Caroline is studying Product Design at Malmö University and has been doing her internship at the Malmö office during the fall. She shares what she has worked on, how the application process went, and offers tips to other students who are interested in applying for an internship at Avalon.
Hi Caroline! Tell us a little bit about yourself and your education.
Hi, my name is Caroline. I study Product Design at Malmö University, which is a three-year bachelor’s program. I live in Malmö with my partner Pontus.
What have you been working on during your internship?
I have been working on developing SITO (Sustainable Innovation Tool), an internal tool for measuring sustainability in products, primarily in physical products. I created content and questions that are measurable to create measurable sustainability values. I have also worked with graphic design and UX design. That was the largest project I have worked on during my internship.
How did the application process go when you applied for an internship with us, and how did you experience the process?
I emailed Helene my CV, portfolio, and a cover letter. I know someone who works at Helsingborg City who knows Helene. She was the one who facilitated the contact between us. Then we had an online interview, a video interview, where we talked a bit about my education, what Avalon does, what products they work with, and what products they make. Then I went to the office in Helsingborg, met Helene, and met people at the office there. Yes, and then I got the internship.
What do you think has been the most rewarding part of your internship so far?
I think it’s been very rewarding to take responsibility for things that actually matter to the work and are real work. I have grown a lot by taking real responsibility and working on projects. I have also gotten to see how the business operates, what it’s like to work as a
designer in real life, and how it differs from studying and doing projects at university. It can differ quite a bit because at university you work with people in your class, where everyone has the same education and the same background in what we’ve learned. But when you go to a workplace, there are many different professional roles working together, and everyone has different backgrounds. You learn a lot from that.
How have you experienced the company culture and support from your colleagues and supervisors?
I think it’s very nice. It feels like a lot is invested in having joint coffee breaks, joint activities, and similar things outside of the actual work. That’s the kind of thing that builds a good atmosphere in a workplace! It’s also been fun to have been in both Malmö and Helsingborg and get to know people at both locations.
How do you think the experiences here will help you in your future career?
I’ve gained insight into what it’s like to work at a company that is more engineering-oriented, with mechanics and such. That’s one experience. Then, having worked with the SITO project, with sustainability issues and how to design sustainably. That’s what I will take with me, I think, into my future career.
Finally, what advice would you give to other students who are considering applying for an internship?
Just apply and don’t be too self-critical. You can easily get stuck, or I got stuck for a long time when I was making my portfolio. I changed things down to the smallest detail for so long and never finished. At some point, you have to say, “This is good enough” and just send it out. And send as many emails as possible. I think I sent out 50 emails to different companies. You will also get many no’s, which doesn’t sound very inspiring. But don’t be afraid to send emails; they might say no, or they might say yes. That was my tip.
Would you like to do your internship with us? Contact us!