Internship Positions
Students have the opportunity to seek an internship during the spring semester break. In the past students have worked for political parliaments, businesses, social institutions and research projects. Our goal is to find an internship that fits our students’ specific needs.
How do we do that?
- Students must turn in a 4-page exposé by October. We ask them to describe their past experience, ideas and the specific goals they hope to reach doing the internship.
- We’ll discuss the exposé in detail. What areas does the student express enthusiasm in as opposed to just “interest”? What sounds like a passion and not just a job? We’ll try to discover what kind of work really motivates the student. Obviously, the more we know, the easier our search will be.
- Having defined the student’s goals, we look for companies or institutions that can provide opportunities to achieve these goals. We analyze the companies’ profiles and their potential to match the student’s objectives.
- After making a selection, we’ll work on the application. Does the CV express the student’s qualities appropriately? Does the cover letter address the company’s requirements? Who is the right person to approach within the company?
- We’ll contact the companies to start a dialogue. We can’t promise to find an internship position, but in almost 40 years our success rate has been 100%. Doing an internship is an exciting way to experience German professional culture from a very special perspective.
Finding the Right Fit
These five students found internship positions in a variety of fields, from nonprofit and political sectors, to clean energy advocacy and cultural awareness.
My internship with Mehr Demokratie, a nonprofit that focuses on promoting direct democracy within Germany and the EU, was exciting and engaging right off the bat. I was able to meet many people of all ages who were politically-involved from all regions of Germany. I did office managerial work and I was also in charge of starting a project for the website. This was a wonderful opportunity that not only greatly helped me with my German, but allowed me to gain an intimate understanding of the German political system.
During my stint in the Bundestag, I was granted insight in the central workings of German policy making, with heavy emphasis placed on renewable energies and technologies. I not only gained entrance to all government buildings, but also attended plenary sessions, parliamentary working groups and even city-level policy debates. The internship was the best work experience I have had to date and I could not imagine a better way to have spent my semester break.
I had the wonderful opportunity of working at a renewable energy company based in Munich. They work on various projects including wind, solar, biogas, hydro, etc. While working there I gained invaluable insights into their business model, the importance of German renewable energy policy in making companies like this profitable, plus the experience of working and interacting with German professionals. As an intern, I translated the website into English, served as a translator at two business meetings, helped distribute information regarding a new hydro-station to people in the surrounding area, and I did personal research for my thesis, which I presented to my coworkers at a staff meeting. My coworkers were warm and welcoming and made working at the company a lot of fun.
My day-to-day tasks ranged from archiving historical documents on the German Jewry ,to translation work, to laying the foundation for an exchange program for Jewish youth from Munich and New York. I remain grateful for the opportunity to learn so much about the monumental ways Munich’s Jewish communities grapple with the memories of the Shoah and Soviet Rule, as well as the challenges posed by international migration in Germany’s increasingly multicultural society. I would not want to have missed this unique experience.
I was given the amazing opportunity to work side-by-side with German workers in a school for disabled children. While at the school I fully immersed myself in the German culture, helping out in therapy sessions, playing games with the kids, helping with homework, and most of all getting to practice my German in a setting that was not the classroom. The most meaningful part, I felt, was sharing my story as an American and hearing the story of other Germans. I highly recommend an internship to anyone.