The DC Internship Advantage

Episode Transcript:

Margaret (00:12)

Hello and welcome to another episode of Career Pulse DC, a podcast by Traverse Jobs. I’m your host Margaret and joining me today is Traverse Jobs CEO Fraser Traverse and Karen Carter from the Washington Semester Program at American University. As you might have guessed, today is all about the first DC career stepping stone: the internship. Karen is the internship advisor for American University’s Washington Semester Program. Prior to this, she served in the inaugural position of internship program manager at Northern Virginia Community College, the nation’s second largest community college system. Her experience includes directing the internship experience program at the Lady Elizabeth School in Spain, and serving as the Senior Program Advisor at the Smithsonian Institute’s Office of Fellowships and Internships in Washington, D.C. Welcome, Karen. We’re so glad that you’ve joined us today. Could you give us a brief introduction to the Washington Semester Program and its history? And after you give your introduction, Karen, I would love to hear from Fraser, who has personal experience with this program as well.

 

Karen (01:00)

Thank you. I’m so happy to be here. Absolutely, yes. The Washington Semester Program at American University is one of the first of its kind in DC. American University is known for political science, international relations, and public affairs, and we are one of the top feeder universities for the State Department. The Washington Semester Program is over 75 years old. The inaugural cohort was in 1947. It’s basically a study abroad program for US and international college and university students. They come to AU from around the country and around the world to do an internship, which is the centerpiece of the program, and also take classes. So we offer spring, summer, and fall cohorts. And we usually have anywhere from 50 to 90 students each semester, including summer.

 

Margaret (02:12)

Thank you for that overview. And Fraser, you are an alum, so why don’t you tell us a little bit about your experience?

 

Fraser (02:18)

So I was a junior in college in 1991 and I was studying up at Connecticut College and my dean was kind of talking me through options for semester abroad and things like that and she mentioned the AU Washington semester and I was majoring in government at the time and minoring in economics so it seemed like a good place to try. And so I came down and I spent the spring semester here and I had an internship at the government affairs office of a private corporation here in DC. And I caught what they call “Potomac Fever,” meaning I loved it and went back to school for my senior year, but then came right back down to DC.

 

That started my career in government relations. I worked in a trade association. I eventually worked on the Hill, House and Senate. And yeah, I kind of did the sort of typical Washington career. And it’s what eventually led to having the job board and helping other people through their careers in Washington. So excellent, excellent, excellent start. It was a super fun program and I highly recommend it to anybody who’s even remotely interested in politics and policy. Although there were other areas of study as well. And Karen, you can maybe remind me a little bit better, but not everybody was doing politics, if I recall correctly.

 

Karen (03:43)

Yeah, that’s right. Certainly the majority of our students are political science majors, international studies majors, and the like, but…We have students who are sociology, who are business, who are econ, who are finance, who are IT, who are data science, who are language majors, who are history and culture majors. So we definitely have a broad spectrum. And over the years, we have grown our program to be able to make connections and form partnerships with organizations. Organizations that can support the overwhelming majority of these diverse majors. And since we have over 50,000 alums, including you, that’s also been really helpful because a lot of people like you stayed in DC. That has really been helpful in mentoring our students and providing conduits often to internships for our current Washington semester cohorts.

 

Fraser (04:40)

Great. I didn’t realize there were that many alums. That’s fantastic.

 

Margaret (04:43)

That’s a huge number. Karen, what makes WSP stand out from other internship programs in DC?

 

Karen (04:43)

Well, what I think is interesting about ours is that we have students from all over the country and also the world. So in addition to being one of the first of its kind in D.C., our students come from universities and colleges all around the U.S. We have students from France, from China, from Norway, from Korea, from Germany, from India, et cetera. So each cohort is very, very diverse. And the students learn as much from each other. It’s that kind of peer teaching, peer learning that goes on in addition to what they learn from their faculty and what they learn on the job. They’re always in an internship class that helps them along with their peers. Processing their experiences with a long-time educator is a huge proponent of experiential learning. So much of the value of experiential learning, which I think is very valuable, there’s nothing that can replace that hands-on, you know, putting theory into practice kind of thing. But it’s also how we’re reflecting on what we learn as we go along to make sense of it. And I think our program really helps with that. They also take a seminar in a variety of subject areas like government and law or peace and conflict or international relations so that they can also grow their knowledge in their particular interest area.

