Get in with an internship p1 - Military Transition - Military Times EDGE

If you think “internship” has to mean making copies for peanuts during a school vacation, think again. On a typical day, Army Corps of Engineers intern Jasmine Chopra might visit a work site, create videos to show at an employee town hall meeting, write a bilingual news release about wetlands mitigation or develop strategic plans to guide public outreach meetings.

The former Army Reserve public affairs sergeant applied for the Department of the Army Internship Program in Public Affairs shortly after coming back from Iraq in 2008. She was happy in her job at a domestic violence and rape crisis center, but the California budget emergency convinced her to look for something more stable.

Now, the one-year program is helping her hone her skills to make her military occupational specialty her civilian occupational specialty. “It’s a chance to find out what you really like,” said Chopra, 30. “You try everything, you find what fits and hopefully you can move your career in that direction.”

For those seeking a post-military career change, or just a good entry point into the federal government, internships offer a range of opportunities. These aren’t long-term jobs: Most last just a year and some are only part time. But almost all internships are paid, and they can offer a fast and clear route to a new career track.

“If you are looking to gain some additional experience and to try something out, there is not a better opportunity than the internship track,” said Tim McManus, vice president for education and outreach at the Partnership for Public Service, a nonprofit group working to revitalize the federal work force.

“It allows you to not only to test your skills in that area, but also to see if this agency is the right cultural fit for you.”

Be prepared to dig

Nearly every federal agency offers some form of entry-level internship, often aimed at recent college graduates but sometimes available to others in different places along the career path.

But the programs fly below the radar for many job seekers because there is no central repository for federal internship opportunities.

Chopra came across hers while digging deep in the library’s career section. “I didn’t even know there was a Department of the Army internship program in journalism and communication. Otherwise I would have applied even sooner,” she said.

The “Students” link on the front page of http://www.USAjobs.gov can be a good starting point, but agencies don’t have to include internships in their searchable listings. Openings typically have to be ferreted out from agency Web pages, where they may be tucked away on the “Jobs” tab, or filed under “For Students.”

Which agencies to contact? That depends on your career goals. “Ultimately the reason to look at internships is to move toward full-time employment in that arena, so it should be an area where you have a genuine interest,” McManus said.

Another way to go about it is to follow the jobs. The Partnership for Public Service offers analysis of which federal agencies likely will be hiring in the coming years at http://www.wherethejobsare.org. McManus said these predictions can serve as a guide for those seeking internships as a step up the career ladder.

The best way to land an internship is to convince the hiring authorities that this is more than one internship among many: This is the one you really want. “The key to any of this is in ensuring that you are applying for something that really meets your skills and interests and experience levels,” McManus said.

While many internships are competitive, your status as a veteran may give you an edge. Federal veterans’ hiring preferences apply to some programs, including the Federal Career Intern Program and the Presidential Management Fellows Program. The Fellows program, a prestigious two-year leadership internship offered by the Office of Personnel Management, places recent graduate students in federal agencies according to their expertise. Only 800 interns were chosen last year out of 8,700 applicants, McManus said. More than 100 were veterans.

Even if hiring preferences do not apply to an internship, an agency may give veterans priority. The Justice Department’s legal intern program is exempted from federal hiring regulations governing veterans preference, but “the Department follows the principle of veterans’ preference in its legal intern selection procedures as far as administratively feasible,” according to its website.

For Chopra, the best thing about her internship has been the opportunity it has given her to see her future career from every angle.

“In 5½ months I have been to San Juan, Puerto Rico. I have seen more than 50 Corps of Engineer projects. I have been exposed to geologists, engineers,” she said. “I can’t imagine I could have done all those assignments if I wasn’t going through the internship process.”

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What’s out there

A sampling of federal internship opportunities:

• Department of Defense Professional Development Programs: A variety of internships with the Army, Navy, Air Force, Defense Logistics Agency and Defense Finance and Accounting Service.

http://www.godefense.com/prof-dev.html.

• Federal Career Intern Program: Paid, two-year professional development program for recent college graduates and individuals with relevant experience. Veterans’ hiring preferences apply. For a list of agencies that participate in FCIP, go to http://www.makingthedifference.org/federalinternships/employmentprograms.shtml

• Secret Service Cooperative Education Employment: A two-year practical training program. Interns work closely with special agents in Secret Service field offices to gain practical experience.

http://www.secretservice.gov/opportunities_scep.shtml

• State Department Internship Program: Interns may write reports on human rights issues, assist with trade negotiations, help Americans abroad or organize visits of high-level officials.

http://careers.state.gov/students/