UX research internships: Starting strong
How to set yourself up to thrive and learn in UX internships
Starting your first UX research internship can be exciting but also daunting. Internships are fantastic growth opportunities for young professionals, but many interns feel overwhelmed by the new environment and unsure how to get started on the right foot.
In this article, we’ll review practical advice and provide resources for UXRs starting an internship. We’ll cover five topics essential to navigating the early internship experience, including your mindset, forming strong relationships, taking notes, communication skills, and the art of taking feedback gracefully.
Mindset
The mindset that you adopt plays a huge role in how much you gain from your internship experience.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve spoken with a few colleagues to ask what makes a truly successful intern. Interestingly, their responses consistently focused on mindsets over outputs or deliverables. Three key attributes surfaced repeatedly: successful interns are learners who are proactive and take ownership of their work.
Let’s break that down:
Learners - Be committed to learning new things. The managers I spoke to mentioned most successful interns approach their job with a craving to learn as much as possible. They aren’t satisfied with just completing tasks; they strive to become more knowledgeable and better at their craft.
Proactive - Don't wait for someone to tell you what to do — look for opportunities to contribute. Interns bring fresh perspectives and ideas to their teams; successful interns leverage this by actively seeking ways to improve processes or add value to team goals. Rather than waiting for specific tasks to be assigned and completing them as instructed, look out for opportunities where you can contribute your ideas.
Take ownership - Take ownership of your projects and tasks. Once you’re assigned to a project, embrace being responsible for as much of it from start to finish as you can. Owning projects from start to finish allows an intern to practice diverse skills, try (and fail) new things, and build more robust projects for their portfolio.
By starting your internship with this mindset, you can maximize your growth and set yourself up for a rewarding career in UX research. Remember, it’s not just about what you do, but how you approach your internship that makes all the difference.
Relationships
Building strong working relationships is important when starting any new role. Early in your internship, take the initiative to schedule meetings with three key groups: your manager, your team & broader organization, and fellow interns.
Focusing on these three groups will help you establish a strong network and integrate smoothly into your new team. Aim to connect with as many of these individuals as possible within your first week to set a positive foundation for your internship.
Your manager
Most often, your manager will be the primary guide of your internship experience. Aim to set clear and achievable goals with your manager within your first 1-2 weeks. Discuss the projects and objectives you will work on, what you hope to accomplish by the end of the summer, and the skills you might develop along the way.
Here are some questions you might ask to help facilitate your initial discussions:
Can you provide a high-level overview of the project(s) I’ll be contributing to?
Do you have a perspective on my role in the project? Are there any specific areas that you foresee me contributing to most?
What would a realistic outcome be for this project? What might we accomplish in X weeks?
Are there any training resources you recommend I use to learn more?
Are there any tools or software I should make sure I have access to?
What is your preferred communication style? How often would you like progress updates?
What is the best way to get feedback from you?
Who are some members of the team that I should meet with 1:1?
Focus on finding quick wins; remember that most internships are only 8-12 weeks long.
Your team & Broader organization
You’re going to be surrounded by tons of experienced professionals; don’t hesitate to reach out and request an informational interview. Make an effort to get 1:1 meetings with them to learn more about their roles and how they contribute to the company.
Here is my tip: Get started by asking your manager for 3-to-5 people you should meet with. From there, ask each of those people “Who is somebody that I should talk to? Would you mind introducing us?” This snowball method of setting 1:1 meetings has two main benefits; first, it facilitates a warm introduction so you don’t have to awkwardly approach anyone, and second, it achieves a network effect where you’ll meet people from all over your organization.
Through this type of networking, you’ll gain a perspective on how your broader organization works and quickly learn about other roles that contribute to product development.
Other interns
Finally, if you’re fortunate to be in a company that brings on a large intern class, be sure you network horizontally. Having a cohort of fellow interns, all sharing similar experiences and challenges, can accelerate your growth as you support each other throughout the summer.
In companies with large intern classes, there are usually orientations, activities, meals, and socials in the first several weeks; attend as many as possible. Then, meet in groups regularly throughout the summer to share notes and learnings.
If you’re lucky, you might also find some fellow interns become friends long after summer ends.
Notes
Your internship will expose you to a vast amount of information — about UX research, your team, other departments, the company, projects, products, and more. If you’re new to the corporate world, you’ll also encounter unfamiliar cultural norms, jargon, and acronyms. A well-structured note-taking system will help you drink from this information firehose.
