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Internship week has government job seminar

The Internship for the Government, hosted by the Career Development Center on Wednesday, described the importance and demands in getting an internship for the federal government.

Internships “give you an opportunity to see if this is something you want to do … it may look good on the outside, but then you might find that it’s not for you,” said Maria Perez, district manager of the Long Beach office for the Social Security Administration and speaker at the informational meeting.

Perez and other speaker, Sylvia Meza, a field examiner for the Long Beach region of the National Labor Relations, stated that people applying with an internship versus those coming in off the street will most likely have a higher starting payroll in government positions.

“That experience helps you for when there’s an opening because they already see how you work,” Perez said.

Perez and Meza agreed that creating a whole package instead of just a résumé is key. Life experiences can hold education that can’t be taught in a classroom.

“Just because you don’t have a master’s degree doesn’t mean you don’t have other attributes that we want,” Meza said. Both mentioned speaking more than one language as a strong factor in choosing new employees.

“I put a lot of thought in my cover letter,” Meza said.

“It seems so competitive … I wanted to come to find more info and it was helpful,” said Lilia Ornelas, a junior political science major. “Now I know to start a cover letter and résumé … it’s important to start early.”

Federal agencies vary in how they implement an internship even if it is the same internship program. For example, Perez stated that the Social Security Administration made sure that during her two-year internship, future career goals were set and mentoring lasted throughout the two years. However, other agencies may not be as nurturing.

Perez received an internship in the Presidential Management Fellows Program and Meza received an internship for the Undergraduate Cooperative Education Program for the Labor Relations Agency.

“For me, I wanted to work with an agency that had the same values as me,” Perez said. “I didn’t want to work with the IRS.”

“My jobs weren’t through any connections I had, but ones I had to search for,” Meza said. “Don’t think too much about the opportunities … it will work itself out.”

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