 

Margaret (06:17)

And do students start the program already placed in an internship or is that part of the program coming to campus and working through the process of becoming placed in an internship?

 

Karen (06:27)

Ideally, they find their placement before they arrive. The admission process is generally up to a full semester prior to arrival, if not more. And I always say that the most successful students are not necessarily the ones with the highest GPA or the most prior experience doing internships. It’s how proactive they are. So we work with them in a variety of capacities, but it is really important that they start early, apply widely, cast a wide net, even places where they are not 100% sure they are interested in the opportunity. Go ahead and apply. It costs nothing. You can always say no, but it maximizes your odds and also it gives you experience applying. It gives you experience writing another cover letter. It gives you experience interviewing if you get called for an interview. So it’s the people who, like I say, are proactive and who step it out in manageable chunks before they arrive that I think do have the most success in finding a placement that is most aligned with their interests, career goals, and major.

 

Fraser (07:44)

That lines up perfectly with what we see on the job board. For example, we’re almost in February, and it is absolutely right now the time to be applying for summer internships. So we’re three, four, five months out. And like you said, the good ones go quickly. And same thing with…although this is getting a little bit better, I feel like, is the paid internships. Those are becoming a lot more prevalent, which is really nice. But certainly, once you get down to the last minute, maybe you’re applying in May for a summer internship, there’s going to be certainly less to choose from and probably some of those really good paid opportunities might be gone as well.

 

Fraser (08:24)

What makes the program to me so appealing is that you have so many relationships with so many employers that I, I mean, I came in and we actually didn’t have internships before we started. There was an internship fair, and you went around to the different tables and met everybody and then found your fit. Not that I’m recommending that, but that’s how it was.

 

It is a very supportive program from the aspect that you have the relationships and a lot of kids are coming in without networks and we’ll talk about networking in a minute I know, but it’s a nice way to come to DC and know that you’ll have support finding that first job.

 

Karen (09:04)

Yeah, absolutely. And I actually want to dial back a little bit about, you have to start early. I don’t want it to sound like if you don’t start early, you don’t have a chance. That is not it at all. But it has changed since you came in. It used to be, yes, that the students waited until they actually landed in DC to start searching for their placements. But that’s changed over the years and we still have that internship fair. It’s now our virtual internship fair because we start it before the students arrive so that they can participate from wherever they are. But we have a database that we curate. So it is only internships and only in the DC metropolitan area that’s accessible by public transportation. So you’re not wading through jobs and you’re not wading through internships like in Nebraska, you know, everything is right here. In addition, many, if not most, of the organizations who list with us know our brand. They really like our students and they tend to advertise opportunities with us year after year, semester after semester.

 

And so it is very much a way to help students. And then we really pride ourselves on what we offer students before they come in. From my end, I have one-to-one advising sessions. Students can meet with me as much as they like. I do a variety of interactive professional development workshops on things like interview like a pro, professional communication and etiquette, how to optimize LinkedIn, just to name a few. And I do resume and cover letter writing support sessions. You know, I’m also their cheerleader, their mom, their taskmaster.

 

And I also help international students learn the cultural differences between how the professional world works, how we communicate in the United States and in DC, which has its own culture, as you all know, versus their home countries.

 

Margaret (11:02)

What advice do you have for students with limited work experience, potentially have not had an internship before? How can they put their best foot forward with a resume?

 

Karen (11:12)

Absolutely, and I get this question all the time. So a couple of things. I always think you should add a section on your resume called relevant coursework and experience so that you can show you have courses and projects, papers you’ve done that highlight or showcase the type of internship, the type of career path you would like to go into. Ideally these courses are not survey courses. There are three or four hundred level courses that are very specific. So instead of introduction to global politics, it’s contemporary issues in Eastern Europe or whatever. Things like language skills, if you have those. I’m also a really big fan of showcasing your soft skills. So a lot of students don’t necessarily have a lot of technical skills yet and that’s okay. Technical hard skills of course, whatever you do have, whether that’s a language, whether that is, you know, you’re really proficient in Word or Excel or you can code or things like that, great, add all that. But to the extent you can talk about your reliability, your dependability, your adaptability, your communication skills, your teamwork, your leadership.

