How to Approach the Internship Search

2026 Updates: "Success Stories" is now "Student Stories" on our website. Also, AI means the applying without networking is even more soul-sucking these days...

Amy and Susan discuss internship search strategies for government, policy and social impact They detail the three elements of a good search strategy and how to spend your time for maximum results. Some of the resources they mention in this podcast:

• Washington University in St. Louis's Alumni & Student page on LinkedIn - find out what others have done with your major, in a particular city, or at a particular employer. Useful for expanding your target list too. Simply look up the organization you're interested in and scroll down a bit to find similar organizations. 
• CCE's Summer Internship Fund 
• Academic Credit for Internship varies by school. The Arts and Sciences policy is here. 

Transcript

[Auto-generated transcript. Edits may have been applied for clarity.]
Hello everyone. This is Amber Brown and Ahmar Ursani.

We are both GPSI career coaches, and we're here to provide a few updates and a refresh on our existing podcast series.

So some of our episodes use our old community name, but we want to clarify that our new community name is Government Policy and Social Impact.

Or you can just say GPSI, see for short.

We want to highlight our updated career engagement model as well in this episode because it helps us contextualize the work we do.

So I'm going to give you a brief overview of the stages, and you can see more in the show notes.

So it starts with understanding yourself, which is super important for reflection and visioning possibilities,

preparing to the actual search and apply process.

And then finally when you're actually engaging in your opportunity.

So you may also hear in some of our older podcast episodes, a reference to what's called a live chat.

And we wanted to make sure you noted that it's no longer in existence, but instead we have a different resource,

which we have various in-person drop in hours that we had that are GPS specific throughout the week.

And there was also a time that you can meet our career peers. Um, available Monday through Friday for on demand support.

Additionally, we no longer use canvas. All the resources have migrated to our GPS website.

A link again will be provided in the show notes. And our last technology update is we want to discuss Career link.

It's now handshake. So in handshake it's our one stop shop for career related events job and um, job and internship postings.

You can schedule your appointments there and more. And to close, we want to state that our annual Career expo now has a GPS specific focus day,

where employers from our industry come to you to discuss career options.

This, along with our annual Changemaker Summit, which brings local nonprofits to campus, helps you see how you can make an impact on our world.

So thank you so much for listening to this. If you have any additional questions, feel free to reach out to anyone on our team.

Hope you're having a good day. See you. Yeah. Thank you.

Welcome to the GPP podcast for budding politicos, policy wonks and advocates.

I'm Amy Heath Carpentier. And I'm Susan Crick.

As career counselors in Washington University's career center and co-directors of the Government and Policy Work Group,

we walk alongside burgeoning policy wonks, politicos and change agents as they chart their paths to change the world.

This podcast is for you if you're interested in hearing tips and techniques that will position you to find your place in the fast moving,

mission driven world of politics, policy and advocacy.

So today we're going to talk about your internship search, and it's useful to remember the intent of the internship.

It's to gain exposure to a field of interest and to just try things out.

If you keep this in mind as you're searching, it will open your eyes to a lot of opportunities to meet that goal.

Gaining exposure and trying things on can happen in a lot of ways, not just in a formal internship program.

So our piece of advice is to think of internships broadly.

Also, when your intent is just to try things out and, um, and you realize that you don't like something, this is really valuable insight.

We hear a lot of stories from students about, you know,

what a waste their summer was or how they really were disappointed, the lack of substantive work they had.

Um, you know, they realize that there's the law firms just not for them or working on the Hill, maybe working on a campaign.

But the truth is that this is a really valuable experience.

Right. If you've, um, come away recognizing what you do and don't like,

you've probably got some insights into yourself as well and the type of work environment that may or may not work for you.

You've kind of saved yourself, right from taking a job in a place where you wouldn't be happy.

So it's important to kind of remember that you really do want to think broadly and

appreciate that it's a process in which you learn about yourself and the work environment.

So with those two things in mind, we're going to start by talking about mission versus function.

And this is a useful way to think about the way you're approaching your search.

So every position, every job out there in the world has a mission or industry and a function.

And the other thing to keep in mind is that there are three parts to any good search.

And those three parts are targeting, networking and job listings.

And Amy, I think this is the drawback to our podcast. We're not going to be able to see your drawings on the board.

Um, but I'm confident that we'll be able to paint a picture for our listeners of what those three points in the triangle look like.

It's a really useful framework that I think helps students to prioritize personal interactions over applications.

So let's before we visualize that triangle, let's talk about that mission and function distinction a little bit more.

Um, I think many of us in this realm lead with mission, right?

We're interested in a certain issue, be it, uh, immigration or education, national security, criminal justice reform.

