Dips and Swirls of WashSem

The Heart of the Country

2009-04-26T22:04:00.000-07:00

For the past semester I have been at the heart of the country; the numerous internships, embassies aligning the streets, and monuments that capture our countries most important moments. Often hidden by the rain and snow, the spring time has allowed me to go to the National Mall, Jefferson Memorial, the White House and many other important places. My favorite part about the program has been the diversity of people that have come together in the Program. Because we get to choose our areas of study, which is what we are surrounded by 24/7, we are also surrounded by people with the same interests. Our downtime consists of debates, homework help, and excursions related to our programs. It is not only inspiring but such a learning experience outside of the classroom. If I had to describe the program in one sentence I would say: The Washington Semester Program is a living classroom.

Globalizing...(4.22.09)

2009-04-22T14:31:00.000-07:00

The Peace and Conflict Resolution students go to Cyprus, Greece, and Turkey for three weeks. The trip was truly amazing. There may not be violence in Cyprus but I was definitely in a conflict area. It felt broken and ripped in two. The U.N. buffer zone was tense and semi-deserted. To be realistic, there is no solution for this Cyprus problem. After a 45-year conflict sometimes stalemate is as good as it gets. It was incredible to actually see how
hate makes hate and how kids are poisoned to hate other people from such a young age.

Reflections (4.20.09)

2009-04-20T15:53:00.001-07:00

Apart from being enjoyable, beneficial, and a personal growth experience, my internship this past semester has been more of a wake-up call than anything else. The wake-up call is that interns are the bottom, any internship is what you make it and finally, that getting a job out of college is going to be a painful process.
Another key thing I have learned is that there is no perfect formula to handling interviews and succeeding in an internship. After my experience and hearing from many of my colleagues, I find that the bottom line is personal connection. It is all about how your personality connects with your employers. After my interview for the Women and Politics Institute went badly, I made a conscious decision to pursue my possible employer to let her know I really wanted the internship (possibly to compensate for how badly the interview went). This tactic worked because she found I was persistent and a person who does not quit. However, that could have been misconstrued as a negative quality to another person. It is important to read into your possible employers.
Any Internship is inevitably a growing experience and something that should be handled with 110% effort. Networking is crucial, and in hindsight there are always things I could have improved, but knowing I did my best will get me a recommendation letter and a step in somewhere else in the future.

Question? (02.25.09)

2009-03-08T21:30:00.000-07:00

There was one question specifically that I wanted to take a paragraph to answer on the prompt sheet.

17. What type of problems, if any, has the student encountered, and what problem solving techniques have been useful for the student?

It is not a problem so much as a frustration. As I mentioned in an earlier entry, the office has no real system in place. This is most apparent when interns come rolling into the office in the morning and no one knows what they are supposed to be doing. So a line forms outside of the boss’ door and she has to deal with each person individually, with time wasted that the others could have been working away on something else. This system is inefficient to say the least. I was at a loss for a week as to how to approach my boss about this. Taking into consideration the way in which the office is run and the fact that my boss is juggling a large amount of tasks, I decided to take it into my own hands.

I established a system for the office. There is a white board hanging outside of the office with tasks for each intern and a binder with a list of everyday things (checking phone messages, checking emails, updating webpage, etc…) that any intern who is available needs to complete. As basic as it sounds, this system has dramatically improved the efficiency of the interns and the weight off my boss’ shoulders.

“I love Interns!” (02.10.09)

2009-03-03T23:13:00.000-08:00

Interview with my Boss

“People who help you are much more invested in you”, said my Boss. She is pro-intern and exemplifies the perfect mixture of a constructive critic and support system. As I have gotten to know her I found an opening to get a more personal scoop on the inner-workings of intern faux paux and brownie points. When asked what she looks for during an intern’s interview she preceded to tell me a story of how she did not hire one girl (for a paid internship) on the grounds that her skirt was too short and she was not wearing panty-hoes. An intern’s presentation reflects not only on her, but on the Institution that she is being hired for, she claims. It is important to be neat, put-together, and radiate professionalism. Her second and third points of an interview go hand-in-hand as the potential intern should demonstrate a basic knowledge about the institution, while portraying enthusiasm and interest. An interest point of the interview, she said, “is when the student has had no previous work in [this area] and why they are interested now”.

If you’ve had a bad interview though, she expresses a saving grace, which is persistence! After hiring, her three key qualities she hopes for in a model-intern are: 1) initiative, 2) going the extra mile, and 3) organized. Initiative is an intern seeing something that could be more efficient and taking care of it, while “going the extra mile” refers to attending outside events and showing a legitimate interest in the work of the institute.

My favorite part of the interview, she went into the “faux paux’s” of interns! “PHONE ETIQUETTE!...answering the phone in a whisper, mumbling, not saying your name”, she went on to say that it is important to speak confidently and go out of your way to help the caller. There is a basic tagline to pick up the phone and interns need to learn it. Next was lateness, a basic among many bosses I am sure, but the general consensus is that it shows a major lack of respect. Lastly was an extension of the interview, which is when an intern looks “sloppy”. There is never an excuse for that and “you never know who is going to walk into the office!”.

Well there it is…the secrets to intern-success and I got it from a dependable source: the boss!

WATCH THESE BEFORE YOU INTERN :)

2009-03-01T09:02:00.001-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tpq4GFb80Gk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vnGLgMDj6iw

They are short.

The Beginning (01.28.09)

2009-03-01T08:53:00.000-08:00

I started work on Monday and Tuesday. HECTIC! No major problems per se, just a crazy office with no real system in place. But the office has run thus far so I can only assume there is some functionality to the madness.