 

So here again, things like sports really showcase you, things like playing instruments, things like being in theater. So any of these like university clubs, whether they’re directly in line with your major, like people are involved in finance clubs or they’re involved in college Democrats or Republicans, volunteering, all of that can help showcase that as well. I will say one quick thing – and this is sort of a matter of taste – but I’m not a fan of adding a bunch of soft skills to the resume, like just bullet points. It’s better to find ways to showcase that in your cover letter. And if you get in your interview, that’s when I really work with them to help showcase those as well, through preparation, through rehearsing answers to common interview questions. So really, practice makes perfect.

 

Fraser (13:35)

Fantastic.That’s so great. Where are you on objective and saying what they want to do? Do you find that students are coming in – more picky isn’t a fair word to say – but do a lot of kids come in with very specific ideas of what they want to do or is better to be flexible and open to new experiences that you might not know about here.

 

Karen (13:59)

Objectives, you know, I go back and forth on these. I’m not a huge fan, per se, I always tell students, a lot of this is my two cents. I’m not the gatekeeper. I’m not gonna not let you apply. I mean, we’re a team. You’re an adult. I’ve just been doing this kind of work for a long time. Students usually like my advice, but this is you. You’re a free agent. Now…targeted, targeted, very focused kinds of searching. Yes and no. If you’re so, like I call it, like I say, target fixation, if you’re so narrowly focused–you miss out on other great opportunities. And…which is another thing, sorry I’m on like a tear here, but a lot of times students want the big name organizations. They want top agencies, they want like Deloitte and all of that great, great, great organizations. But it’s sometimes the smaller organizations, the startups, the non-profits, where you really get your boots on the ground. It’s like applying for university or college. You have your top schools, you have your safety schools, stay focused, but also stay open minded.

 

Margaret (15:17)

Karen, I’d be curious since you’ve been in your role for such a long time and have been doing this for quite a while. How has the prevalence of AI and TikTok changed the work products that you’re getting from students? I would imagine that you sometimes see some like wild resume templates that someone downloaded off of an Instagram influencer with crazy fonts and crazy formatting. Are you seeing that with your students? Particularly in the DC region, do you then have to sort of push back on, yes, this may be what’s prevalent on TikTok, however, for the DC workspace, this is what’s working as far as resumes and cover letters?

 

Karen (15:57)

You know, amazingly, I have not seen a lot of that. And I think it’s for a couple of reasons. I think a lot of these students have been with their career center at their home institutions or maybe with their parents giving them guidance. We also give them a resume template and what we call a generic cover letter template because it does take on average about 40 applications to land a placement. This helps streamline the cover letter process.

 

I, so I haven’t seen as much, every now and then I get a super high graphic resume and I tell the student, this is DC, we’re still a very traditional town, and this might work for like a very arts-based kind of program maybe or something, but by and large stick with the basics until, and you know, until you reach a point where you’re comfortable, you’ve got enough experience behind you that you know that this is going to work.

 

Margaret (17:29)

And I just want to confirm what you said that for your prospective interns, it typically takes 40 applications for them to get placed.

 

Karen (17:39)

It takes on average about 35 to 40. 40 is a closer number in the summer. But for some students, that’s an average. And a lot of times when I tell students this, they hear 35 and they apply to 35 and then they stop. No, it’s an average. Some students land in five, some land in 55.

 

Margaret (17:42)

Wow.

 

Karen (18:06)

Generally, for every 50 applications you send out, you might get two callbacks, you know. So now, of course, a lot of factors go into this. But I think it’s good for students to understand that because it’s also part and parcel of learning about a job search, which is really this is essentially a lot of the same stuff.

 

Margaret (18:31)

What kind of networking opportunities do students get through the program?

