Working and Interning in DC

The Washington Internship Program (WIP) is a collaboration between the Office of Federal Relations and the Bob Graham Center for Public Service designed to help remove barriers to students interning and living in DC. It offers selected students the opportunity to come to Washington, DC to work and live for a semester. The WIP program fully sponsors housing and provides a cost-of-living scholarship along with assisting with placement, professional development, and networking. Placement is most often in either a congressional office within the Florida delegation or within the Office of Federal Relations.

For further information and the application link, please visit the Bob Graham Center website on the program

Finding an Internship 

Internships are the ideal way for students to experience living and working in D.C. and get a jump start finding permanent positions. Learn how to find internships in our nation’s capital and what the opportunity can provide as students begin their careers.

Need help drafting your resume? The Career Connections Center on campus can help you plan, draft, and review your resume with express drop in appointments, or browse their extensive resource library. 

 

Congressional Internships

A list of information and applications for internships within the Florida Congressional Delegation can be found below. 

This is not a comprehensive list of Federal Internships. If the Agency, Bureau, or Department you want to intern for is not listed, you should be able to find information about their internship opportunities on their website. 

• Bob Graham Center for Public Service
• Beyond 120
• Career Connections Center
• CALS Legislative Loop Program
• UF Cancer Center, Cancer Policy Internship

Each member of Congress has several or more full-time staff positions depending on their seniority and committee assignments.  These vary from entry level staff assistant positions to high level professional staff.  At the start of a new Congress there is considerable opportunity to find a position with either the newly elected members of Congress who need to staff their offices, and many returning members of Congress and congressional committees who have job openings as staff move to new positions.  The successful job applicant often is a resident of the congressperson’s district, has subject matter expertise in the members’ committee assignment area, or campaign or other political experience, but it is not required. Applicants are encouraged to submit a resume to the House or Senate job banks, as well as apply for individual jobs directly with the Office of the member of Congress. Perseverance is often a key ingredient for success!

There are thousands of civil service positions available within the federal government.  A listing of career openings and applications can be found at USA Jobs.   Civil Service positions are available in every federal agency and at all levels of experience.  Each federal agency will have information on their own website describing positions that are available and background on the agency and department.  If there is a particular agency you are interested in working for, we encourage you to research types of careers on their websites.   On USA Jobs, you can filter federal government jobs openings by agency, position level, and who is able to apply for the job. From the list you generate, you are able to view job descriptions, how long the application will be open and required steps for applying.  One note, to apply for agency positions you will need to create an expanded federal resume, information on how to do this is available here.

Immediately following a presidential election, the incoming administration will fill thousands of political appointments to jobs within the federal government, both within the White House and spanning all the federal agencies. These positions also open up during an administration as people cycle out. Jobs range from very early career to advanced. Successful job applicants often have a prior engagement with a political party or campaign, but it is not required. To apply for the current administration’s positions, please consult the administration’s website.

A good resource to learn about the types of political appointment positions available is to consult “The Plum Book,” which lists more than 9,000 Federal civil service leadership and support positions in the executive and legislative branches that are subject to presidential appointment.  

There are several job boards that specialize in public service and DC-based job opportunities. Two of these are linked below: 

• Traverse Jobs 
• Manatos Jobs