Everyone in the office is so nice and passionate about what they do (and they are all women). The introduction into the office was brief so-to-speak; with so much going on, not enough people to cover everything, and an unfortunate lack of organization, it is fast-paced…I loved it. The transition into the office was equally fast-paced as I picked up the daily doings at my desk and jumped into projects and events. My boss is extremely helpful and supportive. The office itself is a bit of a contradiction as it is on steroids the majority of the time, but also laid back and a somewhat relaxing environment. It is my favorite way to work to be honest.

The women are incredibly smart and driven to implement their beliefs and women’s equality into society. It is a movement, so-to-speak, that I am excited to be a part of. The networking exposure that I will receive will be beneficial as well.

I am just happy I have a job that I like. Not many of my friends were that lucky…

The Hunt (1.26.09)

2009-02-23T16:00:00.000-08:00

The way in which I arrived at my final list was simple. I pictured myself doing the requested duties in each of the organizations and asked myself if it was challenging, it if was good exposure, if it interested me…I know that as an intern I will be the lowest of the low (unpaid I might add), so administrative duties are inevitable. However, I think that after you participate in an interview you can get a good sense of the type of work your supervisor will potentially give you.

One consistent question I asked throughout all of my interviews was:

“Will this be an independent position where you throw me projects and I run with them, or will we be working together; collaborating and checking in?” With all of these factors taken into account and after re-reading the materials I had on each organization, I made a final list of the internships in order of preference.

Silver-lining (1.22.09)

2009-02-20T13:09:00.000-08:00

After 4 interviews and sub-sequentially 3 internship offers, I was run-down, un-hopeful, and pretty cynical about my last interview, which was yesterday, Wednesday, at 4pm. None of my other offers have excited me at all. After a busy week, I put little effort into preparing for this last interview with an organization that I will not publicly disclose for confidentiality reasons.

Normally, the following is how I prepare for an interview:
1. Read mission statement/basics on organization from website and/or handouts
2. Look up interviewer to know more about them and their accomplishments
3. Bring packet of
a. Resume
b. Rec letter
c. Business cards (as stupid as it sounds its good to make business cards at this age)

…I did NONE of this for this interview. It was the one that I was (or so I thought) least interested in. So I walk into the interview exhausted and clueless as to what the organization does. As the interview progresses, I realize that I love what they do and it is an ideal internship for me! But due to my lack of mental and background preparation, I think the interview went badly. My plan is to stalk her until I hear back so she knows I am interested.

Send me good vibes...

Burned Out (1.16.09)

2009-02-18T22:07:00.000-08:00

If there is one thing I have learned from all of this, it is that when it comes to internships, the earlier you research and apply, and the more persistent you are, the better. My 3 first-choices fell through because of this lesson.

Luckily, the internship opportunities I am left with are decent but it would have been nice to work somewhere I really wanted.

My first interview was yesterday. It was a phone interview, which I did not like much. I had done some basic background research on the organization (Witness for Peace) but coming out of it I realized you can never do too much background research! It was a double-edge sword because on one hand, the interview was more relaxed because I was in sweat pants in the comfort of my room but on the other hand, it was difficult to fully portray my personality over the phone. I was offered the position later today and told him I would get back to him shortly (and thanked him for his time to interview me).--It's important to thank them after interviews etc...you'll hear that non-stop!

The rest of my interviews are lined up for Wednesday and I will make a final decision, hopefully, by Thursday.

Frustration (1.13.09)

2009-02-18T09:25:00.000-08:00

It’s Tuesday and I feel frustrated because it is too early to follow up and I have already submitted a sufficient amount of applications and feel like I am not doing anything. Thus far, I have received one response from ‘Witness for Peace’ and they requested a phone interview.

What do I think about a phone interview...is it better or worse? At first the idea makes me uncomfortable but then again it could be easier.

Keep you posted…

Nerves (1.11.09)

2009-02-17T21:12:00.001-08:00

Tomorrow is the Internship Bazaar and my roommates’ and my printer is on full speed, spewing out papers and resumes that we have been slaving over all day. No rest for the internship seekers.

I am a bit disappointed with our internship selections for tomorrow but I found 3 or 4 that sparked my interest. So far the bazaar and the online database have proved to be dependable, but I expected to see more well-known institutions. It was also easy to simply get onto websites of organizations I was interested in and find information on applying for internships (i.e. the Humane Society, BBC, Oxfam, UNHCR).

The nice thing is that in this program EVERYONE is in the same pickle and you can all complain about it together. It is different than college because it is kind of like a summer camp...except in the winter.

I have some sample questions ready to go and it is time for bed…

2009-02-17T05:44:00.000-08:00

New Beginning (1.08.09)

All I am is overwhelmed by this whole process but all the professors keep saying is: “relax, you will get an internship”. I have one major fear: getting an internship that is not mentally stimulating or does not require much brain power. I just hope to be pushed and challenged, ending the internship with a feeling of accomplishment. How amazing would it be to extend my internship into the summer or come work for the organization at a later time.

So far, I’ve skimmed the AU internship database and printed information on the different organizations that caught my attention. My search began roughly two weeks upon my arrival, which I am slowly realizing was quite late. My first choices would be Amnesty International or CNN and they require applications months in advance. Also upon my arrival I finalized my resume and template cover letter, which has put me a step ahead of most people and made the application portion, from what I can tell so far, a lot quicker.

Tomorrow I have a free day so I will be spending the afternoon finishing more customized cover letters and sending them! …all very tedious. So far I am still in shock and transition mode…maybe tomorrow things will be clearer.