make it on the Pages application on a MacBook, iPhone, or iPad.
      2. Download Google Docs resume templates to make your resume
         1. Then input information into there
      3. My resume is shown below for your preference. In your resume make sure you have:
         1. Name, phone # address, references, summary, experiences, education, skills 
      4. Make sure your resume reflects the job you are applying for!

(For personal privacy reasons, certain information about me is blocked out.)

2. Figure out what is the industry for the kind of internship you want: fashion, business, art, writing, web development, etc. There are so many jobs, internships, and positions that can cater to exactly what you like! This is another crucial step because you need to figure out what you are interested in working with. If you’ve always liked writing but you’re majoring or studying something else, you can always apply for a journalism internship and have the experience on the side in journalism.

Even though I am studying Fashion Business Management at FIT, I still have two internships (one I am currently still doing) for a small magazine and as a editorial intern. It has nothing to do with my major, but I am still taking in the experience. Below are some examples of two different industries and the positions you could find:

• Fashion
  • Events/Public Relations
  • Journalism/Magazine Writing
  • Digital Marketing
  • Assistant Business Development
  • Brand Strategist
  • Social Media Manager / Marketing 
  • Design / Production
• Business
  • Marketing
  • Financial Planning
  • Communications
  • Equity Analyst
  • Sales Representative
  • OperationsBusiness Development

3. Make a spreadsheet of all the places you’re going to apply to BEFORE you apply to!

1. Helps with organization, knowing where you applied, when, and the status of the application
2. Make a section for 
   1. Emails you’ve sent
   2. Indeed applications
   3. Linkedin applications
3. In each row
   1. # of emails/applications you’ve sent 
   2. The name of the email you have sent to
   3. Status (done or not done)
   4. Response back
      1. Respond, declined, viewed application, interview
4. Make a color coordination system 
   1. Responded, declined, Passed on to HR, Viewed, accepted, interview, need to apply, and no color means no response

Below is two examples of how my internships/email spreadsheet looks like:

4. If you don’t already, make an account on Indeed, Linkedin, and a professional personal business email.

1. A professional business email can just be a regular gmail email but with your first and last name and is specifically for applying for jobs
   1. Easier and more organized so they don’t get lost in your spam emails from all the stores you’re subscribed to
   2. Plus it just looks more professional than an email with numbers in it that you made several years ago
   3. On Indeed you:
   1.  need to make a updated profile
      1. Basically like your resume but on your profile
         1. Work experience, name, summary of who you are, what you do, what job you’re looking to get or internship, also write where you live, email, 
         2. You can choose what you want employers to see that is personal information
      2. For every work experience you have to write a little summary of everything you have done with that job or internship 
   1. For Indeed:
      1. IMPORTANT: when you are applying for internships, make sure you attach and a PDF of your resume 
         1. If there’s any extra information that you want employers to see, this is good
   2. Search up the internship you want for whatever the category is that you picked 
      1. Thousands of jobs will come up and you will either be able to apply directly on indeed or on their company website

Below is my actual Indeed Resume

4a. On Linkedin

1. According to Google it is
   1. The world’s largest professional network on the internet
   2. It’s a networking site specifically in the business community
   3. On here, you are going to build up your networking portfolio and find people who are employers, employees, workers, bosses, CEOs entrepreneurs, 
      1. You can message them once they accept your connection request and start from there
   4. This is your opportunity to upload 
      1. A summary about yourself 
      2. Resume PDF
      3. Extra information 
         1. A blog link, personal website link, anything you’re working on
2. Search up internships or jobs you would like to get
   1. Apply directly through linkedin or on the company website 
      1. People will also come up who are looking for an internship in the same field which is another tip
         1. Put that you’re looking for an internship as well in your headline if you don’t already have a current job

4b. Email people in the job you want to get!

• Since you already know the industry for the job you want:
  1. Go on several websites for companies you already know of
  2. Scroll to the bottom and click contact us 
     1. Almost every website has this section
  3. In this section you will find the staff of the people that work there as well as customer service emails, etc.
     1. Personal STORY: Once I emailed someone who had been at the staff of Elle Magazine and she told me that although they were not looking for interns, the fact that I had reached out and was eager meant that I was going to have no problem in the fashion industry and if I ever needed to contact her for anything, to definitely do so! This goes to show email whoever you can!
     2.  Below is an example of what the bottom of the Elle Magazine website looks like where it says Contact Us:

• Even if you can’t find the emails, stalk them on the internet and try to find their emails too. Don’t give up so fast
  1. Even if the emails seem irrelevant always email the person bc you never know what can happen
     1. Personal STORY: Once I emailed a Marc Jacobs Customer Service email and called the number and she said she would be able to forward my resume either to their HR or email me back if they ever were looking for interns and wrote my email down!
• Set up your pitch in the email
  1. Your name, little bit about yourself, resume attachment, and to send your resume to HR or a higher management 
     1. MAKE EVERYTHING SHORT AND SWEET AND TO THE POINT

5. After you’ve sent applications and emails, make sure you are keeping track of everything in that spreadsheet

1. After a couple weeks/months after you send emails and you don’t get responses send follow up emails so that you come up again in their inbox. Keep it short and sweet asking if they received an email you sent previous however long it was (weeks or months ago).
2. Sign up for email job alerts for the job position that you want. This will mean that not only you don’t need to constantly search for jobs in the actual app, but you can get them directly to your email and even apply right through there!

Below is an example of the email job alerts that I get:

6. Do a side job/hustle that makes you stand out from other people. This is not only going to make you stand out, but it shows that you are so passionate about something you really do put extra time on the side from your life to dedicate to doing this. For example, although I am a student in high school at the moment and do have work and studying to do, I always make sure that I have extra time on the side to post on my blog and on my social media platforms to always keep followers and my content up to date.

1. When going into an interview, you want to get it so do something that will make you unique
   1. Examples: blogs, personal websites, youtube channels, eCommerce stores, write books, etc.

7. Preparing for the phone interview

1. Make a notes on your phone for easy access to information
   1. You will have less trouble on the phone interview 
      1. This is what the section in my phone looks like:

1. Do your research about the company beforehand 
   1. If they ask you a question about what makes you want to work there, you will know
2. Have answers for sample questions they might ask. If you want to find some more in-depth ones that companies and employers usually ask, check out:
   1. Forbes, Job Websites, Youtube videos etc.
3. Have questions at the end to ask
   1. Examples:
      1. Are there specific goals that you are hoping for interns to accomplish within a certain amount of time?
      2. How would you describe the work environment– is the work typically collaborative or independent?
      3. Can you give me some examples of projects or assignments I’d be working on?

8. Make a list of other internships you want or companies you want to work for 

1. Start your goals of where you are planning to go as the next step. Don’t ever settle.
2. When you work for one internship, think another step ahead about the one you want to do after this
   1. Start applying for it, if they are available about a week and half or less before your current internship is over
   2. If you can handle two, then do two 
   3. Make a list of the dream companies you want to work with and just go for it or look into more information to see what you can do
3. If there is another kind of industry you’d like to apply for next, then look into that and do that research 
   1. Example: I want to do the fashion industry but I did an internship about SEO for my personal knowledge and gain for my blog 

Thank you so much for reading! Feel free to leave to leave requests in the comments or on any of our social media. Use our #glamourandguide to tag us in your posts. New posts on our blog daily!

If you used any of these or they worked for you, let us know!