Finding an Internship

Now that we're aquainted, let's talk internships!

Finding an internship can be a challenge—especially in DC in the summer, especially when competing with students coming from all over the country, especially when everyone in my program (museum studies) is searching for an internship too. If I multiply these factors by my own personal expectations, the field gets narrower. If I add in the fact that I have very little experience in my field outside of my class work, I start to wonder if anyone would even be interested in having me as an intern. In addition, as a full time GWU employee, I have to wonder if anyone will be willing to work with my crazy schedule.

Luckily, my first internship has been a great experience, but it was a little nerve-wracking getting there.

The Museum Studies program requires two internships of 260 hours, which equals 6 credits towards my degree. When I met with our internship coordinator she told me that I should look for two different organizations to intern for (for example, if I did my first internship at a Smithsonian museum, I should look for my second at a non-Smithsonian location). She also told me that I should try to secure my dream internship as my second experience, because if they liked my work and had any positions open I would be in a much better place for hire after graduation. Then she gave me a list of museums and organization in the DC area who had worked with our students in the past.

With these tips in mind, I started my internship search last spring, trying to determine if there would be a way to marry my work and class schedule with time to do an internship for that coming summer. I started by systematically looking up each organization on my list to determine if I would enjoy interning there. I found a few that sounded like a good fit for either my undergraduate academic interests in biology and history or my future career goals and I zoned in on my ‘dream’ placement to keep in mind for my second internship. I sent out emails to the contacts for my top choices and wound up with three interviews: one with the design department at the National Museum of Natural History (NMNH), one with the Exhibits department at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and one with the Exhibits department at the National Geographic Museum.

In the end, I like to say that those first contacts and subsequent meetings were a learning opportunity for me; I had to face two of my biggest concerns, my limited schedule and my own expectations, right off the bat and I realized that trying to navigate the design world with little knowledge of what to expect was challenging.

For the NIH, the largest hurdle was the commute—it took me almost an hour and a half to get there from my apartment in Alexandria—and it would not have been practical to make that kind of commute fit in with my work schedule. On top of that, the exhibits department had a very small budget and minimal part time staff. In some instances, a small staff and budget can be a great opportunity for an intern to be really involved and see their work really come to fruition. In other cases, it can be a bit of a scattered working environment. With my only exhibit design experience coming from my class work, I felt like I really needed more guidance than they could give. Strike One.

Next I met with the National Geographic Museum. They were interviewing for two interns who could share a work space. Unfortunately they wanted someone who was available to work 9:00am – 5:00pm two days a week, plus a half day. Coupled with my internal disappointment at the small number of exhibits actually present in the museum, this opportunity was not going to work out either. Strike Two.

Lastly, I met with the head designer at the NMNH. While my schedule didn’t seem like an issue, they didn’t have the design opportunities that I was looking for. Each Smithsonian operates differently and some contract out their design work, while some have an exhibits department in-house. NMNH contracted out and I didn’t have the skills for the kind of design work that they did do in-house. They offered me a more development/research based opportunity working with an exhibit’s online component, but at that point in my studies, I really felt like I needed the more design-focused experience for my long term career goals. It would have been a great opportunity, but with limited time to in my life to focus on my internships, I needed to make sure that each one was a perfect fit for my career path. Strike Three.

During the process of interviewing, I realized that I was actually fairly unprepared. My resume had been tailored to finding my job at GW and while I had tweaked it to reflect my design experience, I realized that I didn’t have enough experience to look exceptional and the experience I did have was not highlighted correctly. I also did not have a portfolio since I had never had a design job or internship before. It was clear that I had a lot of work to do before I tried to interview again.

It seems that an internship that summer just wasn’t meant to be.

Next post: The importance of networking.

Who? What? Why?

Just to start us off, here is a little bit about me and why I decided to start this blog:

About me:
I am a second year graduate student in the College of Arts and Sciences at George Washington University, working on my M.A. in Museum Studies with a concentration in Exhibition Development and Design. I am also a full time GW employee, working in the GW Career Center in the Career Learning and Experiences Department. I am a native of Virginia, though I’m new to the Washington DC area.

Purpose:
The purpose of this blog is to provide a student perspective on the internship process and internship experience. Internships are a big part of GWU and they are an even bigger part of Washington DC culture. Each year thousands of students descend on Washington for the opportunity to work alongside congressmen, intern with non-profits, and pursue opportunities with private companies. This blog will discuss my own internship experience, and hopefully provide insightful tips into navigating the complex world of being an intern, a student, and a staff member, as well as keeping a perspective on my personal life.