Internship in the Municipality

Meet Clara Sehested Buchholdt, who secured an internship in the municipality through networking.

For many students, an internship is the first encounter with the professional world. It introduces you to real-life tasks and workplace cultures, helping you gain experience and find your place in the job market.

Campus Kolding interviewed Clara, who is pursuing a master’s in Design Management at SDU Kolding. Clara shares her internship experiences to give you insight into what an internship can look like.

If you’re interested in an internship during your studies, you can read more on the portal studerendeonline.dk. And if you’re a recent graduate, you can learn more about company internships at kolding.dk.

“I always believe that if you have the opportunity for an internship, you should take it.”

Tell us about your internship

I’m interning at Kolding Municipality, where, over a 3-month period, I work two days a week while continuing my studies. We organized the internship this way so it would fit best into my schedule.

My internship focuses on Kolding as a design city and its role in UNESCO (the UN’s organization for education, science, culture, and communication). My tasks involve gathering information from various departments, with a focus on how Kolding utilizes design. This will eventually be developed into a website.

Does it align with your studies?

Yes, it’s a very good match between my studies and the tasks. My program involves design, management, and the implementation of design in all kinds of projects. It’s about a different approach to project management, which is the type of information I’m collecting from the departments.

I use a lot of my academic background and methods, and it’s exciting to see them applied in real life.

How did you find your internship?

I started by sending a motivated application to one of Kolding Municipality’s partners. Unfortunately, they didn’t have any internship openings, but they forwarded my application to their network, after which Mikael Sorknæs from Campus Kolding reached out to me.

Mikael and I had a conversation about his UNESCO project, and the scope of the task fit well with my studies and the amount of time I had.

Mikael hadn’t actually realized he needed an intern until the right one happened to land on his desk.

Can you see yourself working on something similar in the future?

I think it’s super relevant and exciting to gain insight into how the municipality operates across different departments. It’s especially interesting to see how the design approach is used in so many different ways. This is definitely something I’d like to work with in the future, whether in the public sector or a company.

My tasks were mainly exploratory, so in the future, it would probably be a parallel task while I worked more in-depth with individual cases. But this experience has given me insight into the types of cases I’m likely to work on in the future.

Do you have any advice for others considering an internship?

I would definitely encourage others to just send in applications, even if you’re not sure it will work out. Personally, I sent multiple applications that didn’t pan out, but I happened to find a good match with the municipality, who didn’t initially know they needed an intern.

My internship was shorter than some others, but many companies also appreciate shorter internships. So, you should just send the application.

And I always think that if you have the opportunity to do an internship, you should take it. It provides a great insight into the work you’ll be doing after graduation, and it also shows you what your day-to-day will look like—which is very different from studying.

“ Just send in applications, even if you’re not sure it will work out.”