Saturday, August 1, 2009

Celebrate the Stagiaire

Special shout to D/D who just completed his summer design internship. From a directors point of view the great thing about interns is that you rediscover the enthusiasm, passion and curiousity for design thru the lens of an intern that sometimes gets lost over years of practice. You teach, you inspire, you educate, etc. It's plenty of fun to get re-energized about design and sometimes it takes the right willing intern who wants to learn to get you there. So hat's off to all the interns the work is appreciated and almost every good leader has been in the intern spot at one point in their career to respect and appreciate how important it is to be a good example and help give interns a positive kick-start in this design world.

An intern (also known in Quebec English as stagiaire) is one who works in a temporary position with an emphasis on on-the-job training rather than merely employment, making it similar to an apprenticeship. Interns are usually college or university students, but they can also be high school students or post graduate adults seeking skills for a new career. Student internships provide opportunities for students to gain experience in their field, determine if they have an interest in a particular career, create a network of contacts, or gain school credit. Internships provide the employers with cheap or free labor for (typically) low-level tasks (stereotypically including fetching coffee for the office), and also the prospect of interns returning to the company after completing their education and requiring little or no training.

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