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ОглавлениеCHAPTER 2
WHO DOES WHAT, AND
WHERE, IN WASHINGTON
The centers of all three branches of the U.S. government are in Washington. Also situated in the city are the headquarters for the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Organization of American States, the Inter-American Development Bank, and other national and international institutions, including labor unions and professional associations. With thousands (and thousands) of internships to choose from in Washington, it may be difficult for you to decide how to limit your search. If the idea of working just about anywhere in Washington excites you, bringing your list of potential employers down to a page or two will require some careful decision making. Think of this chapter as focusing in on a Google map; what at first looks like one big place where you want to be is actually easily divided into broad areas, some of which you may find don't really interest you and some of which are exactly what you're looking for. While there are lots of different ways to look at Washington, this chapter identifies seven categories: the House of Representatives, the Senate, the White House, federal agencies, advocacy organizations and think tanks, lobbying firms, and political organizations. For each category the chapter provides an overview of the working environment, the types of jobs that are typical, the people you'll meet, and the type of work that an intern typically does. Once you've read this chapter, you can start to build a list of actual organizations to which you would like to apply; the next chapter will help you there.
INTERNING IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
GOOD BOOKS AND WEBSITES
The House: The History of the House of Representatives by Robert V. Remini (2006)
Where You'll Be
All official legislative offices are part of the U.S. Capitol complex in the very center of Washington, where the four quadrants of Washington converge, also known as Capitol Hill. There are three House office buildings which contain personal offices for all the members of the House of Representatives, as well as committee offices and hearing rooms. Cannon House Office Building (CHOB) was the first building to be built for Members of Congress in 1907, and sits next to Longworth House Office Building (LHOB) and then Rayburn House Office Building (you guessed it: RHOB). The three buildings are directly across from the U.S. Capitol along Independence Avenue, and are connected to each other, the Capitol, and the Senate by an underground maze of tunnels and trains (and elevators and escalators and more tunnels…). Wherever you end up working within the complex, you will likely get to know all the buildings pretty well as you run errands, attend hearings, and scout out the best frozen yogurt.
There are basically two internship options in the House: personal offices and committee offices. The more common (and much easier to get) internship is in the personal office of the Member of Congress in whose district you reside.
Personal offices in the House of Representatives typically have staffs of fifteen or fewer; half are administrative and half are legislative. The physical office space in the House of Representatives is limited; legislative and press staff usually share one room, at best with dividers between desks. Interns may share a table or desk. A rather extreme example is offered by a student who was in a House office last summer: “My experience on the Hill was sharing one cube among three interns. We had one computer, one desk for the three of us. Working the following summer off the Hill I didn't have that experience. I think it has something to do with what they expect out of their interns. On the Hill where I worked where the responsibilities were a little bit lighter, what came with it was a little bit lighter.” Workspace can be an issue on the Hill, and some House offices may not organize their internships to provide projects that are more challenging intellectually, though that's certainly not always the case. One student told me about her internship in a congressional office where she spent most of her time conducting research on foreign policy issues, preparing briefing memos and actually briefing the Member of Congress. If you are looking for a more substantive work experience, make sure you ask and get a clear answer during the interview. We'll talk more about how to ask without seeming pushy in the chapter that deals with interviewing.
The other option is to work for a committee. For example, if you have a particular interest in diplomacy, you might want to work for the Committee on Foreign Affairs (http://foreignaffairs.house.gov). Committee internships are fewer in number and very hard to get; while I have had a few students get accepted to committee internships, I have also heard stories of committee internships being distributed to the sons and daughters of the committee chairman's closest friends. Committee offices are scattered throughout the House office buildings, and the physical space restrictions are similar to personal offices.
What You'll Do
In personal offices, interns are asked to answer phones, sort and sometimes respond to constituent mail, conduct tours of the Capitol for constituents, and may be assigned special projects. For example, interns might conduct research on a new or developing issue area, draft talking points, or be asked to attend and summarize hearings. Before dismissing a congressional internship as too much grunt work, read on.
