I got an internship!
Mar. 9th, 2006 05:45 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
greybetaAlthough, it's an unpaid internship, so I still need to get a job that pays actual money.
So yeah, I put on a suit today and went to my interview with Robin, Senator Inhofe's intern coordinator for his Tulsa office. His Tulsa office is located at the headquarters of F&M Bank, which is only about a five minute drive from the The University of Tulsa campus.
I admit I was a bit nervous. Fortunately, I was recommended by a previous intern so it was pretty smooth sailing once the interview got rolling.
I answered the usual questions of why I wanted to be an intern. I want to teach AP American Government, so it would help me understand the political system better. Also, I work as the Opinion Editor for my campus newspaper so I'm naturally interested in politics. I've worked in student government so I understand how to deal with people.
She said that I would work 12 hours a week for at least eight weeks a summer. I could work probably ten hours a week if I wanted to work the entire summer. I'm thinking I will because I'll be in Tulsa anyways. That and I already signed up for an annual license for my on-campus apartment.
I toured the office and met the staff. Their job is to relay the constituents concern to the DC office and Senator Inhofe himself. The bulk of my work will be in veteran affairs, since they have something like 500-600 cases a month. They have a lot of cases because they also handle the National Guard, and 75-80 percent of Oklahoma's National Guard is currently deployed (which is among the highest in the nation, if not the highest).
I will also be allowed to handle some press releases since I expressed an interest in the news side of the job. Another one of my responsibilities will be to sift through the Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City's newspaper) and the Tulsa World to recognize the issues that affect constituents. For Inhofe's field representative, one the days that he is there I will be reading through all the local newspapers to inform him of pertinent issues.
While the job is unpaid, there are quite a few perks. The obvious one is that it's a good way to get my foot in the door into politics, if I choose to get more involved later on. The computers are connected to the DC server, so there are quite a few programs that cannot I can access on the intern computer that cannot be accessed without being connected to the DC server. On some days, I will travel with the field representative to meet the local mayors and councils.
It's very likely that I will get to meet Senator Inhofe in person as well. Unfortunately, he'll probably be the one asking questions as it would be his turn to ask them (he has to answer questions while he's in Washington).
Also, if I can find money to go to DC this summer, I can set up a staff tour with the DC interns. I can get tours to the Capitol and Pentagon that the normal public cannot get. Robin tells me that seeing the old Senate bathtubs are pretty interesting, as senators used to live in their offices back in the old days.
Whatever it brings, I think this internship is a good omen.
So yeah, I put on a suit today and went to my interview with Robin, Senator Inhofe's intern coordinator for his Tulsa office. His Tulsa office is located at the headquarters of F&M Bank, which is only about a five minute drive from the The University of Tulsa campus.
I admit I was a bit nervous. Fortunately, I was recommended by a previous intern so it was pretty smooth sailing once the interview got rolling.
I answered the usual questions of why I wanted to be an intern. I want to teach AP American Government, so it would help me understand the political system better. Also, I work as the Opinion Editor for my campus newspaper so I'm naturally interested in politics. I've worked in student government so I understand how to deal with people.
She said that I would work 12 hours a week for at least eight weeks a summer. I could work probably ten hours a week if I wanted to work the entire summer. I'm thinking I will because I'll be in Tulsa anyways. That and I already signed up for an annual license for my on-campus apartment.
I toured the office and met the staff. Their job is to relay the constituents concern to the DC office and Senator Inhofe himself. The bulk of my work will be in veteran affairs, since they have something like 500-600 cases a month. They have a lot of cases because they also handle the National Guard, and 75-80 percent of Oklahoma's National Guard is currently deployed (which is among the highest in the nation, if not the highest).
I will also be allowed to handle some press releases since I expressed an interest in the news side of the job. Another one of my responsibilities will be to sift through the Daily Oklahoman (Oklahoma City's newspaper) and the Tulsa World to recognize the issues that affect constituents. For Inhofe's field representative, one the days that he is there I will be reading through all the local newspapers to inform him of pertinent issues.
While the job is unpaid, there are quite a few perks. The obvious one is that it's a good way to get my foot in the door into politics, if I choose to get more involved later on. The computers are connected to the DC server, so there are quite a few programs that cannot I can access on the intern computer that cannot be accessed without being connected to the DC server. On some days, I will travel with the field representative to meet the local mayors and councils.
It's very likely that I will get to meet Senator Inhofe in person as well. Unfortunately, he'll probably be the one asking questions as it would be his turn to ask them (he has to answer questions while he's in Washington).
Also, if I can find money to go to DC this summer, I can set up a staff tour with the DC interns. I can get tours to the Capitol and Pentagon that the normal public cannot get. Robin tells me that seeing the old Senate bathtubs are pretty interesting, as senators used to live in their offices back in the old days.
Whatever it brings, I think this internship is a good omen.
