| Your college-age son or daughter may have just headed back to school, but now is the prime time to be thinking about spring and summer internships if they want to work in DC. In fact, the very first 2019 Summer Internship posting on Brad Traverse Jobs was listed three months ago on October 17th, and the White House Internship program is already closed for summer applications! That may seem a little ahead of the game, but for many of the best internship opportunities, the early bird definitely gets the worm.
Summer is when internships are at their all-time high. An estimated 20,000 interns descend on DC, with the largest concentration on Capitol Hill (around 6,000). Many are posted on Brad Traverse Jobs, but you should also target your local congressman and senators, and any advocacy groups you are passionate about. The great news is that almost two-thirds of the internships on Brad Traverse Jobs are paid or include a stipend for transportation costs! And for the first time in decades, Congress finally appropriated money to pay interns on Capitol Hill. These salaries may not cover all the costs of moving to and living in DC, but it helps. And many students are able to get college credit for internships, which can be a huge financial savings depending on your school. There are also still a lot of spring internship opportunities open (more than 300 currently posted on Brad Traverse Jobs), since those tend to be a little harder to fill — it’s mostly local students, recent graduates, and newcomers to the area looking to get a foot in the door. Spring is a great time to do an internship in Washington. The city is beautiful with its cherry blossoms in bloom, and with fewer interns in offices, the work can often be more substantial. Research shows that students who have internships are far more likely to receive a job offer in their field by graduation. So don’t delay any longer — make those internship plans now! |