GRUNT WORK
A grunt, as we all know, is someone who does routine, unglamorous work. Things like making copies or filing fall neatly into that category. While it is true that interns on the Hill will be expected to do a fair amount of grunt work (and we'll talk more about strategies to reduce your grunt workload later), if you are on the Hill to (among other things) learn how things really happen there, a congressional internship is a great way to do that. So, sure, you're answering the phone. But the calls are from constituents calling to express their opinion on some subject (“I want you to tell the Congressman he's an idiot if he doesn't vote for passage of H.R. 123”) or inquire as to the Member's views on a topic (“I want to know if my Congresswoman supports this ridiculous proposal to increase my taxes that's being voted on today”). If you are interested in the policy process and the influence of constituents on voting, these are interesting phone calls! You might also be giving tours of the Capitol to constituents visiting Washington. Boring? Only if you think having a special-access pass that you get to flash at Capitol security as you airily escort your party through one of the most important buildings in the country is not really cool. And, as we'll discuss later, being thrilled to do grunt work is just about the best way to land yourself some really interesting projects-like writing talking points for your Member of Congress that you later get to watch her use on the floor of the House. From a student who was in Washington this past summer:
I think one of the really key things about doing well in a Washington internship is to recognize the culture of Washington and always say yes to assignments and not pestering people but being there. People who are there and diligent at the beginning always get good assignments by the end and the people who annoy their supervisors or aren't as eager or act affronted when they get a menial assignment definitely has repercussions and that person will still be doing coffee and copies in the eighth week of their internship. I think more than other places, there's a culture of Washington that rewards enthusiasm and so by the end you can get really good projects if you show that enthusiasm.
The People You'll Meet
Let's start with the people you'll be working with. First, the internship coordinator role varies from office to office; in some offices the receptionist/staff assistant (the first job on the congressional office career ladder) gets that privilege. Yes, they're just a receptionist, but be careful not to dismiss him or her; having an ally who makes assignment decisions could be very useful. Also, people move very quickly in Washington, with job changes/promotions happening as often as once every year or two. That means you should be nice to everyone and keep in touch with them after you leave, because you never know where they might be and what they might be able to do for you.
Moving up the ladder, an office may have an LC, a legislative correspondent. They are in charge of responding to constituent mail, which means you may well be working with them while you're there. The scheduler is the gatekeeper; that person takes meeting requests, arranges visits with constituents, and prepares a daily schedule for the Member of Congress. The scheduler is frequently putting out fires: shuffling appointments, giving someone the politest brush-off, sending urgent emails to a MIA MOC telling him he's about to miss a vote. If you can do anything for the scheduler, you should; otherwise, stay out of his way.
The chief of staff is in charge of the running of the office; managing staff, budgets, strategizing with the Member, and (on their own time, of course) assisting with campaign fundraising. A letter of recommendation from a chief of staff is very, very valuable, but not if you didn't actually do anything that she noticed. So if you want to cash in, you need to be sure to make a good impression.
On the legislative side, most offices have a legislative director (known as the LD), who manages the legislative staff, tracks legislative floor and committee activity, and may do some long-term strategizing with the Member of Congress to define and achieve legislative priorities. When I was a legislative director I also supervised interns and gave them assignments. Other staff include legislative assistants, who are assigned to particular committees or issues, and a press secretary, whose job is to keep her boss in the news (particularly the local news), so long as the news is good. Press secretaries field lots of calls from the media, schedule press conferences, and write press releases. If your particular interest is media, getting assigned to a press secretary would be a great introduction.
In addition to the people in the office, you never know who you may meet as you staff the front desk or carry out your other duties. Lobbyists, activists, analysts—they all spend lots of time in the front offices of Members of Congress. You never know where a little friendly conversation may lead.
What You'll Get
While interns are not likely to spend a great deal of time directly with the Member of Congress (this came as a surprise to some of the interns I supervised when I was an LD), it is possible in this sort of position to be very close to the day-to-day action. Interns will gain a thorough understanding of the legislative process, the roles of each member of the staff, and the work of a Member of Congress. Internships are also now the first rung in the ladder of congressional employment; having had a congressional internship makes you a strong candidate for an entry-level position in a congressional office.
