This survey is designed to gather information from practicing professionals at design firms, students who have completed internships and/or co-operative experiences, and students who have yet to experience professional employment. Survey items are a mix of ranked choice and open response questions covering opinions on skills and knowledge and perceptions of responsibilities and barriers to success for students, entry-level hires, and firm expectations.

Purpose of the survey/expected impact:

Data from this survey will be used in a series of articles and papers outlining what firms expect from prospective interns, co-ops, and entry level hires, alongside student fears and lessons learned about such experiences.  Responses will be used in the aggregate and with direct quotes from notable comments. Respondents choosing to self-identify program, and/or geographic information may have their responses linked with such data with the understanding that responses are the opinion of the individual and not that of a design firm or university program itself. Design firm identification will not be used directly and will instead help categorize data into similar markets, geographic regions, firms sizes, etc.

Respondents requested (e.g. all CELA members, administrators only, etc.)

All CELA members with a request to distribute this to their students and professional networks. The survey should take about 8-10 minutes for students, 10-12 minutes for recent graduates, and roughly 20 minutes for professionals with hiring power at their offices. The goal is to gather as wide and diverse a sample as possible.