Today I am profiling senior Communication Studies major and Legal Studies minor Kelly Sanders. Here we go…
Q: Where did you intern?
Kelly: “I interned at San Francisco City Hall in District 5 Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi’s office (http://rossmirkarimi.com/).”
Q: How did you find this internship?
Kelly: “Last semester I took a Public Administration Internship course as part of my Legal Studies minor. During the summer, the professor e-mailed each student in the class with a personalized list of internship opportunities, and Supervisor Mirkarimi’s office was on my list. I sent the office my resume, went in for a quick meet and greet, and that was that!”
Q: Why did you choose to intern there?
Kelly: “As I mentioned before, I needed a public administration internship for my minor. After looking into different offices, I decided that working in Supervisor Mirkarimi’s office would be the best option for me because it offered a lot of flexibility and the people working in it seemed like a really fun group. Because I am interested in communication, they wanted me to work on things in that arena, and I could do so at my own pace. So, along with basic office duties, I was able to actually build communication experience, which was really important to me.”
Q: What did you do on a regular basis at your internship?
Kelly: “Every intern and volunteer had basic shared duties, like opening and sorting the mail, answering phones and taking messages, greeting walk-ins, helping with constituent issues, etc. Additionally, I worked on updating the office’s media list, I created and implemented a system for tracking the office’s press clips, I performed research to aid in the drafting of potential legislation, I wrote portions of the office’s monthly newsletter, and I wrote talking points and Certificates of Recognition for the Supervisor to use. In short, I did a lot of writing and editing for the office.”
Q: What did you learn from this internship?
Kelly: “It was great experience to be answering the phones in Supervisor Mirkarimi’s office because there was such a wide breadth of issues and personalities to deal with. It taught me to be extremely diplomatic and fair in how I treat people and their concerns, and it really helped me be more comfortable in dealing with strangers over the phone. It also helped give me a thick skin. After someone screams and swears at you over the phone about parking meters on your second day, not much bothers you after that.”
Q: What advice do you have for other students looking for an internship?
Kelly: “Be proactive and follow up with people, but don’t be a stalker. No one is going to hand you an internship, you have to seek it out! Use the resources available to you (like PRSSA, Lambda Pi Eta and the Career Services Center). It also helps to ask your friends about their internships, they might be able to put you in touch with their supervisor, which can be a great stepping stone. I know you hear it all the time and it might sound cliche, but networking really works.”
I chose to profile Kelly because she did such a nice job of finding an internship that combined two of her interests: communication studies and public affairs. Congratulations, Kelly!
Kelly Sanders, with (thanks to the zoom on my computer) what I discovered to be a box of chocolate frogs (a la Harry Potter)!
If you have (or recently completed) an internship that you really like(d), contact me at edoohan@usfca.edu so that I can profile you! Come on… everybody’s doing it…
