Category Archives: Philippa

The Big Picture

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When I came to Scripps College, I had a vague understanding of what I wanted to study [politics]. Some people have a clear path [pre-Med, pre-Law] and I think I took my friends’ steadfast career intuition a little too seriously my freshman and sophomore year. While most people at age 18, especially those who choose to attend a well-rounded, liberal arts college, do not know exactly what professional field they want to pursue, I felt like I was the only one who did not have a concrete plan of action. If you’re feeling like this as an underclassman – DON’T! Screen Shot 2015-06-26 at 3.11.47 PM

During my hiatus on “finding the perfect career and major”, I invested hours in trying to discover my perfect career and major. I became obsessed with personality quizzes that claimed to find your one-true job. I pestered all my upperclassmen friends with questions on how to pick a major/career. I looked at CEOs and world leaders’ Wikipedia pages to find their majors and previous jobs. I went to a ton of CP&R career-info sessions [even one on the CIA!]. I looked everywhere to find answers to these questions when in fact, they don’t have always have concentrate answers.

Yes, by sophomore year students have to declare a major. But your major by no means determines your career. So while majors are not the-end-all-be-all, still you should not make this important decision based solely on an online quiz, or what your friend thinks they see you doing. If anything, these quizzes and friends will reinstate the qualities and personality traits you already know you have. So take outside viewpoints into consideration, but really think about what classes excite you and what classwork interested you the most. I chose Public Policy Analysis because the most interesting class discussions surrounded public policies. I found that all my papers [in CORE, Economics, even Spanish] focused on how social and economic policies affected people. When looking through the course catalog for the upcoming year, the classes that sparked my interest the most were all in the Public Policy Analysis Department.

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In regards to a career, my extensive research showed me that there is absolutely no way I can formulate a definite career path at age 20. Careers take twists and turns, hit bumps, and are fast-tracked. My internship experience has told me a lot more about what type of career I want than quizzes or friends’ opinions. I enjoyed the exciting pace of legislative work, and how it was always tied in to relevant events. I also enjoyed working in all-women environments, which I have been able to do for the past two summers [and at Scripps]. I also learned that it’s good to have long-term goals, but it might be more practical to have short-term goals [i.e. where do I want to be right after college, not where do I want to be before I retire]. So if you’re unsure the answers to life’s “big” questions, do. not. panic. By focusing on what I’m interested in at the moment [public policy, women’s rights, labor economics] and beginning to formulate short-term plans [researching graduate schools] I do not feel overwhelmed, but I do feel productive!

The Interview

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Like the college application process, interviews are the only way an applicant can really show off their personality. If you have an interview for a job, congrats! You are really in a great position – you know that the employer thinks you have the credentials, work experience, and skill set needed for the position. Interviews are for confirming that you would fit in, that you’d be a positive addition to the workforce, and that you’re able to communicate clearly. Below is a list of websites that talk about what interviewers look for, as well as my responses to them. I draw on my experiences interviewing both in person and on the phone.

Positivity is a must – though interviewers want to see that you take the job seriously, speaking with anything but a smile is not going to win over your interviewer. Smiling also reinstates how confident you are and how excited you are about the job opportunity. Maturity is also needed, especially when you are up against other college-aged candidates because it will set you apart. I tend to speak really fast and use abbreviations/slang/”like” so I always watch myself and make sure I speak slowly during interviews. I have been interviewed by people who are young and seem buddy-buddy, and I’ve been tempted to disclose fun stories and start using slang. One interviewer started talking about concerts, and while I could have talked all about my concert-going experiences, I caught myself because it was not work-related. Also, appearance is the first thing interviewers register when they see you. There’s no “magic” outfit that will get you the job so anything goes as long as you look neat, clean, and professional.  I always wear a dress, blazer, black shoes, and no jewelry with my hair pulled back.

There are important qualities on this list that interviewers look for, though it is hard to get these qualities across sometimes. A common question in an interview is “tell me about your previous job”. I always have a 2-minute response prepared that shows I am a hard worker [I worked 40 hours a week in my last job], a team player [I explain a school project I worked on and what my role was in it], and a problem solver/prepared/detail-oriented [I explain a problem that arose during this group project and the steps I took to fix it]. When prepping for this interview question, I always think “ok, what qualities of mine do I want them to know I have,” then I memorize a few work/school experiences that show these qualities.

