Interior Design

College of Fine Arts

Explore

FSU students have designed a variety of blueprints to design their careers when engaging in the Interior Design major. There are some commonalities with career design blueprints, which are the foundation building blocks of Self-Knowledge and Options Knowledge. Whether you are just beginning to design your career or updating your design, the information, tools, and materials below will provide you with a solid foundation to design your career.

Self-Knowledge

To help you explore, here are interests, values, and skills commonly associated with common career fields related to Interior Design. This list is not exhaustive yet gives you a starting point for your Career Design.

Interests

Artistic

Enterprising

Social

Values

Achievement

Independence

Relationships

Key Transferrable Skills

Active Listening

Critical Thinking

Reading Comprehension

Public Speaking

Service Orientation

Key Technical Skills

CAD Software

Graphics/Photo Imaging

MS Powerpoint

Video Creating/Editing

Purchasing

Furnishing

Space Planning

Learn More about You

The Career Center provides assessments that can help you explore and identify your interests, values, and skills. Utilize the Computer Assisted Career Guidance Systems and virtual values activity to see how your interest, values, and skills match those that are closely correlated with this major and compare occupation options that develop from your assessment results to those found in this blueprint.

Focus2Career  My Next Move  SIGI3  Virtual Values Card Sort

Options Knowledge

Exploring occupations is an important step in your career design. Finding occupation options that match your interest, values, and skills create a solid foundation for your career design. Additional information that will help you design your career is job titles, typical work duties, training and education required, industry growth and projected growth, and salary data based on geographical areas.

General Information and Resources

Access valid and reliable occupation information through the resources below and compare the occupations you explore to your self-knowledge.

The Occupational Outlook Handbook
O*Net
CareerOneStop

Sample Occupations

 Commercial Designer in an Interior Design firm or Architectural firm; Residential Designer; Owner of Design firm; Lighting Designer, Product or Furniture Designer; Retail Showroom Designer, Retail Visual Merchandiser; Design Project Manager; Product Expediter; Estimator; Sales Representative ; Facilities Planner; Aging in Place Specialist; Design Marketing Specialist; Building Model Builder; Project Renderer; Universal Design Specialist; LEED(Sustainable) Design Specialist; Exhibit Designer; Codes Consultant; Installation Supervisor; Feasibility Study Designer; Specification Writer; Office Furnishings Designer, Technical Illustrator, Project Coordinator, Creative Director, Design Associate, Design Assistant, Senior Designer, Junior Designer, Construction Administrator, Purchasing Agent

Salary Range Based on Sample Occupations

Introductory Range: $24,490- $46,890

Mid-Career Range: $48,550- $77,440

Experienced Range: $82,530-$149,590

Additional salary information:
FSU Graduating Senior Survey Dashboard
Board of Governors Dashboard

Explore the FSU Community to Find Opportunities that Match You

Candid Career

To see your major's tailored CandidCareer playlist click here 

Explore the FSU Community to Find Opportunities that Match You

Connect with The Career Center

Drop-in to Career Advising with the Career Center and meet with a Career Advisor to explore and build your Individual Action Plan.

Drop-in Career Advising Options

Connect with your Career Liaison who specializes in supporting students in this major and related industries.

Meet Your Liaison

Research Graduate and Professional School Options

Depending on your long-term goals, graduate school might be part of your career design. Utilize these resources using the keyword "Interior Design" to research your options.

Career Cornerstone    Petersons    US News & World Report    Grad Schools.com    Study.com

Career, Internship and Graduate School Fairs

Each year the Career Center hosts career, internship and graduate school fairs to help students connect with employers. These events and more can be found in NoleNetwork, the centralized job board and connection to career events and opportunities at FSU.

Engage

Engage with the people and opportunities to learn more about yourself and career options. Career Advisors, Career Liaisons, Alumni, ProfessioNole Mentors, employers and other people you meet through involvement on and off campus will help you refine your career design.