 

Karen (18:35)

Well, one of the biggest things that we pride ourselves on are these site visits students do. And this is another thing I should have mentioned when you asked me about what makes our program stand out. Our faculty at American University, a lot of them, in addition to teaching, have a hand as a consultant or as a former or current employer with a lot of organizations in DC. They arrange site visits and we help them do this to the State Department, embassies…

 

Fraser (19:14)

Capitol Hill.

 

Karen (19:15)

Capitol Hill, thank you.

 

Like we just had the Wilson Center, former members of Congress, a lot of these various organizations where students get the chance to learn about the career path to this, these various organizations, to work in these various places. They build their networks. We also have a number of enrichment events where we take them on tours. We introduce them to alumni. Fraser, I’m looking at you. If you would like to get involved, we would love to have you speak at one of our panels. So we do provide just a lot of opportunities. Both formal and informal. And then there are always the pop-up events like this kind of networking event or that kind of networking event, whether it’s for women or whether it’s for people in data science or whether it’s for first-generation college students or whatever.

 

Fraser (20:09)

Those were some of the most transformative pieces. I mean, the internship I did was great, but going all over the city and meeting with people all over the city in politics and policy was really cool. And I don’t know if your numbers are still like this, but our pod was probably, I don’t know, there were maybe 12 of us, 14 of us. And so you go to these places and you’re just sitting around a conference table and literally talking with people in very high echelons of everything, like congressmen and state department, embassies, some of the biggest lobbying firms, trade associations. The exposure is unbelievable and you just go with your individual class, generally. Is it still like that?

 

Karen (20:51)

It is, it is. You know, and it is so important. Fraser, you said something. You said a lot of these people who were running these sessions are serious players in these industries. And so I tell students, I say, please, please don’t be shy. Don’t be a shrinking violet. Don’t be a wallflower. Ask questions. Follow up with these people on LinkedIn. Send them thank you notes.

 

I am such a proponent and I am so strict about professional etiquette and about professional communication. And those thank you notes and those follow up emails can open doors and they go a long way. it shouldn’t be about just how it benefits you. It’s just nice to get thank yous. I mean, you know, as we all know, most of the time, if we hear feedback, it’s complaints. But when you write your former college professor or when you write a former boss or when you write somebody who took the of time to step out of their busy day to give you an overview of what they do. You know, stay in touch with those people, ask questions. I think it’s frustrating sometimes, and this doesn’t happen, thankfully, with our students, but I’ve just been around enough different organizations. I’ve seen this where the person gives this great presentation. Any questions and the students are just deer in headlights. And it’s just this awkward moment and some of the faculty then struggle to ask questions, but put yourself out there. Yeah, 100%.

 

Margaret (22:08)

What are the eligibility requirements to apply for WSP?

 

Karen (22:12)

So that’s a great question. The eligibility requirements are at minimum a 2.5 GPA. Obviously it’s better if you have a little bit closer to a 3.0, but we do recognize that, people bring a whole bunch of skills and sometimes they’re finding their footing in their various classes. So we like to make it available to a lot of students. I know that it took me a while to find my footing as a student in college and I was not on the Dean’s List, but I would have really benefited from this program. They need to submit a resume, submit some writing samples and so forth. But all of that is on our website. Then, we strongly encourage them to set up a pre-application meeting with our staff.

 

You need to be at least a sophomore. We are overwhelmingly juniors. And honestly, I think the junior year or senior year is probably when people are the most ready. But absolutely, we take sophomores. We have taken first year students and they’ve done quite well. But that’s on a case by case basis.

 

Fraser (23:22)

We all lived in that building on the circle at Wisconsin and is it Nebraska, I think? Sorry, it’s been so long. And we had a dorm and now you have apartment housing or something. So it was incredible that we got to come up and the housing was taken care of for us, but are they on campus now or not anymore?

 

Karen (23:37)

They have the option of being on campus for most semesters. But overwhelmingly, they can also find their own place to live. Some students just find their own place or they have relatives or whatever. But yes, we now have, we have sponsored housing through our program. I think it’s three pretty luxury condos all around the city with 24-hour concierge. And you’re with all kinds of people. A number of units in each building are ours, meaning, you know, AU’s Washington semester program, that we rent out. But like regular civilians live there, too, for want of a better term. Yeah. So it’s kind of cool. You know, you’re meeting with you kind of interact on the elevator with people from all over and again, those are another moments to network or just make friends, you know, and the students love it, Fraser, and you probably know this, like the, the solidarity that builds in the cohort each class and definitely within the people who live together. These are lifelong friendships. People have gotten married. People have been in each other’s weddings. People are best friends. People have helped others find jobs down the road. I mean, have you seen any of this? Like, are you still in touch with your class?

