Describe the steps you took to obtain your internship.

To obtain this internship, I stayed on the prowl for opportunities in D.C. that would give me experience with the federal government. I researched the requirements and then contacted someone I have worked closely with to write me a letter of recommendation for the program. Then I worked on my application which included a professional writing portion. After a few weeks, I received an email informing me I had gotten accepted into the program. From there, I interviewed with several teams across the federal government departments until I got an offer from a department I would want to work with. I decided that the Departmental Office of Human Resource Management, H.R. Policy, and Oversight team within the Office of the Secretary was the best for me. The team even has FSU Alumni Melissa Kappel on the team, which made me want to join the team even more!

How far in advance did you prepare and begin applying for your experiential learning opportunity?

I believe ever since I was accepted into my Master of Public Administration program, that I began to prepare as I knew that I wanted to gain experience on every level of government before I started the program, along with knowing that the summer between a two-year program is essential along with knowing that gaining experience with the federal government would be the greatest challenge. I kept applying for opportunities in the fall. During winter break, I used the time off as an opportunity to get ahead and went into overtime when it came to researching options and looking at what the experiences I have done can evolve into.

If you used any Career Center services, resources, or events to obtain your internship, what were they? How did they support your application process?

Jessie Yuan is one of the graduate students who work at Florida State University's Career Center and is in my MPA program. She provided plenty of tips to ensure I left an impression that would make the Nole Network proud.

Describe some of your responsibilities or duties during your experiential learning opportunity.

As an H.R. Policy intern at the Department of Transportation Headquarters, my primary assignment was heavy work that would impact the federal agency as a whole. I was assigned to work on the Domestic Employees Teleworking Overseas (DETO) policy which required me to work on the template that will soon be implemented actively. A DETO (Domestic Employees Teleworking Overseas) is a U.S. Government Civil Service employee assigned to a domestic position approved to telework from an overseas location for a limited time. While that was my main project, I also worked on the Gender Inclusivity Action Team, volunteered for the Leaning into Leadership conference, and worked on the distribution of the 2023 Sectary Awards given out by Pete Buttigieg, who serves as the 19th Secretary of Transportation.

What was a typical day like "on the job?"

Working for a federal agency makes every day feel different. Every morning I begin by saying good morning to my team and then by looking at a sticky note of all the tasks I was supposed to complete the day before and then from there, looking at my calendar and creating a new sticky note of tasks that need to be completed by the end of the day. A standard workday could include a few meetings both in person and virtual, reading about a new executive order to understand further the current administration's vision for the Department of Transportation, and reading old or related H.R. policy to create a more substantial base for making my policy work stronger. Then many action items include taking notes, updating documents that need to reach 508 compliance, cutting out meetings for individual team members to find other ways I can collab, and going on field trips with the other STIPDG Interns.

What are some major takeaways from your experience? How will these help prepare you for the next step after graduation?

I have had several significant takeaways from this experience. I had a conversation with a member of the International Transportation Policy department, and they told me to remember that "We don't have a monopoly on good practice" and that innovations in transportation can come from any nation. It is essential to know that our current methods may only sometimes be the best methods. I can apply this to life beyond work in my career. I also found that the federal government can have an impeccable work-life balance and has some of the most passionate and genuine public servants I have ever met. Postgrad, this experience has prepared me to always work with an open mind, even when challenging.

Did this experience help clarify your career path? If yes, how so?

This internship could not have impacted me more on how I envision my career future. I was stuck in a lump where I could not tell which government pathway (Local, State, or Federal) I wanted to head down. After this experience, I will do my best to enter the Federal government postgrad through either pathways or one of the many available developmental programs and fellowships. I will also do my best to recruit my associates from my graduate program as only 6.9 percent of federal employees are under age 30, which forecasts plenty of opportunities that fellow Noles can capitalize on as we make an impact on the United States as highly competent civil servants.