INTERNING IN THE SENATE
GOOD BOOKS AND WEBSITES
The Most Exclusive Club: A History of the Modern United States Senate by Lewis L. Gould (2006)
Where You'll Be
The Capitol Complex is kind of like a sandwich; on one side you have the House buildings, in the middle is the Capitol itself, and on the other side, running along Constitution Avenue (and a bit to the north), are the Senate Office Buildings. The Russell building, completed in 1908, is nearest the Capitol. The Dirksen Senate Office Building was the second of three office buildings constructed for the United States Senate. Located northeast of the Capitol on a site bounded by Constitution Avenue, C Street, First Street, and Second Street N.E., it adjoins the more modern looking Hart Senate Office Building. Like most things about the Senate, the buildings on the Senate side are more glamorous and grand than the House buildings. Remember that in the House, each of the 435 Members represents a little over 600,000 people; in the Senate, most of the 100 Senators represent millions each. While there are states with populations the size of a congressional district (North Dakota, Vermont, Delaware), think of states the size of California (population 36 million) or Texas (23 million). As a result, offices in the Senate are larger than in the House, with staffs of as many as forty, depending on the size of their staffing budget, which is based on the population of the state the Senator represents.
During the summer, a Senate office will generally have three to seven interns, though some offices find room for as many as ten, and often they run two six-week sessions to give more students the opportunity to intern. The physical size of the office, which dictates how many staff and interns a Senator can house, depends somewhat on the Senator's seniority, which building she is in, and the population of the State they represent. Offices in Russell are smaller than those in Hart or Dirksen and may be divided among several floors.
As in the House, you are most likely to find an internship with one of the two Senators from your home state, though committee offices are always worth a try. Also look at the websites for the leadership offices; there are very few internship positions available in these but it can't hurt to ask.
What You'll Do
All interns will be expected to help the staff assistants in answering phones, sorting and sometimes responding to constituent mail, and conducting tours of the Capitol for constituents. As an example of the funny things interns are sometimes asked to do, you might be asked to save a field on the National Mall (the national park area that runs from the Congress, past the White House, up to the Lincoln Memorial) for office softball games. If an intern is particularly interested in press issues, he may become the special intern of the press office. This person will be expected to arrive around 7:30 A.M. to search for articles that mention the Senator and send out a staff email. Occasionally, a legislative assistant might ask an intern to conduct research on a new or developing issue area, draft talking points, or attend hearings. Depending on the office, there may be special projects that interns work on over the course of the internship. Liz Conroy describes the intern project in Senator Bob Casey's office:
Interns who get to know and really work well with their legislative mentors can bring new ideas to the table. We ask our interns over the course of their internship to come up with a bill and what we really said was, this is not just a chance for you to come out of this internship with a writing sample, which is always good, but if there's a great idea you come up with we will work with you to see if that's something our office can do. As a freshman office we are constantly looking to define ourselves and figure out unique ways for the Senator to get involved in issues and prioritize his agenda and sometimes unique ideas from interns get the ball rolling.
The People You'll Meet
Like the House, there are pretty clear divisions between people who keep the office running smoothly and handle the more political end of things (the chief of staff, schedulers, front office staff) and legislative staff (i.e., legislative assistants and the director). You'll also have staff handling constituent concerns (i.e., legislative correspondents) and the press office. What these people do is mostly similar to what people do on the House side, just bigger. There are more staff doing these jobs, there are more constituents, more issues, more visitors—you get the idea. Also, probably because there are more staff to go around, staff on the Senate side are more likely to be specialists. On the House side, you'll typically have three legislative assistants; Members typically get two committee assignments, so two of those LAs will get a committee each, plus a few other issues to cover when they come to the full House for votes. The third LA covers everything that's left. On the Senate side, you'll have multiple staff assigned to each committee, and because of the more demanding schedule a Senator has, staff tend to do much more of the legwork before the Senator gets involved.
What You'll Get
As in the House, interns will likely gain a thorough understanding of the roles of each member of the staff and the busy life of a Senator. Liz Conroy in Senator Casey's office describes the ebb and flow of a summer internship on the Senate side: “Summer is great because there's a mix of recess time and heavy in-session time so they get to see everything from the drive and subsequent release when we finally get to recess. They'll see heavy mail and call in campaigns from interest groups and so they get to see how advocacy works from inside a Senate office and then in recess they get more time to work on their own projects.”
