Come practice these four skills at our UX Research Internship

The application window for this internship opening has closed. The piece is kept here, in its original form with a few clarifications in italics, for reference and perhaps inspiration. We are grateful to everyone who applied, and wish everyone the best of luck in your endeavors!

Last year, I had the honor of supervising our first UX Research Intern in NPR’s Design department in Digital Media. Eleni Andris was a gracious participant in our exploration of how an apprentice-style internship fit amid our division’s agile work on NPR’s software for the web, mobile devices, wearables, cars, and more.

This winter, we’re continuing the exploration with another UX Research Internship. Here are the logistical details:

If you …

• Can work full-time from a quiet place with internet access in the United States,
• From Jan. 11 through Apr. 16, 2021,
• Are a current student or have graduated in the last year, and
• Enjoy understanding how people behave and how NPR can support their lives…

Applications are now closed. We asked that candidates… please apply with your resume, cover letter, and a story about a hunch (more on that below) by Monday, November 2, 2020 at 5 PM ET. This position is part of the NPR internship program, which is coordinated across the organization and pays $15/hour in most states.

Although no two internships can be exactly the same, we hope to pursue the same themes in work as Eleni and I followed. To that end, please enjoy the reflections we share below about the Fall 2019 internship. If a generalized description of these same themes would be useful to you, check out last year’s blog post — the one that drew Eleni herself to apply to work with us.

What we did (and what you might do)

We want our internships to be a safe space for folks to learn and practice the skills needed to plan, conduct, and share research in their future work as a researcher or designer.

Just as last year, this year’s UX research intern will work with Design team and Product colleagues on the studies for NPR software products. You’ll also be part of a currently-remote organization with so very many people who love talking with young folks exploring career possibilities.

Conduct studies

We found a great series of projects to allow our intern to do as much of the study prep, facilitation, and analysis as possible. Eleni said she “loved the mix of methods I got to practice. I still enjoy telling people about how I not only practiced usability testing and interviews, but I also got to do contextual inquiry.” For each project, we worked together to pick the right combination of methods, and I was so delighted we got to work in this underutilized method that lets us learn about what a person is already doing with their software.

Eleni also valued contributing to both internal and external projects. At NPR, the Digital Media division is responsible for digital products for our audience members who read and listen to our content, but also for some of the software that supports our colleagues at NPR and throughout the public media system. Conducting research with colleagues has all the same methodological concerns as audience research, with the added pressure that you are likely to encounter these folks again in a work environment. Experiencing both was an unanticipated and valuable addition to the internship.

Document concepts

Without documentation, research findings are lost to time. Eleni got to try out a variety of styles, from formal slide decks presented to a couple dozen colleagues to informal documents shared via a one-on-one conversation. She even created a service design blueprint, a format that had recently captured our team’s attention and reminded me of the customer journey maps that were popular a few years ago. Each of these documentation styles provided the opportunity to figure out what was important and how to convey it so that our colleagues might make decisions based on the research findings.

Practice presenting

Eleni warned me that the opportunity to practice public speaking might scare people away; indeed, it was the part of the internship that she was the most hesitant about. When we talked about it in the phone interview, I told her that I would aim for the early presentations to be in low-key environments, and that we would work up to more formal presentations. More time presenting might have sounded more intimidating, but when we reflected together, she told me that all those presentations helped her “realize that presenting well was about practice.” Her final presentation showed just how much the practice paid off. I could easily see the attentive and smiling faces of my colleagues from my seat at the back of the room, and folks had lots of compliments and questions at the end.

Work remotely

Although remote work is still a new experience for many companies, everyone in our division has worked on at least one project with a remote colleague before 2020. Since I work from St. Louis and the internship was hosted in DC, Eleni had plenty of opportunities to navigate the pros and cons of collaboration through video calls, Slack, email, Google Docs, and shared digital drawing tools. I was so honored for her to later say that I felt just as accessible as I would have if I had been sitting next to her.

How to apply

Beyond the usual cover letter and resume, we’re asking folks to share a story with us about a time when you investigated a hunch. Our intention is not to require extra work, but instead to provide you an opportunity to show us how your perspective on the world will apply to UX research. A preexisting document or one you make just for this application can work just as well; choose what you think best represents your skills.

Thank you for your interest!

The application window for this internship opening has closed. We are grateful to everyone who applied, and wish everyone the best of luck!

We hope the above gives an idea of what it might be like for you to intern at NPR’s design department. Your internship projects will follow the same cadence of your colleagues, and we hope they will provide as valuable an experience as Eleni’s.

We will be so excited if you decide to give us the opportunity to work with you. Applications are now closed. We asked that candidates… Be sure to get that application (hunch and all) in by Monday, November 2, 2020 at 5 PM ET, so that we may consider it.

If you identify with the values embodied an apprentice-style internship, you might enjoy reading my newsletter, Finding Out, for people who do and use UX research. Here’s an issue about sharing qualitative findings in the way that suits them best. Come check it out!