 

Fraser (25:05)

I was for a very long time. I would say there were probably at least half a dozen of us who kept in touch and still now on Facebook, but everybody kind of stayed in DC for a while. So it was super easy. And then, you know, life happens and we all went separate ways, but yeah, absolutely. I still have, um, I don’t know, probably two or three people that I see somewhat regularly anyway. 

 

Margaret (25:33)

Are there financial aid or scholarship opportunities available for students?

 

Karen (25:37)

Very limited, very limited. It’s a case by case basis and they can, if someone is interested in learning more about this, they can set up an appointment pre-application to talk more about it.

 

Margaret (25:52)

What are some success stories of past students who have gone on to influential careers?

 

Karen (25:57)

Well, we have Frasier and I’m not joking. Certainly Paul Ryan, America Ferrera, Lori Lightfoot, the former mayor of Chicago. Barbara Comstock, Donna Shalala. But then, you know, we also have, names that aren’t quite, you know, the celebrity or the politician level names, but people have gone on to state, they’ve gone on to embassy work, they’ve gone on to I mean, you name it, I feel like we have heard over and over and over again from students just how valuable our program has been in launching them in career paths. What I find most successful is how many people are inspired by going into politics. They’re not disillusioned – they’re inspired by being a civil servant and they’re not disillusioned by that. And they’re inspired by staying in D.C., which I think is a really fun wonderful city – as a DC native – I mean I grew up in Northern Virginia and I can say that we are a fun, hip, interesting great city. People think New York and San Francisco and LA have all of the bells and whistles and they do, but DC’s got a lot of that too. And so I find all of that really inspiring that people want to, most of the people who come through our program, I think, want to dedicate themselves to making the world a better place.

 

Margaret (27:20)

The internships that the students participate in, are they mainly paid or unpaid?

 

Karen (27:26)

You’re not going to get rich being an intern, And we do try to encourage organizations to offer a stipend if they can to offer weekly payment even to offer things like transportation coverage or whatever. But the majority are still unpaid and I think it, you know, we do not guarantee pay placements.

 

Margaret (27:52)

Are there any new developments or future plans for WSP that you’re excited about?

 

Karen (27:57)

Just to keep growing and to keep being able to offer more targeted internships, like we’re seeing now a lot of health care related interests showing up among students. And we’re learning to pivot a little bit to see what opportunities we can cultivate for students in this area, particularly we’re being successful in this in the policy and advocacy areas. Also, architecture is another one. And so we’re trying to see if we can cultivate more opportunities here as well. But I think just to keep on doing what we do best, which is to offer a fabulous experience for students, to keep having faculty who are current and relevant and dedicated, and to have us as the Washington semester staff support them.

 

Margaret (28:49)

Where can interested students learn more about the program and start the application process?

 

Karen (28:54)

Through our website at www.american.edu/Washington-semester-program. That is a mouthful. The best thing probably to do would just be to do a Google search online, AU Washington Semester Program, and it’ll pop right up.

 

Margaret (29:17)

Thank you, Karen. And Fraser, for prospective interns who are looking for opportunities in Washington, DC, how can they sign up for the Traverse Jobs Job Board?

 

Fraser (29:27)

Yes, so just go straight to Traversejobs.com and there’s lots of information there about how to subscribe and we have an entire database dedicated to internships. So if you’re like me and you finish up your spring semester at AU and you want to stay on for the summer, then come find my website and we will help you stay employed here in DC.

 

Margaret (29:50)

Karen, thank you so much for joining us today.

 

Karen (29:53)

Thank you both so much. This was a real pleasure. I loved it and I love what you do. Thank you so much.

 

Margaret (30:00)

Thank you. This has been another episode of Career Pulse DC. We will see you next time.