Also as in the House, many senior staff started as interns. This means you're gaining valuable experience and it also suggests that staff are likely to see you as a potential hire in the future. You may get some great writing samples that you can use for your next application; we'll talk later about the writing skills that you'll probably acquire. You'll also get to be in the Senate, surrounded by some of the most powerful people in the world. If you're any kind of policy junkie, this is exciting stuff. One student shared her impressions of being on the Senate side: “It was just an incredible experience to be in the Senate. From the outside, it's hard to understand how the process works—it seems like nothing ever gets accomplished but when you work there you understand why the process is so slow and you learn how the process was designed to take a long time for things to change. You get a great understanding of how government really works and you also get to see Senators working down the hall so it was a really memorable experience.”
INTERNING AT THE WHITE HOUSE
GOOD BOOKS, ARTICLES, AND WEBSITES
The Modern Presidency by James P. Pfiffner (2007)
The Executive Office of the President: A Historical, Biographical, and Bibliographical Guide edited by Harold C. Relyea; published in cooperation with the Center for the Study of the Presidency (1997)
Articles in Presidential Studies Quarterly
Where You'll Be
Arriving at the White House complex each morning will likely give you a bit of a thrill every day of your internship. Once you are through the gates, however, it is important that your expectations are based on reality. If you are accepted to intern at the White House, do not expect to be placed in the West Wing. The White House accepts 100 interns each summer, the majority of whom work in the Old Executive Office Building, part of the White House complex but not part of the White House itself. Almost half of the White House interns are assigned to the Correspondence office, which is practically run by interns. See the box for other possible assignments.
WHITE HOUSE OFFICES: INTERCHIP SPONSORS
(http://www.whitehouse.gov/government/off-descrp.html)
Advance: coordinates all logistical arrangements for presidential visits.
Cabinet Liaison: primary point of contact for Cabinet members and agency heads.
White House Counsel: advises the President on all legal issues.
Communications: responsible for the President's media events.
Correspondence: processes all correspondence addressed to the President.
Domestic Policy Council: coordinates the domestic policymaking process.
Fellows: oversees White House Fellows program.
Intergovernmental Affairs: liaison to state, local, and tribal governments.
Legislative Affairs: liaison to the United States Congress.
First Lady's office: coordinates and schedules events involving the First Lady.
National Economic Council: advises President on U.S. and global economic policy.
Office of the Vice President: assists Vice President in his executive and legislative duties.
Political Affairs: “ensures that the executive branch and the President are aware of the concerns of the American citizen.” (This office was started under President Reagan and has been involved in partisan activities. I'm not sure how they get away with being political on the public's dime but they do.)
Public Liaison: plans briefings, meetings, and large events.
Photo Office: photographically documents and maintains an archive.
Presidential Personnel: recruits, screens, and recommends qualified candidates for Presidential appointments to federal departments and agencies.
Scheduling: plans and implements the President's daily and long-range schedules. Speechwriting: crafts the President's formal speeches and other remarks.
Strategic Initiatives: plans and implements strategy for achieving Presidential priorities.
Travel Office: provides logistical travel support.
White House Management: manages the daily operations.
White House Personnel: manages staff employment and runs the intern program.
What You'll Do
Depending on your assignment, you may be making copies, answering phones, helping tourists, or responding to mail. As in most internships in D.C., if you are willing to complete these mundane tasks with alacrity and good humor, you may be assigned more interesting projects. There is an online application but be warned: students who apply to the White House often don't hear if they're accepted until very late. For summer, it isn't uncommon to hear back from their hiring office in April. We'll talk more about your application strategy in the next chapter.
The People You'll Meet
Because of the size of the White House complex and the variety of the offices where you might be placed, the people you meet will vary widely. For example, if you are in the press office you will likely meet the various members of the press team, and you may communicate with reporters and other members of the media. When you choose your preferred office assignments, you might think about the people who work in and with that office and if they are in a field that might be helpful to you for your next internship or job.
