Over the past summer I was lucky enough to have been picked as one of eleven interns at the Armenian National Committee of America where I served as a legislative intern. This opportunity meant moving to Washington, D.C. for the summer, a city infamous for its influence on global politics and business. Through this position I was able to learn more about American politics, further develop my writing skills, and also apply what I have learned through LSOU into the work I was doing.
My Tasks as an Intern
To commence, each intern was given their own personal project, mine being applying the Global Magnitsky Act, a list of internationally recognised sanctions which are applicable to human rights violations to the appropriate violators. My task here, more specifically, was to read through a number of detailed accounts of these gruesome violations which took place and summarise them in correlation to the sanctions which were applicable. This task was specifically difficult given the accounts were extremely detailed with their description of torture and illegal battle tactics used by Azerbaijani forces during the 2020 war against the Nagarno-Karabakh region of Armenian. Despite the fact that these transcriptions were often hundreds of pages long and extremely dense, my experience as a writer in LSOU aided me given I was already used to reading complex legal documents which spanned such lengths and summarising them so that audiences may easily read through them.
Continuing, given I was one of two Canadian interns, I was also assigned with another project having to do with Canadian international affairs. During the span of the internship I wrote around ten pieces surrounding this topic targeted towards Canadian audiences who may not be well versed in legal affairs. Given I had again done a very similar thing for LSOU, I was able to adapt my skills in order to write for a similar audience.
The last aspect of the internship was our advocacy work. This involved going to Capitol Hill 1-2 times a week in order to speak to senators and congress members as well as foreign affairs staffers in order to explain our policy memos and get them to sign onto House Resolutions and Bills. Through this experience I was able to meet notable figures such as Adam Schiff and Anna Eshoo as well as many other members of staff who deal with foreign affairs. Here it was important to remain confident on what one was speaking by preparing well.
How to Get An Internship
My internship application process was one which was extremely difficult and took up much more time than I had originally imagined. To commence, I began by perfecting my resume. It is important here to note that one's resume does not need to include all the work they have done, in fact it should highlight the positions they have held which best apply to the types of internships which they are applying to. For me this meant highlighting my membership in pre-law clubs at school including LSOU, the Law and Business Association, and others in which I hold executive roles. I made sure to take out any positions which I held in high school which were no longer relevant.
I began applying to summer 2024 internships in November and made it a task to apply to 2 a day. I continued to do this until mid March, the period when many organisations stopped taking in applications. In addition to this, I also took an effort to call local legal clinics for any spaces they may have over the summer. Furthermore, I contacted some of the professors I had grown close to as well as others in an attempt to join them for any research they were going to be doing over the summer.
After doing this I began to be offered interviews. It is important here to note that many of the interviews you may do may not result in being offered a position, however, please consider that the experience of having done an interview in and of itself is a learning experience. Near the end of my application and interview process, I had interviewed for over 50 different positions and though I was of course not offered something at each place, I learned how to skillfully and confidently answer questions.
How to Make a Decision on Where to Intern
By the end of this cycle I had been offered various positions and had difficulty choosing the ones which appealed the most to me. Several factors came into play including location, learning opportunities, and interest. For me, working for an NGO like the ANCA in Washington, D.C. seemed to be the most fulfilling in several ways, leading me to ultimately make that choice.
In conclusion, there is not one way to get an internship. While some may have connections which lead them to more easily be hired, others may have excellent interviewing skills. No matter what, it is key to start as early as possible and have your resume filled with the appropriate information and skills which various organisations may see as adaptable to them. So keep in mind, if you have a ten page resume or a two page one, apply and see what happens. Maybe you'll end up spending the summer in your dream city working on fulfilling which you have idealised for a lifetime.
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