Community Summer Jobs Program sponsored by Exxon Mobil
By Laura Goodwyn
I remember sitting across from Bill, the tape recorder whirring on the table between us, and seeing two shiny tears slide down his wrinkled face. “Thank you so much for letting me tell you my story,” he said, smiling weakly. Bill had become homeless after the death of his wife depressed him so badly he abandoned his home, job, and bills. He opened up to me about his tragedy, his homelessness, and his struggle to get his life back on track. Although I had many great opportunities during my internship with Good Shepherd Housing and Family Services, it was encounters like this that I was able to have with Bill, and other formerly homeless people, that were some of the most rewarding and valuable experiences not only of the job, but also of my life. My eight-week stint at Good Shepherd not only exposed me to the interworkings of a nonprofit, but it also taught me the importance of respecting and understanding all people from all walks of life.
When I started my internship search last spring, I didn’t have any specific kind of position in mind. I am a psychology and English double major, so my career could go in many different directions. I concentrated on applying for internships with magazines and publishing houses and I also looked into jobs with the communications departments of nonprofit agencies. To find resources, I went to the career center at my university and got the names of many different web sites where internships could be found. The web site where I found the internship with Good Shepherd was Idealist.org. This is a web site run by a nonprofit that hooks up people who are looking to serve the community with organizations providing opportunities for service. Companies can also post job listings for people interested in working in the non-profit sector. Along with many other interesting listings, I saw the post for an intern position at Good Shepherd Housing and after reading the job description, decided to apply.
This was my first foray into legitimate employment, and I had no idea how to write a cover letter or a resume. Along with assisting students in finding internships and jobs, the career center at my university offers one-on-one help in constructing resumes and helpful handouts on writing cover letters. I took all of their advice and spent a few weeks compiling all of the necessary documents to send away to all my prospective internships. The process was stressful and time-consuming and I am glad I started relatively early in the semester. Many people I knew were scrambling at the last minute to figure out their resume or get things in the mail.
I got called back by a handful of the jobs I applied for and set up a few phone interviews. I remember the day that my future supervisor at Good Shepherd, Tom, called me for our phone interview. He described the internship in detail and I was so excited. He told me my official title would be Development Intern and I would be responsible for working on projects that promoted Good Shepherd in the community. Good Shepherd Housing and Family Services is a non-profit agency in Northern Virginia that aims to serve the homeless and impoverished community. The three main programs of the agency are Emergency Services, which gives small grants to people in need of money to pay their bills, Housing as Top Priority, which offers resources to families facing homelessness, and the Apartments Budgeting Counseling program, which allows formerly homeless people to live in apartments owned by Good Shepherd while paying rent to the agency and therefore rebuilding damaged credit. My main task would be to interview clients that had utilized Good Shepherd’s services and as a result, made a better life for themselves. I was then to design a small card called a “Leave Behind Card,” which would feature a success story about a client on one side and Good Shepherd’s contact information on the other. The cards would be distributed around the community to promote awareness about Good Shepherd’s programs and goals. The internship sounded extremely exciting and when Tom called me a week after our interview to tell me the job was mine, I was overjoyed.
For the first few weeks of my internship, I learned my way around the office and performed simple administrative tasks for the staff. There are only ten paid employees at Good Shepherd and I became close with all of them over the course of my time there. One of the rewards of working at a small non-profit is the tight-knit community of staff and volunteers. After a few weeks of settling in, I began my interviews with the clients. I would call them and ask them if they would like to participate in my project and then set up a time for them to come in. Many people were willing but I faced much rejection and suspicion. Some made appointments to talk to me and then never showed up. The staff members told me the unreliability of clients is one of the biggest downsides of working in the non-profit world. However, most of my clients did show up and we had some of the most interesting conversations I have ever had in my life. I would turn on the tape recorder and prompt them to tell me their stories. It’s amazing how much they were willing to share knowing I genuinely wanted to listen.
The experiences I had with the clients were invaluable. I also learned a great deal about how a non-profit runs and what kind of opportunities are available in the field. My internship was part of the Community Summer Jobs Program sponsored by Exxon Mobil. Along with a $2000 stipend, Exxon provided all the students in the program with two daylong interactive seminars about the non-profit sector and also gave us the opportunity to participate in a few service projects around the Northern Virginia area.
I would advise all students to pursue an internship, as it provides you with unparalleled experience in your field. Universities offer incredible resources, but you can also do much of your own research online. I am graduating this May and although I am still unsure what I will be doing, my internship with Good Shepherd definitely helped me learn about fields I was interested in and explore career options.