What You'll Get
In addition to normal office duties, interns attend weekly lectures, volunteer at special events, participate in tours, and contribute to a community service project in the Washington, D.C., area. If you have a successful experience, you'll also walk away with email addresses for at least two or three people who are willing to speak to your skills as a reference. Regardless, a White House internship is very prestigious, and just having that on your resume will help you obtain future internships and jobs in Washington.
INTERNING IN A FEDERAL AGENCY
GOOD BOOKS AND WEBSITES
System Under Stress: Homeland Security and American Politics by Donald F. Kettl (2007)
The New Public Service: Serving, Not Steering by Janet Vinzant Denhardt and Robert B. Denhardt (2007)
http://www.usa.gov/Agencies/Federal/All_Agencies/index.shtml
Where You'll Be
In addition to the White House, the executive branch of the federal government includes departments, agencies, government corporations, boards, commissions, and committees. The website in the box at the top of this page is worth a browse to get a sense of the vast numbers of offices that make up the federal government. Many of these are located near the Capitol or the White House and along the mall, but others are scattered around Washington and in the suburbs and beyond. Each of these bodies is extremely specialized and has very different organizational structures. Interning in one of these offices could be one way to get very close to the day-today functioning of the government.
INTERNING FOR THE FEDS
Federal Bureau of Investigation
https://www.fbijobs.gov/honors.asp
From their website: “Once selected, FBI Interns can look forward to three extremely rewarding and interesting months. You'll be working side-by-side with Special Agents and Professional Support personnel on important cases and procedures. You'll feel like you're a part of the Bureau…because you are. Upon arriving in Washington, D.C., Honors Interns will attend an orientation at the FBI Headquarters. Interns will be assigned to an FBI Headquarters division based on their academic discipline, potential contribution to the division, and the needs of the FBI. For instance, interns whose discipline is in the physical sciences may be assigned to the FBI Laboratory's Forensic Science Research and Training Center in nearby Quantico, Virginia. All interns will be under the Supervision of the Assistant Director of their assigned division. By the end of your internship, you will have a thorough understanding of the inner workings of the FBI.” FBI interns are paid at the GS-6 level, which works out to about $2,000 a month. Deadline is November 1.
Central Intelligence Agency
http://www.cia.gov/emplooyment/student.html1#top
From their website: “You will be given the opportunity to work with highly-skilled professionals and see first-hand the role the CIA plays in supporting US officials who make our country's foreign policy. We are interested in students majoring in engineering, computer science, mathematics, economics, physical sciences, foreign languages, area studies, business administration, accounting, international relations, finance, logistics, human resources, geography, national security studies, military and foreign affairs, political science and graphic design. Interns are required to work either a combination of one semester and one summer internship, or two 90-day summer internships.” CIA pay is competitive, and their deadline is November 1.
United States Department of State
http://www.careers.state.gov/student/programs/student_internships.html
From their website: “It's an opportunity for you to get an inside look at the different types of positions and responsibilities available in foreign affairs. Think of it as taking a career test ride before you actually have to decide what you are going to do with your life.” Students tentatively selected for the internship program must undergo a background investigation and receive either a secret or top secret security clearance. Deadline is November 1.
What You'll Do
Because of the huge variety of placements possible, it's very hard to say what you might do. One student at the Federal Trade Commission this past summer spent most of his time working on legal briefs, which was great preparation for law school. Another student with the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction spent much of her time researching and writing for a book the office was preparing on the story of Iraq reconstruction. Another student at the Department of Defense spent most of his time finding his way around the Pentagon and running errands. As we'll discuss in the next chapter, it is critical that you ask questions during the interview so that you're clear on what kind of assignments you can expect. We'll also talk more about strategies to get better assignments.
THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT WANTS YOU…WE THINK…
According to Call to Serve, a nonprofit whose mission is to encourage young people to seek jobs with the federal government, the federal government will need to fill 193,000 “mission-critical” positions by 2009. You might think that given their need to recruit high-quality personnel there would be countless internship opportunities available. Unfortunately, it is not easy to find open internship positions, and the hiring process is often tedious. There are two websites that might be helpful: http://studentjobs.gov and http://www.makingthedifference.org/index.shtml.