And we seek out organizations that are committed to advancing those missions.

We're less concerned about how we contribute. We're more more willing to do whatever is needed in service of that mission.

For others, though, and there are some of you out there, there, you're maybe less committed to one issue.

Perhaps you have a variety of issues you're interested in, but you're very, you know, keen on a particular function.

So a function is what you do in the service of the mission.

So maybe it's communications, maybe it's community organizing or analysis.

You know, that you like to write. Research deal with data analytics.

Coordinate and organize events, work with people.

The mission of the organization matters, but you might be interested in contributing to a variety of missions.

If you're leading your search by function, you're leading it with your skills.

You can hone your search by the type of position, internship, or job that you're going for.

And I think, um, some people may not fit neatly into either of those or maybe both of them,

but I think it is really helpful to think about the distinction and then maybe even organize your target list based on mission or,

or several missions that you're interested in, and then the function or where you might be able to do, um, kind of that skill first sort of work.

So that leads us to target lists. Amy. All right.

So if you're listening to this and you can, I would encourage you to draw a equilateral triangle on your piece of paper.

And at the top part of that triangle, I'm going to give you your first step in a good search.

And this strategy, um, triangle Susan and I developed for government policy advocacy and nonprofits.

And we find it really works to conceptualize how you should approach your search.

So the top point of the triangle is targeting.

So what is targeting targeting is Focusing in your search on a group of organizations, those organizations might be a little varied.

You might have, particularly in a functional search.

You might have, um, you know, 3 or 4 organizations that do criminal justice reform and one organization or four organizations that doesn't.

Migration or immigration issues. You can break it up.

But the idea here is that you have a living document that you keep track of organizations you're interested in working for, and this is exploring.

It's the first step in, in looking out, um, from your position into what exists in the world of work.

And so people do this in all kinds of ways. They create Google Spreadsheets, they use apps like Evernote or Notes.

But what doesn't work is open tabs on your browser.

You can't really organize open tabs on your browser, nor can you share that with someone that you're talking to.

So get a piece of paper. Get it? Open a doc file and just start thinking to yourself, what are organizations that I'm interested in?

You may start with 5 or 6. That's fine. Come and talk to one of us.

Look at the resources on the campus web page and build from there.

Um, the target list will really help you as you move forward. And a good way to expand that target list is with the next point on the triangle.

And before we go further, I'm just going to admit I have like 14 tabs open on my computer right now.

But the networking piece, I think is helpful because it can help you grow the target list.

Right? You may only have 2 or 3 organizations to start with on your list,

but if you can talk to people and tell them about those couple of organizations that are interesting to you,

they will quickly be able to give you some feedback and to make that target list grow.

Now, I think a lot of students, Amy, are kind of intimidated by networking when we talk about it.

So I want you to think broadly about what networking means.

It can mean a number of different things. It doesn't mean just like mingling at a cocktail party.

Um, and I think you describe it well when you talk about passive versus active networking,

and thinking about it in that way helps you realize that a lot of the work that you can do doesn't require you to,

uh, be mingling at a cocktail party. Absolutely.

So, um, passive networking can be coming to GPP on Fridays, right?

It can be talking to people, alums that we know who are coming to to share their their experiences in the working world.

It could be listening to a podcast.

It could be, um, attending a think tank event and understanding, you know, who are some of the experts on this issue?

Um, where do they reside?

What what are the main, you know, what are the things that they're arguing about, are thinking are top of mind right now with that issue?

That's a really good way to just kind of get to know the field and get to know the opportunities that are out there.

And then the more active networking would be conducting some informational interviews and maybe going to some of those events where you're mingling.

But I think for an internship search, the best and like lowest hanging fruit is to do what we call is lateral networking,

which just means talk to other students, find people who've done interesting internships and see how they got them and

what what the experience was like and what they're going to do next summer. And this is really not difficult to do.

We have a resource on our website called Success Stories that you can search.

And also LinkedIn is just a tremendous resource for finding people who've done interesting things.

And then reach out to them, send them an email and ask them if they're willing to talk about what they did and what it was like.

One little tip there, if you are on LinkedIn,

is that you can easily go to the Washu alumni group and restrict the alumni that it shows to people who've graduated in the last couple of years,

and then put in a keyword or a location, and you'll be able to find people that way as well.

So that's just another way to find young alum or fellow students who've been interning who may not be in success stories.

And we're going to do a whole podcast around networking strategies in a couple of episodes.

So stay tuned for more tips and tricks on that. Absolutely.

So let's go to listings. So what are job listings?

So job listings or internship listings are coming from an organization.

And they put them out there at various times of the year.

Now. Internships you usually will see, you know, periodically throughout the year.

