To that question, many college and graduate students answer, “Yes.” There are some who are put off by the scandal of Monica Lewinsky and whose parents figure being an intern would infect their child with some D.C. “virus” that might be habit-forming.
However, internships come in all shapes and sizes, and the vast majority do not involve questionable practices by employers or hideously long hours. They exist in drug rehab clinics in Virginia and in magazines looking to upgrade their Web sites. They are in every television station and every newspaper. Rug companies and alumni newsletters hire interns, as do museums, Wolf Trap and all manner of charitable organizations. Wherever there are jobs, there are interns who do some of those jobs for free, with a smile.
The Washington Post’s Jobs section on Jan. 24 had a useful article by Vickie Elmer listing Web site resources and tips for prospective interns. Every college and university in the area has department-sponsored internships that earn credit toward a student’s degree as well. I am the internship sponsor for George Mason University’s English Department and, in the two years I’ve held that position, I have never seen an internship that hasn’t benefited both employer and intern.
Current economic instability makes internships even more attractive. For employers, it’s like a trial run with a new employee, with no financial sacrifice or feeling of obligation. For students, internships supply an opportunity to prove how ready they are for the responsibilities of the workplace. The valued qualities of reliability, punctuality and conscientiousness — hard to judge in an interview — will either surface during the course of the internship or they won’t; that’s exactly what every employer wants to know and what all students want to prove they possess.
Resources mentioned by The Post include the Web site DCInternNet.com, which posts a list of available internships; an online list of 800 internships from Vault.com (for a fee of $14.95); and the guide by Deirdre Martinez titled “Washington Internships: How to Get Them And Use Them to Launch Your Public Policy Career.”
George Mason University’s Career Services has an online list of available internships, as do many departments at Mason and other local college campuses. The English Department’s Web site is: http://pwr.gmu.edu/internships/students.html.
This weekly column will look at lists of books kids are reading in various categories, including grade level, book genre and data from booksellers. Information on the books below came from Amazon.com’s list of children’s best-sellers and are listed in order of popularity.
Children’s books on jobs
1. The Berenstain Bears and Mama’s New Job by Stan and Jan Berenstain (ages 4 to 8)
2. Curious George Takes a Job by H.A. Rey (ages 4 to 8)
3. Beth’s Job by Carole Roberts and Michael Garland (ages 4 to 8)
4. Archers, Alchemists, and 98 Other Medieval Jobs You Might Have Loved or Loathed by Priscilla Galloway and Martha Newbigging (ages 9 to 12)
5. Clifford Gets a Job by Norman Bridwell (ages 4 to 8)
6. Jobs People Do: Combined Volume by Felicity Brooks and Jo Litchfield (ages 4 to 8)
7. The Top Job by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel and Robert Neubecker (ages 4 to 8)
8. Odd Jobs: The Wackiest Jobs You’ve Never Heard Of by Ellen Weiss and Damon Ross (ages 4 to 8)
9. Bank Job by James Heneghan and Norma Charles (ages 9 to 12)
10. Jobs People Do by Christopher Maynard (ages 4 to 8)
English writing and editing internships at GMU are not terribly popular, mostly because students hesitate to call and schedule interviews with prospective employers. That’s less surprising when you factor in that interns work for little or no pay and many students are paying for their tuition and books out of part-time job earnings.
The investment of time, however, is well worth it for any student who can afford to devote 10 to 16 hours a week for a few months of on-the-job training. It’s a dry run of the “real world,” without many of the scary consequences attendant with inexperience.
The interns who’ve received credit for their work in my department have all undergone steep learning curves that will help them secure and keep jobs in the future. They’ve learned about office politics and some of the unwritten rules of the workplace. A few have secured permanent, paying jobs. For any student who can afford the time, it’s a win-win endeavor.
Erica Jacobs, whose column appears Wednesday, teaches at George Mason University. E-mail her at [email protected].
