How to transition from an internship to a full-time product design role?

Hey Whitney! I've also been in a situation where I interned at a company I was excited to join and they just weren't hiring at the time 🧡

While you're still at the company you're interning at, I suggest that you take stock of any differences in role expectations between your internship and that of a full-time designer. If you identify any, could you ask the full-time person to let you shadow them, so that you can start to close that gap? If that's not feasible, you'll at least be equipped with a baseline understanding of where you may need to put in extra effort to demonstrate your readiness to be full-time.

In my opinion, a lot of "good product designer" qualities are transferrable skills — thinking critically about root causes, reframing needs and opportunities, communicating and advocating effectively. It's possible that you have done these things before, and you can proactively call them out to cover some of your bases against a hiring manager who is hesitant about hiring someone for their first full-time role.

Good luck!

Whitney, also not in product design but have hired for it before.

I'll second Kirk's point - you will get the best guidance by asking the people who hire for this role in your company to find opportunities and strategies to interview.

Any samples of work you can show will be amazing - If you have a public portfolio on dribble or a blog where you've redesigned popular products, those are always great to showcase, especially if you have companies you like in mind and can send them an email or tweet saying how you'd redesign something about their product that you're passionate about.

Beyond that, I'll echo Kirk again. If you can outline the specific part of the process you're looking for help with, I'd be happy to figure out the best path forward with you.

Whitney, not in product design but have made this transition from intern to full time in product management. I'll do my best to share some relevant tips.

Assuming you can't get a full time role in your current company my advice is to talk to the people in your company that you feel most comfortable with and ask them if they know any other companies or friends who are hiring. That will seed some opportunities and you can possibly use them to refer you.

What in particular do you need help in this transition? Do you need advice on where to look for opportunities? How to navigate the job search process? Depending on these points, I can point you in a few directions.