Making Internships Count

I just spent the last week on vacation. It was so great to get away from work for a few days and go a few places I've never been before.

But, anyway, I am back now. And I would like to talk a little bit about internships. On Experience's Homepage, there is an article titled "Milking Your Internship." The most important point the author makes is "You may feel like a student, but you are expected to act like a professional."

That is so true. The way you land jobs from internships, especially in an economic environment like the one we are currently experiencing, is to act more professional than your boss.

One of my classmates had an internship for a Member of Congress last year, and the internship coordinator didn't really put a lot of effort in to his job. So my friend, thought "oh that's just the way it is in this office, you don't have to work very hard." Well, after a couple of weeks, he realized his boss was just lazy and started working as hard as possible at his internship. Well, once summer hit, the intern coordinator got let go, and guess who was offered the job? Yep. My classmate.

You really need to show them you are willing to do work that isn't super gratifying, yet needs to be done. And you need to have a great attitude and show you are interested, not only in your job, but also the entire industry. It's what has helped my of my peers land a job, including myself.

Photo from Carleton.edu

Taxation with Representation

I am sure you have all heard about the recent issues regarding our almost Secretary of Health and Human Services- Tom Daschle. Earlier this week, Daschle withdrew as nominee for HHS Secretary because of a controversy about his tax records and some activites he was involved in that some may consider lobbying. Wow.

This just goes to show you that even if you are a very important person, or maybe you aren't very important just yet, you still need to pay attention to your taxes, because, overall taxes are a good thing. If we didn't have taxes, many of the things we take for granted would disappear. An example I always like to use it street lights. If we didn't have taxes and people were in charge of just randomy contributing to building a street light in the neighborhood, noone would ever contribute or get around to it- they would just assume someone else would take care of it. And if you have any interest at all in working for the government, where do you think your paycheck is going to come from? That's right. Taxes.

It is necessary to pay attention to every little detail about taxes and not try to get away with anything that may be considered dishonest. You never know, many years from now it may cost you a nomination for a cabinet position- or maybe just a job.

**Photo from cnn.com**

Welcome Back!

Hello everyone! Now we have ourselves in a new year, a new Congress and a new administration. There is going to be lots and lots of exciting topics for me to discuss with you in the coming months!

One thing is on everybody's mind these days though. Yep, you guessed it: The economy. Nothing I tell you here is going to ensure you find your dream job by the time you graduate. Much of my advice is not proven and has no scientific evidence. But it is, as least I think it is, good advice. Just things to ponder and things that may help you get a little further ahead in the job search, or the workplace.

In last week's The Washington Post there was an entire section devoted to "Jobs." And there was a "Job Chat" column on the front page that featured Derrick T. Dortch, president of the Diversa Group, who is a career counselor who specializes in government job searches. The main point of the article is that maybe people who apply to jobs, namely the CIA, get rejected the first time. And he suggests that if you have been working to prepare yourself for work in the CIA and got rejected the first time, like many do, you probably are qualified for a multitude of other jobs in the intelligence industry. So maybe try to work at a different, related agency for awhile to get some more relevant experience and then, who knows, maybe you will land that dream job with the CIA.

The main point- don't be discouraged and definately don't be afraid to expand the job search.