With the impending "brain drain" of the federal government - a massive wave of retiring government workers - recruiting qualified applicants into public service is more important than ever.
Internships are one of the most underrated tools for identifying and engaging unsuspecting new talent. Through internships, employers can showcase the type of work, environment, and various career paths inside a particular government agency. Those with a keen eye can determine potential leaders from the interns they hire and work to keep them in government and train them accordingly.
Clearly, the challenge is getting the interns "hooked" on government work, at least enough so that they want to apply for government jobs. So it behooves government managers to not just have positions available to interns, but to offer positions and mentoring components of those positions to get an intern exposed to interesting things happening around them. Sitting them in a corner to make photocopies and bind three ring binders will hardly induce enthusiasm for government work.
For the intern, the biggest value to a government internship is the proverbial "foot in the door." An internship with the federal government is a useful resume-builder, particularly for entry into the federal government after graduation. References and contacts only sweeten the deal. The intern also is able to see if government work is right for him or her, before making the paperwork plunge into bureaucracy permanently.
As you would expect from an entity as large as the federal government, there are many different types of internships, varying in length, location, education level, and pay. Unlike the normal process for federal jobs, most internships are run entirely by each individual agency or department, with only a marginal link to the Office of Personnel Management.
The most basic and most common type of internship is the typical "Summer Internship Program" offered to college undergraduates, typically lasting from the end of May to the middle of August. The approximately 800 interns working at the State Department this summer fall into this category.
There are also many technical and security focused internships with the federal government. Technology and national security are becoming increasingly intertwined, and according to the Partnership for Public Service, security and IT are two of the biggest needs, with 62,863 hires needed for Security, Protection, Compliance and Enforcement, and 11,562 needed for IT in the next two years.
The need is only beginning to filter down to the internship level, but the Department of Homeland Security now offers a bevy of student employment opportunities, and many agencies, including the Congressional Budget Office and the National Security Agency, now offer IT-specific internships.
The government has also developed multiple internship and fellowship programs that offer a much more in-depth experience in government service. The Presidential Management Fellows Program is one such program, training future federal government leaders in a prestigious two-year program. The Federal Career Intern Program offers similar training on an agency-by-agency basis.
Since most internship programs are administered by individual agencies, each agency is also responsible for targeting its program for the most qualified applicants. The ways an internship is marketed are both obvious and subtle. Larger and more prestigious institutions, such as the CIA, State Department, and the Department of Homeland Security take a direct and personal approach, routinely sending recruiting representatives to university career fairs and often hold information sessions as well. On the other side is the internet posting landscape. Every agency will typically post its internship program on the agency website at a minimum, and may also post the internship in other, more centralized locations.
A more subtle form of marketing involves the application deadline and the compensation offered. Almost all government internships are unpaid. Stipends for transportation costs are available, but are minimal. The government must then rely on other forms of compensation to attract top applicants.
According to Tim McManus, Vice President of Education and Outreach at the Partnership for Public Service, the appeal of government work does not lie in the paycheck for students. "Students are interested in more than just money. Government service offers an unprecedented opportunity to ‘make a difference,'" said McManus.
So where should one look to find the ideal internship with the federal government? Each agency will post internship listings on the agency's website, but because each agency is individually responsible for their internship programs, there is no centralized location for listings. Many agencies will post their listings on the internship adaptation of USAJobs.com, StudentJobs.com, although they are not required to do so.
Third-party postings are also common on sites such as Craigslist, HillZoo, and yours truly, OhMyGov!. The most extensive database of federal government internships is maintained and managed by the Partnership for Public Service, available at http://makingthedifference.org. Other places to search are Indeed.com and Avuecentral.com, two different meta-search tools for a wide range of sites.
The final way to discover internship opportunities in the federal government is by networking. Whether it is at a job fair, a family friend, or a former intern, networking opens doors both before and after the application process. Navigating the internship battlefield can be tough, but with preparation and persistence, landing one with the federal government is well within reach and well worth the investment in the long run.
By Chris Perry