The right note-taking system will help you to document and organize these various types of information into a manageable, easy-to-reference format. For example, I enjoy this method, described by Amy Hupe: using a single, rolling notes document, organized by headings. She suggests you use these headings to categorize notes:
Questions - A place to list any questions you have about your work or the company.
Observations - Record anything important you notice, like team norms, priorities, communication preferences, etc.
Opportunities - Note down any ideas on how you can contribute to projects, and/or areas for personal development.
Glossary - Create a glossary of all the terms, acronyms, and product names that you learn on the job. Bonus: Sharing this glossary will usually make you very popular with your fellow interns.
People to meet - Keep a list of people you connect with, as well as their role, team, notes from your 1:1s, and any other important info about them.
Meeting notes - Record detailed notes from meetings you attend.
Hupe’s schema is a great starting point; consider revising it or creating one that works better for you. The key is to develop a method that helps you document learnings, makes information quick to reference when needed, and facilitates later reflection after your internship ends.
Communication
For many, an internship is the first time that they work cross-functionally. Unfortunately, not everyone fully understands what UX research entails or why it's important. This presents a great opportunity for interns to practice a crucial skill: effectively communicating the importance & methods of UX research with non-UXRs.
Here is a list of articles you can use as a study guide to prepare to communicate with non-UXRs during your internship:
Communicating UX to Your Colleagues and Organization - Provides a nice introduction and a few tips on how to communicate with non-UX stakeholders.
UX Stakeholder Engagement 101 - A deeper dive into the topic of stakeholder engagement with specific tips & strategies.
Spontaneous Talks Frameworks - Jen Blatz’s Spontaneous Talks Frameworks are designed to give UX researchers tools to quickly organize their thinking for on-the-spot answers and discussions.
How to make better UX research reports - Gives you three frameworks you can use to optimize written and visual communication of research findings.
Given the breadth (and importance) of this topic, it’s important to recognize that mastering communication skills is a career-long journey. But, reviewing these resources will give you just enough to be dangerous in your internship.
Feedback
Feedback from your colleagues will be one of the most powerful avenues for growth during your UX research internship. However, mastering how to seek and receive feedback is an art form in itself. Prepare for your internship by brushing up on best practices for both aspects.
First, it’s important to actively seek feedback; share your work early and often to help get projects unstuck and accelerate your learning curve. To maximize the value of feedback, be specific about what you need from the reviewer. Before sharing your work, stop and consider what type of feedback you’re looking for. Once you’ve done this, draft a message with useful context and guiding questions. This will help your reviewer better understand how they can help.
For example, you might say:
Hi Lawton,
I’m hoping to get your feedback on a draft of a usability test report for [project name]. I’m particularly interested in understanding how clear the findings and recommendations are. Could you review and let me know:
Does the report clearly communicate the key findings we gathered?
Is the overall structure and flow of the report easy to follow?
Are there any sections that seem cluttered or confusing?
-Thomas
When receiving feedback, I find this process explained by David Burkus produces great results. In short, the main steps are to:
Say thanks - Always start by thanking the reviewer for their time and insightful feedback.
Restate what you heard - To confirm your understanding and avoid confusion, summarize the feedback in your own words.
Say how you’ll apply it - Conclude by mentioning what changes you’re going to make going forward.
The bottom line…
Starting a UX research internship can be both exciting and intimidating, but with the right approach, you can make the most of the opportunity, gaining experience that forms a strong foundation for your early career. Remember, your goal is to maximize your growth in the time you have available. Use these tips to get your summer off to the right start.
Have a great summer.
Drill deeper
Depth is produced by Drill Bit Labs, a consulting firm on a mission to advance the field of user research.
We partner with leaders in UX and digital product development to improve their team’s processes, user experiences, and business outcomes. How we help:
Research projects to inform confident design decisions and optimize digital experiences.
Training courses that teach team members advanced user research skills.
Advisory services to improve UX team processes & strategy; particularly around UX maturity, research process efficiency, structuring your people, hiring & interviewing, measuring UX, and demonstrating the business outcomes & ROI of UX initiatives.
We’d be happy to open a conversation to discuss your specific needs & goals for this year. These paid services help support our free articles and industry reports.
Extra: The Samelogic Podcast
I recently had the pleasure of speaking with Dwayne Samuels on The Samelogic Podcast. If you enjoy podcasts, tune in for a wide-ranging conversation about UX research.
Some topics we covered:
Influences of human factors and psychology in UX research.
Adapting research methods to different industries.
Assessing UX maturity.
ROI calculations, storytelling, and live observation as methods to achieve stakeholder buy-in.
How to get started & how to advance a career in UXR