Do. your. research. Citing a recent article/news event that is relevant to the company, or even a study conducted by the organization, will show you are already invested in the job and that you have respect for the organization. I  do this when the hiring manager asks “how did you find out about us?” Speaking enthusiastically about what you learned so far about the company gives the hiring manager confidence that you will be a positive contributor. Also be prepared with a copy of your resume, references, transcript, and cover letter. One time I did not bring these materials in because I assumed they would already have them from my application – turns out they were somewhat disorganized and lost my materials, so when it was time for them to choose an intern, they did not have my cover letter, resume, or references.

If you stumble over words, forget the name of your old boss, or mispronounce something, don’t freak out! In my experience, it’s the overall impression from the interview that is important i.e. how you carry yourself. Interviews are inherently nerve-wracking, but have the confidence that you’ve made it this far, read up on the organization, and look sharp!

First Thing’s First: The Internship Search

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A summer internship in itself isn’t too scary: you’re prepared to work hard, learn new things everyday, and be challenged to do your best. Probably the hardest part of the internship is finding it.

This is my third summer interning, and my interests, skills, and places of work have changed greatly. I’ll take you through my thought process throughout my internship searches to show how I explored, narrowed down, and applied to internships.

Two summers ago I was pushed to apply to internships I didn’t even know existed. I was waitressing when one of my customers asked me what I was going to major in at college (this was the summer before my first year at Scripps). When I replied “politics”, he exploded with questions: what are you doing at a restaurant? Why aren’t you out on a campaign? Have you contacted any of your state representatives? I never knew internship opportunities were available to students with no experience, and never thought I could contact places of work on my own without a reference. With my customer’s encouragement, I emailed my representatives at local, state, and federal levels in mid-June. In my email I wrote that I was interested in studying politics in college, wanted to have a career in the government, and included a few of my political extracurricular activities. I heard back within a day from one office and was called in for an interview: the next week I was in the State House twice a week as an unpaid intern. This internship search was unique because it made me realize that just by putting myself out there (with no resume, no real-world credentials) I could surprise myself and get positive responses (though I only had one interview, 2 other offices expressed interest in meeting me). I also learned from my customer that if I am truly interested in a certain field, I should be actively working in it, even if only part-time and even if not in the most glamorous setting.

After a year of Scripps under my belt, and experience working directly in the government, I wanted to intern at an organization that focused on women’s equality in politics. My main search tools were CP&R’s internship search engines (indeed.com, internhub.com) and Google. Though I had a pretty clear idea of what I wanted to do, it took a lot of time to go through all the internships that came up when I searched politics + women + intern. Using synonyms (government + campaign) generated even more results, but after a few months of searching, several internships kept coming up that interested me. I started the search in the fall, and found it fun (but somewhat tedious) to search through all the possible internships. I was able to manage the internship search by designating an hour every weekend to search for internships. By March break I had applied to almost 10, having no idea how competitive the process was or how I stacked up against other applicants. Like the college application process, I applied to some that seemed very competitive (i.e. Governor’s office, PACs), average (i.e. my state’s democratic party, offices that I emailed last summer), and easy (i.e. campaigns that are always looking for as many people). I had positive responses from more places than I thought I would, and was able to intern at an organization that focused on getting women elected.

This internship made me realize that politics was not for me, and I changed my major to public policy analysis (PPA). I had a very unclear idea of what I wanted to do this past summer, but I learned from last year’s long, drawn out process that I had people who were more than willing to talk with me about internships. So this past year I took CP&R’s advice and asked current students who are PPA majors what they did over the summer, went through Life Connections and talked to PPA graduates about their work, and asked professors for internship ideas. This helped me immensely: PPA was new territory for me, and I wasn’t sure what exactly I wanted to do with my summer. Instead of looking on website search engines, I utilized personal connections to learn about possible internships. After looking at internships closely online, I applied to about 5 internships, all in slightly different fields (consulting interested me from talks with alumnae, research institutions were encouraged by my professors) but all relating to PPA. Because I spent less time searching for internships, I was able to focus on the applications and interviews. This summer I will be interning for an organization that focuses on women in public policy.