National security ones tend to come earlier. And then, you know, we start to see things ramping up as we get into, um, you know, uh, February, March,

etc. more of the advocacy type ones tend to be a little later in the semester,

maybe even closer to April or May, which can be very hard for some of our students.

And we know that. But listings is where you go and you look for the actual posting.

You know, it's it is, um, more of a, uh, a receptive kind of form of searching.

It's where you go to a job board. Maybe you're using career Link.

Um, maybe you're using the GPP newsletter for some job listings.

You might be using other resources, like jobs that are left, left for left leaning internships or, you know, hill jobs, types of of job boards.

A couple things to know about that. One, not all job boards, um, contain all job listings or internship listings.

A lot of times organizations just put their internships on their own websites, too.

If there's an organization you're really interested in, they may have an opportunity,

but they just may not choose to list it, so that's something to keep in mind.

That you can always do outreach. You never know who might be willing to take an intern.

Um, but the key here is that the job boards that have, uh, a greater exposure,

in other words, that more people are looking at like, and indeed, or an idealist, you know,

everyone can apply to those jobs versus the in the know job boards that you either have to be part of a group to know about, like,

you know, like the career link one or the government public policy workgroup boards or, you know, are just kind of inside scoop things.

Um, like there's a progressive data analytics job board that's out there.

So knowing that, um, can help you realize that there's only so many, you know, time or so much time that you actually want to spend on listings.

Most internship opportunities come through some combination of talking to people, you know,

a fellow student interning there the year before, and they just reach out to their advisor and say, hey, I know so-and-so applied, FYI.

I think they're great.

Um, or, you know, something comes through the newsletter and you see an internship and you see an alumni coordinating that internship,

and maybe you reply to that. So it's often a combination of networking and listings.

But in your search, I encourage you to spend no more than 75% of your time.

Um, sorry, no more than 25% of your time on listings and 75% you want to be targeting and networking.

Um, and that's so that you can get the most, uh, learning and benefit from both the search and the application process.

And it's kind of a way you're exploring along the way.

Plus, the data shows that you will land faster and happier if you're doing most of your time and targeting and networking.

And I think the other key to that that's really worth remembering is that if you live on the listings you are,

it is going to be just soul sucking, right?

I mean, it really is painful because you you do tons of applications, you submit all these materials, you spend lots of time putting those together.

And then for all that time and energy that you expend, you're going to get maddeningly few responses.

But if you spend your energy on the networking piece, you're going to be engaging with people in the field.

You're going to be learning new things. You're going to be, um, finding about some opportunities that may not be on job boards like you mentioned.

And, and you're really going to have some context to show from it. Um, so if nothing else, you've got a wide network.

Um, so I think that's an important reminder because it does get to be a real, um,

if you could kind of get mired in that hole, um, it can be hard to claw your way back out of.

It's completely reactive. Yeah. You know, you're just reacting to what pulls and comes in front of you,

which means that when you're not applying, because maybe it's not the right time to apply.

You feel like you're doing nothing.

And I also think like if we you know, you said earlier at the beginning, let's think about the the intent is about exposure and trying things on.

And so especially for the internship piece, um, you know, listings aren't aren't all that.

They're just I mean, it's a small portion of what's available to you.

And if and if you have ideas about how you could contribute to places or what you might be doing, it may not, it might not.

The listing might not exist, but but the opportunity might.

If you're able to talk to people and be able to articulate it.

And especially now, I think a lot of organizations came to realize over this last summer that having virtual interns works,

and there's ways for people to contribute without being in the building.

So I think there's really, you know, if you can be an advocate for yourself and identify ways in which you can contribute to an organization,

and then and then find a way to tell them that I think there are real opportunities there.

So let's talk just one last thing About informational interviews versus listings.

So if it hasn't sold you already on thinking about informational interviewing, even if it's just laterally with fellow students, the data does so.

It takes an average of 200 resumes to an applications to land a position.

And that's for jobs.

It takes 18 roughly informational interviews and government policy advocacy, and 11 in other fields in order to land what you should say,

what you should think about that is when you rather have 18 20 minute conversations that you're actually getting something from,

then spend all that time writing cover letters.

Because does anyone really enjoy writing cover letters? I mean, I certainly don't.

So one of the things I'll say in addition to that is that, you know, when you're when you're searching for people to informational interview with,

just show people your target list and they may be able to give you some good ideas too.

But you know, if you are feeling like this is a little bit of a struggle, we are here.

Come to the government policy workgroup, get on a calendar, and we are happy to help you out.

And we're going to talk about each point in the triangle in our coming episodes.

So stay tuned next time when we talk some more about targeting.

And then we'll talk further about networking as well as the listings.

So until next time, keep working to imprint the world.