As for timing, while it's possible to find an announcement for an internship at one of the agencies in March for the coming summer, there are a number of federal agencies that require a very early start. For these agencies, they often suggest you start collecting the required documents a full year before the summer you intend to participate in the internship, and their deadline for applications is typically November for a June start date. While the more competitive and prestigious internships do tend to have earlier deadlines, the other practical reason for the early deadline is that applicants have to go through a security clearance process. More on security clearance in the next chapter.
The People You'll Meet
This of course varies widely depending on your assignment and your networking skills. One student who was assigned directly to an Assistant Secretary at the Department of Commerce spent all of her time working closely with senior staff and came away with a solid understanding of the work of the office and lots of good contacts. Another student at the Department of Health and Human Services was assigned generally to an office and really never got past answering phones, so was not able to connect with staff in a way that showed off his research skills. Again, it's best to be clear in the interview what the workload will be and how you will be assigned work so that you can make an informed decision about the internship offer.
What You'll Get
Federal agencies often use internships as a way to recruit individuals for full-time work, so choosing an internship in an issue area that is of particular interest to you could well lead to employment after college or at the very least some well-placed references.
INTERNING IN AN ADVOCACY ORGANIZATION OR THINK TANK
GOOD BOOKS
Interest Group Politics by Allan J. Cigler and Burdett A. Loomis (2006)
“Advocacy Organizations in the U.S. Political Process” by K. T. Andrews and B. Edwards, Annual Review of Sociology 30: 479-506 (2004)
In this section we'll talk about two similar types of organizations: advocacy groups and think tanks. Advocacy groups are nonprofit organizations that run the gamut from tiny to impressively large. Unlike think tanks, advocacy groups don't typically have lots of Ph.D.s on staff who write big books and spend their Sunday mornings on television (though some do). Advocacy groups are perhaps a little more connected to issue campaigns on which their organization takes a position and conducts, well, advocacy to achieve their goals. This might include getting the word out to their members, who then contact their Members of Congress; meeting directly with Members of Congress or providing congressional testimony; and holding events that might get picked up by the media. For example, Common Cause is a very old and well-respected organization that sees itself as a “vehicle for citizens to make their voices heard in the political process and to hold their elected leaders accountable to the public interest.” That means they take an issue—say, for example, money in politics—and conduct some research, talk to people, and then try to change how things are done. In the money in politics example, they spend a lot of time trying to change campaign finance law so that wealthy people don't have more influence in politics than everyone else, which is their view of the status quo.
The profile for think tanks is a little different, though sometimes the differences are not terribly clear. Like some of the most well-established advocacy organizations, there are a number of think tanks in Washington that are very well funded and have large staffs. While the work varies widely, at think tanks the work is more focused on research and on informing policy debate, rather than directly influencing policy debates. This is not to say that they don't have a clear political view; almost all of them have a consistent political perspective on policy issues and most are fairly open about where they fall on the political spectrum. To get a better sense of what think tanks do, see the profiles that follow.
American Enterprise Institute
AEI is a conservative think tank, founded in 1943. It is associated with neoconservative domestic and foreign policy views. According to the institute its mission is “to defend the principles and improve the institutions of American freedom and democratic capitalism—limited government, private enterprise, individual liberty and responsibility, vigilant and effective defense and foreign policies, political accountability, and open debate.”
AEI has a large internship program, accepting fifty students each spring, summer, and fall. The work is substantive, and students are assigned to an issue area that matches their interests (economic policy, foreign and defense studies, social and political studies, media affairs, The American magazine, publications editing, information systems, marketing, and human resources). Interns are also assigned a policy mentor in their area of interest. Internships are unpaid, but AEI interns don't have to worry about a food budget; AEI interns enjoy a complimentary gourmet breakfast and lunch. AEI also arranges a number of lectures and discussions with impressive speakers and coordinates a number of tours for each of their intern classes.
Center for American Progress
http://www.americanprogress.org
On the opposite side of the political spectrum you will find CAP, which was started in 2003 by John Podesta, former chief of staff to President Clinton. CAP's stated mission is to create a “long-term, progressive vision for America—a vision that policy makers, thought-leaders and activists can use to shape the national debate and pass laws that make a difference.” Their staff and fellows work on a wide range of policy issues, organizing events, producing reports, and providing congressional testimony.
