How to turn your fashion internship into a full-time job

The best, easiest and quickest way to get a job in fashion when you are just out of school or when you have no or little experience, is interning.
Internships are worth more than attending prestigious fashion schools. Every fashion company needs interns which positively means that internships are much more frequent than full-time job offers. The demand for interns is quite frequent and increases during the summer, especially in the US where companies offer summer internships and during the fashion weeks when companies need extra hel. Every internship experience is valuable because it not only allows you to add experience on your resume, but because it allows you to enter the industry, get to know people and get your next job opportunity. Some fashion companies during the job interview, tend to tell candidates for an internship that at the end of these months there will be no career opportunities. Do not be discouraged by these words, first because you can not know if, in a few months, someone from the company will leave and a new opportunity will be available, and second, because some recruiters tell you this to test you and see what you answer.
I was told this during my interview for my first internship in fashion, but a month before my internship ended, they told me I would continue working with them. Some fashion companies cannot hire more people because of budget and organizational reason, but in most cases the reason why an internship doesn’t turn into a full-time job is because the intern doesn’t go above and beyond or doesn’t show passion and determination, so the company prefers to hire another intern that costs less, rather than investing in a person if it has not proved to be good for that job. If you prove to be really valid, hard worker and passionate, the company will create a job for you even if it does not exist in order not to let you go. During my first job interview with a fashion company, the recruiter told me the internship would have lasted only 6 months and that there would have not been any opportunity in the end. I didn’t get myself discouraged by these words and I said I were anyway interested in the position. I was positive and convinced that if I worked hard they would have offered me something and this is what happened: they extended my internship period until they offered me a full-time job. I even got a job offer from another company who I worked with during my internship. This is to explain that if you work hard, other people outside of your company may notice you and offer you an opportunity and even your comapny will try to find you a place . When a recruiter tells you there won’t be any job opportunity after your internship, accept the job anyway if you really like it and you like the company because you’ll never know what could happen in 3-6 months: maybe someone leaves the company and you can replace that person or if they like you a lot, they will try everything to make you stay.

Your internship is your occasion to build your reputation within the industry. The fashion industry might seems very big but in the end everyone knows each other, maybe one of your colleagues will work for another company in the future and they need to remind you as an hard worker and professional in order to consider you for future job opportunities.

So here’s what to do, when and how to turn your fashion internship into a full-time job.

1. Go above and beyond
Do not simply do what you are asked. Go above and beyond. Amaze your boss by taking the initiative and anticipating him/her on the next steps. Be proactive and do not wait for your boss to always tell you what to do. After one or two months in the company, you’ve understood what your role is and what your duties are. Do not wait for your boss to tell you every morning what to do. Create your own agenda and do everything before they ask you. If you have finished your activities for the day, ask your boss if you can help her with something else and if she does not have work for you, amaze her by creating a report or studying programs doing an in-depth analysis to understand if there can be something to be improved. Alternatively, offer to help someone else in the company.

2.When and how to act
It takes some time to turn your fashion internship into a full-time job. It is not something that happens after the first two months and in general, the company, before hiring you full-time, will try in every way to renew your intern contract. On average, it takes about a year of internship to start talking about a full-time job. When your second internship contract is about to expire, it’s time to act. About a month and a half before your contract expires, go to your boss and the HR team to talk about your future. Even better, if during your internship you wrote down all the things you did, the goals and results achieved that have contributed to the company. When you schedule a meeting with your boss to talk about your promotion, bring this report and how your work has been useful to the company and how you like to continue working there. If you intern while you are still studying, wait to complete your studies before asking for a full-time job so that you can always be present at work and not get absent for college duties.

3. Be independent
Managers know interns need someone who supports them. After the first months of your internship, when you’ve understood your job, try to be independent. Managers prefer to have around interns who know how to do their job after they trained you the first month. It’s annoying if someone always asks how to do something they have already explained to you more than once. So make sure you take notes of everything they will tell you from day 1. If you can’t do something, try figuring it out by searching for it on Google, or ask some of your colleagues to teach you.There is always a solution to everything and you are the person who will manage to come to terms with it.

4. Keep an eye on other departments
While you are interning in a company, build relationships with as many people as possible. So not just with those you work closely every day, but also people from other departments. In particular, keep an eye on those departments that interest you and with whom you work more often. If you are in the PR department, you could frequently work with the Digital team. When it’s time to ask for your promotion, you could also ask for a position in another department if they don’t have any job opportunities in your current one. If you’re able to say you’ve worked with that department during your internship, then your chances of getting the job can increase considerably.

The main secret to turn your fashion internship into a full-time job is to work hard and be passionate every day. Come early in the morning and don’t leave before your boss. Do even the tasks that are less pleasant, be positive and you will see that hard work, passion and determination will take you anywhere in life. And if your first fashion internship doesn’t turn into a full-time job, don’t get discouraged, keep believing in yourself and work harder. Start a new internship in another company and it will definitely get better!