DC interns: break a leg (or your wrist) to get ahead

Home Opinion DC interns: break a leg (or your wrist) to get ahead

Two weeks into my D.C.-based journalism internship, on my first assignment, I was hit hard by a cab on my way to a low-level congressional hearing. As I was flying through the air, I thought to myself, “I’m not getting paid enough for this.”

The impact broke my left wrist, sprained my left ankle, inflicted road rash on my right arm, and left me with a mild concussion to boot. As the driver flew past, I picked myself off the ground and limped, bruised and bloody, to the assigned hearing. That decision resulted in more than a story about me in Politico and hundreds of contacts in the field of journalism: it ultimately restored my faith in internships.

The Hillsdale College Career Services center and numerous other college counselors stress the importance of internships to attain a career in your field of study after graduation. Upon landing a spot in the National Journalism Center, I called up my parents and broke the news. Their boy was going off to D.C. to do big things—or so I thought.

As many Hillsdale students know, some D.C. internships can be simply demoralizing. For example, Capitol Hill promises the opportunity to shake hands with your senator and get a picture with them that you’ll post on Facebook so all the relatives can see.

This, however, is done at the conclusion of your internship, almost a chintzy souvenir to reward you for three months answering phones and making copies for a coordinator who keeps getting your last name wrong.

Organizations in D.C. like to use the city’s name as a selling point. If you intern here, you’ll be near the nation’s most notable political and media players, making the most important plays. In reality, you’re usually making coffee runs or scouring over government white paper for a story you won’t be credited in. This dims not only your three months in the capitol, but also your ambitions for reaching a career.

Interns know that the pointless work is not hard. On their first day, eager to impress, they finish their task early and efficiently, leaving their coordinators either to leave them with nothing to do or to give them another demoralizing task. I learned the hard way that an intern’s attitude after this moment determines if they just get a photo with the senator, or priceless job connections.

Choosing to stick with the status quo and merely complete the worthless tasks as you’re asked is the simplest way to ensure the duration of your time is demoralizing and unmemorable. Your supervisors know what it is like to be in your position, so the most beneficial thing you can do is freak them out.

Volunteer for everything, suggest meaningful assignments that you can complete, and show through hard work that you’re so dedicated to the company’s mission that they’ll almost think you’re insane.

My fellow intern at my publication felt he was above the pesky write-ups assigned to him. He would forward the requests to his spam folder, claiming he never saw them. Meanwhile, I was asking him to forward them to me, and I was being published regularly as a result.

My decision to continue on to work after being hit by the taxi was met with high praise and concerned criticism. The hearing I was sent to cover was not important, and definitely didn’t break national news. My coworkers saw that the task wasn’t serious, but my dedication was.

The positive response I received made my choice completely worthwhile. Even though the money I received from the internship covered just a little more than my living expenses, I left with some of the most useful connections in the business.

My classmates and friends I made over the summer like to remind me every once in a while about how much money I could’ve made if I’d filed a lawsuit against the driver. The way I see it, being reminded that a D.C. internship can be more than just a three month secretarial stint was priceless.