With a staff of 150, CAP brings in fifty interns each term to work on one of their issue teams. Interns participate in meetings, contribute to research projects, and are invited to discussions with organizational leadership. The program provides a stipend, but no gourmet lunch.
Where You'll Be
There is a vast range of nonprofit advocacy organizations in Washington representing particular interests. On one end of the spectrum are small organizations working on a single issue and with very limited budgets and hence staffing. EPIC, the Education for Peace in Iraq Center, has two rooms above a shop on Capitol Hill. There are thousands of organizations like EPIC working on campaign finance, gun control, the death penalty, you name it. Their staffs might be limited to a founder and an assistant, or may be a little bigger as a result of a successful grant application. On the other end of the spectrum are multi-issue flagship organizations that have been around for decades, are highly visible, and have strong fundraising capability. They may have staffs of a hundred or more and can afford to recruit academics and others from the top of their respective fields. These think tanks and advocacy and membership organizations often own impressive real estate scattered across Washington, where their names are proudly displayed above the front door. Organizations such as these (Brookings Institution, Cato, the Children's Defense Fund, the Heritage Foundation, AARP…) typically have large, organized internship programs that sponsor a dozen or more interns every summer.
What You'll Do
Many of the smaller organizations have limited resources, which means they usually don't have enough staff to do everything they would like to do, and are not able to pay high salaries to the staff they have. This has several consequences. First, these employers tend to have a staff that is committed to the organization's cause. Second, staff are given freedom to take on new projects, which can be an opportunity to establish themselves as an authority on an issue. Third, interns are welcome and are often provided the opportunity to contribute meaningfully to the work of the organization. An intern working for an advocacy organization may be asked to prepare reports or fact sheets that the organization will publish, to write congressional testimony, or to conduct research on a new issue area. Working for EPIC, for example, you might write for their blog, conduct research, and help publicize their programs.
In the larger organizations, you will typically be assigned to an office that is either administrative or focused on a policy area. At the Children's Defense Fund, for example, you can ask to be assigned to the President's office, which will provide great exposure to nonprofit management. You might instead choose an assignment with its health or juvenile justice divisions, where your work will likely be more directly related to policy-making.
At a think tank, you may be assigned to a particular scholar whose area of expertise matches your area of interest or you may find yourself working for the editor of their journal. You are likely to spend some time completing administrative tasks, and you may also be asked to write short articles or one-pagers that are posted to their website or published in their journal, perhaps even coauthoring a research article with a scholar whose work you admire.
The People You'll Meet
These groups frequently work in coalition with one another and often socialize together. As on the Hill there are opportunities to attend briefings, receptions, and lunch events. You may work with top names in your field if you are working for one of the better-known groups. Even if you're working in a smaller organization, opportunities to meet interesting people should abound.
What You'll Get
This is an excellent choice for a student who wants to work on a particular issue area, such as children's health, foreign policy, or minority issues. This sort of internship experience could lead to full-time work with an advocacy organization. While many individuals continue their work in advocacy organizations, others use their advocacy experience to move into positions in Congress or in one of the federal agencies. My experience is an excellent example. Early in my career, I was a policy analyst at National Council of La Raza, the nation's largest Hispanic advocacy organization. While my focus was poverty policy, I was particularly interested in employment policy, and since NCLR didn't have an employment project at the time, I was able to add that to my area of expertise. As a result I was part of NCLR's advocacy campaign on the issue of worker retraining needs during congressional consideration of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). I made an impression on Congressman Becerra's legislative assistant, with whom I met to discuss NCLR's position on NAFTA, and when he decided to go back to graduate school, he suggested I consider becoming Congressman Becerra's legislative assistant for education and labor. I was offered the position and within two years I was Congressman Becerra's legislative director. This trajectory is not uncommon in Washington, where people change jobs within two years and there's always a more interesting job around the corner.
As for the pros and cons of working in a large think tank versus a small advocacy organization, two students who were in small advocacy organizations last summer had this to say:
