From Earth to the Moon

A few days ago NASA gave us one more reason to look up into the sky and in doing so, take a second look at what we really know about our closest neighbor. Evidence of water on the Moon recently found by crashing a probe into its surface has everyone rethinking the possibilities that will arise as scientists all over the world begin to cope with this reality.

Meanwhile in Washington, it is the interns who in the last few days have aimed at landing jobs in our nation’s capital. There are those whose internship placements will be hiring someone at the end of the year and whose bosses will be choosing between this semester’s interns to fill that position. There are those whose supervisors have left their positions for whatever reason and whose bosses at their internship placements will likely hire one of the interns who by now has months of experience at the organization. And then there are some who are as proactive as the NASA scientists and will be “crashing” into every office (that is every office on the Hill) with their resume, looking under any rock to see whether they can also find their own water on the Moon.

I have gotten these examples by talking with TWC students and/or alumni who have told me about these and other incredible stories about how they landed their jobs right after interning in DC.

TWC encourages us to be proactive in looking for job opportunities. At the same time their program's final portfolio requires us to conduct an informational interview. Informational interviews are used by interns to find someone in the profession in which they are interested and to learn about either the day-to-day operations of the work of a legislative director in the House, the post-college path a current non-profit president took, the real time spent on the job if you work in a law firm, etc.

Moreover, people love to talk about themselves and to be helpful to others who are, like they once were, unpaid interns trying to make it. You can receive lots of advice and find out about their professional experiences.

Here's some guidance if you do an informational interview in Washington. To find an interviewee, send an e-mail to or call those whose connections you have made either during TWC networking opportunities, your job, a long trip on the Metro or maybe at a restaurant or bar. Try to ask for 15 to 20 minutes to sit down with him/her at their convenience; you don’t want to burn any bridges. You want to make it clear that you're not trying to solicit a job interview. Tell them you need advice and ask open-ended questions. What do you enjoy about your job? What does your organization look for in a candidate? Should individuals attend particular schools or study within specific academic programs in order to land a job in your field?

Finally, does he or she have other contacts that you can be referred to? Because one or two informational interviews is not enough—at least for me, I'm going to try to get as many as I can. Ten should be a good number for you to attempt.
We talked about networking before in different posts, and I cannot stress enough the importance of making your connections work for you. But it will be up to you! Don’t wait for water to show up on the Moon’s surface. Be proactive, dig deeper, and you will find opportunities you might have never expected to find, even in the most unlikely and remote places.