After finding a Registered Student Organization to engage with, engage with Career Center and FSU Campus events and Programs to help you connect and build your network while also developing ProfessioNole Competencies.

Career Center Events and Programs

 

Connect with professionals and FSU Alumni who are in careers that you want to learn more about or tryout a career to see how it matches your interest, values, and skills.

FSU Events and Programs

Division of Student Affairs Programs

At FSU there is a program for everyone. Engage with one of the many programs that will help you develop, academically, personally, socially, and help you design your career.

Division of Student Affairs Program Connection

Student Government Association

Build Your Skills and Earn Badges

Earn badges and develop your ProfessioNole Competencies. From Financial Success options to learning how to build an App, there is a badging pathway for you. Pathways allow you to enhance your skills while working autonomously and alongside your peers, industry experts, and other ProfessioNoles. While you are earning badges, be sure to engage in ProfessioNole Ready so you are prepared to seek new experiences that will help you in your career design.

ProfessoNole Ready
ProfessoNole Pathways

Prepare to Connect

As you design your career, the Career Center can help you prepare to connect with employers and graduate and professional school programs through services, programs, and events.

Build Your Network

FSU is here to help you build your network. However, you can also get engaged with opportunities and groups outside of the FSU community by getting involved with professional associations and engaging in or following groups on LinkedIn.

Engage in LinkedIn Groups

To search for LinkedIn Groups you can use the names of the associations above in the LinkedIn search box and set your filter to groups or companies. You can then generate a list of LinkedIn Groups to explore and join or connect. Additionally, try some of the following keywords:

Interior Design  Interior Architecture    Design      Architectural Design   Architecture      Interiors   Art    Furniture   Room Design   Remodeling  Graphic Design  

Experience

Experiences like internships, leadership, research, creative works and global engagement, also known as experiential learning or formative experience, are a key part of determining your interests, values, and skills and developing competencies for career success. Experiential learning provides the opportunity to apply the knowledge you have gained in the classroom to a real-world experience while enhancing your transferrable and industry specific skills. By engaging in these types of experiences, you can “try on” the various work environments within your aspirational career field.

Experience Essentials

Many FSU Students engage in experiences throughout the year, however it is important to know when application deadlines occur and that majority of employers recruit heavily in the Fall semester to hire interns for the upcoming summer. Below are some samples of possible experiences related to this major.

Find Experiences

FSU provides or connects students with experiences every day. For internships, the Career Center's NoleNetwork connects students to internship opportunities on campus, across the country, and even globally. The Career Center's "Gain Experience" webpage also connects you with opportunities and other FSU departments. Other departments and programs on campus can also help connect with an experience that matches your career design.

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Experiences Through FSU

InternFSU
Center for Undergraduate Research and Academic Engagement
The Center for Global Engagement
FSU International Programs
Innovation Hub
The Center for Leadership and Social Change

 

Sample Employers

Ashley Furniture

Corgan

Conn Architects

DNC Architects, Inc.

Gensler

Gresham Smith

HKS Inc.

HOK

Micamy

Turners Furniture

 

Sample Work Settings

Department Stores

Furniture Companies

Historic Preservation Agencies

Hospitals

Interior Design or Architecture Firms/Studios

Hotel Chains

Museums

Realtor Companies

Restaurants

Television & Film Studios

Earn Recognition for Your Experience

Get recognized for your experiences. Whether it is one experience or a combination of various types of experiences that you engage in and complete during your time at FSU, there is a recognition program for you. Checkout the Experience Recognition Program options through the FSU Career Center and the Garnet and Gold Scholar Society, which is the highest experience recognition and honor offered at FSU.

Engage 100 - Shape your success

Engage 100 - Shape your success

Construct Your Blueprint

Now that you have the tools and basic concepts to being building your career. Start designing your custom blueprint.

Individual Learning Plan

As you design your career and build your blueprint create overarching goals with smaller smart goals that create the building blocks of your blueprint. Revisit and revise your plan as you meet your goals. If you get stuck, visit the FSU Career Center.