Chronicles of a capitol hill intern (now full-time hill staffer) — part two
This post continues the series highlighting the helpful steps law students can take to go from intern to full-time position on the Hill. Here, LegalJob follows up with the intern after she learned that she was successful in securing a full-time paid position on the Hill as a staff assistant for one of the Member offices. Congratulations to her!
The Q & A format below (paraphrased for emphasis) should provide some more specific information such that others can take similar action and have similar success. The information will be split into two posts.
LJ: Summarize some take away points you learned on your journey to secure what so many people seek -- a full-time, paid position on the HIll.
Staffer:
1. Have a long view. This was my second position on the Hill as an intern (I worked last summer as an unpaid intern as well).
2. Reach out to as many people as you can. You never know where your most helpful contacts will come from. My latest internship opportunity was a result of my mom's efforts of passing the word along to all her clients, one of which had a son who worked on the Hill and knew about a short-time paid internship opportunity.
3. Be flexible. My preference was to work in a Member's office and not as an intern outside a Member's office. However, I knew that once I was here working it would be easier to network within the Hill for the position I really wanted. Also, I was willing to intern during the day and waitress at night so that I could put myself in the best possible position to secure the job I ultimately wanted.
LJ: What do you mean by being fearless? What did you overcome? How did you do it?
Staffer: I was advised to e-mail people who chief of staff of Member offices. They were decision makers so it made sense but I was just afraid of going so high up. I followed the same approach with these e-mails as other e-mails. I was a constituent (with a job so I was not asking for one) e-mailing to discuss that persons career path and general advice they may have about working on the Hill.
