Fall Internship Season Officially Open
This semester, a good handful of the more than 7,500 congressional interns who serve on Capitol Hill will tackle federal policy. Many interns and fellows will focus on comms, some on scheduling, but the large majority will tackle legislation in the House and Senate.
Unlike the summer months which are inundated by summer talent, fall is a time when most of interns return to school. As students move back to college, congressional offices suddenly go from packed to empty. All that overflowing talent they had during the summer is gone. Who will pick up the slack? The answer, of course, is you.
Like all internships, internships on the Hill are essential to cultivating the skills and experience necessary to advance your career. Like all internships they are like extended interviews that could lead to further employment in the future, and like many internships they look fantastic on paper in many industries across the country.
Hill internships are unique and essential to launching a career in Washington. This is especially true in Congress. Unlike many industries the Hill is a place where “Hill experience” is often a minimum requirement for employment. Even the lowest level job announcements will often have “Hill experience” in the list of desired prerequisites.
But what exactly does that mean? How is “Hill experience” different from any other type of professional experience? How am I supposed to get Hill experience if I can't land a position on the Hill? Why does every job in the country require "three years of experience?"
A lot of it has to do with relationships, networking, and access. Even if you worked in the congressional office in your home district and have extensive experience lobbying before your state’s largest legislative body or stumping for local campaigns, you won’t have the key interpersonal relationships right here in the beltway that are necessary on the Hill. The turnover is incredibly high so someone you knew two years ago could already be gone. You need fresh leads right now.
The Hill is like an exclusive little city where who you know can sometimes be more important than what you know. But once you’re in you are in, so you might as well make the most of the opportunity and push your chips all in from the start!
An internship on Capitol Hill allows you to build a rapport with the people in your office and the offices you interact with, relationships that will become useful in the future if you decide to pursue your career in Congress. It will also give you that coveted “mail.house.gov” email address and Hill badge.
The badge gives you access to exclusive committee hearings and staffer briefings. These gatherings are a great place to listen and learn and absorb as much information about the congressional process as you possibly can.
Finally, a Hill internship is a great way to develop the writing samples you will ultimately use to land paid jobs in Washington. A press release sample for comms and correspondence and sample memos for leg.
The process is incredibly simple if you know the steps. For more information on how to land the best positions in Congress, visit www.timeonthehill.com. There are thousands of positions. You only need one!