Agencies Launch Their Annual Search For Summer Interns

Would you rather be woken up once a year by the girl from The Ring crawling into your room or have your best friend dressed as a clown suddenly surprising you in a random place once a week? How about your client has a big piece of spinach in his/her teeth. What do you say?

Agencies are once again asking the big questions for potential interns as they seek to staff up for the summer.

Minneapolis-based mono wasting little time searching for interns through its monodash application process that is designed to take no more than five minutes. The agency wants to avoid getting those overthought and generic answers from people, says Michael Hart, founder/managing creative director, mono. "We want real, raw answers that come from the heart, and we think five minutes is all it should take to get those honest responses we're looking for."

As part of the application, potential interns spend :30-seconds on six questions including what would they do if a client has a big piece of spinach in his/her teeth, identify the emoji that best defines them, and what would be the one item they would be glad to leave at home if they were left on a desert island.

advertisement

advertisement

Submissions are due March 16. There are seven paid internship positions open in the agency's Minneapolis location, including art director, digital designer, producer, project manager, strategist, video editor and writer.
Last year mono had people apply by submitting a meme via a meme generator the agency created. In years prior people applied via a six-word story, before that it was a tweet using only 140 characters and before that, a single Instagram photo.

Fallon's intern search combines traditional with non-traditional tactics. Interns must also list ten things they love or hate about themselves and answer the burning question of whether they would rather be woken up once a year by the girl from The Ring crawling into their room or have their best friend dressed as a clown suddenly surprising them in a random place once a week.

Austin-based Proof is going old-school by asking "Wannabe Proof Interns" to “Show Us Some Proof” by sending the agency a stamped postcard telling why they should be selected for one of eight internships.

Previous Proof searches have included tweeting their best tagline or best ad to executive creative director Craig Mikes and filling out a MadLib-inspired application to post to Instagram. Each spring, the agency also attends the University of Texas Communications Career Fair to meet with hundreds of UT students looking for summer internships across all disciplines.

"With over 10 years of HR agency experience and 6 of those recruiting for Proof, I can honestly say this is one of the most inventive recruiting efforts I’ve ever been a part of," says Elaine Petralli, talent director, Proof. "It’s fun, it’s personable and it creates a connection between us and our talent."

Sid Lee is sticking with the more traditional application process by seeking interns through its website. “Chosen candidates will work on real projects, for real clients” says Annick Désy, chief talent officer, Sid Lee. “They will be asked to participate on mandates to the same extent as our full-time community and most importantly, they will have the opportunity to make a real difference in a community who all share the same values of caring, perseverance, boldness, progressiveness, and collectivism."

However, for its fifth edition, Sid Lee is opening a total of three internship periods that follow the university schedule in order to accommodate as many students as possible. With this global initiative, students are invited to apply to join Sid Lee’s offices in Montreal, Toronto, Los Angeles, and Paris.

Similar to Sid Lee, both Bernstein-Rein (BR) and Stink Studios focus more on opportunities and perks than the traditional application process. To entice potential students, Stink Studios stresses that higher-ups are "responsible for getting our own coffee" while BR notes that the Kansas City-based agency is located in the "Paris of the plains." While BR's process has already closed, Stink Studios is still accepting applications for three slots.

 

Next story loading loading..