Make Your Summer Count with an ITA Internship
January 31, 2014Chris Higginbotham is a Public Affairs Specialist in the International Trade Administration’s Office of Public Affairs (he used writing samples from his internship to get this job).
Our office in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City is looking for interns with a variety of backgrounds and experience. (photo courtesy U.S. National Park Service)
I’ve been there. Many of us have.
It’s January and you’re a college student. Maybe you’re a junior; or maybe you are already in grad school . Either way, there’s a nagging thought in the back of your head:
“What am I doing at the end of the semester?”
Your friends are talking about internships and they probably sound cooler than anything you’ve thought of, so you make a list…
“Things I want in my 2014 summer internship:
- Work someplace cool;
- Make a difference;
- Get some real-world experience;
- Utilize and improve my skillset;
- Work toward getting a job.”
Good news: the International Trade Administration (ITA) can hit all of those bullets.
Want to work someplace cool and help make a difference? We have 108 offices around the country and in 72 countries around the world. We have offices on both sides of the equator and in both hemispheres. If you like the beach, you can apply to work with our teams in Miami, Honolulu, or Lisbon. There’s also always the headquarters here in Washington, D.C., where you could work in offices like the Advocacy Center, the Trade Compliance Office, or the Office of Public Affairs (I’m biased, but public affairs can be pretty awesome).
Whatever your major is, it probably fits in with a part of the ITA mission. We support U.S. businesses in the global marketplace, so we need students who are studying business, international relations, marketing, communication, foreign languages, regional studies, economics, and more. That means you’ll be able to apply what you’re learning in school to what you’ll be doing on our team.
Perhaps more importantly, an internship with us means you’ll be supporting the U.S. economy. Exports support nearly ten million American jobs – one of which may be your future job. Your work could help a business find a new market to sell its product or services, or could help a company overcome a trade barrier.
So how do you find out all of the internship opportunities ITA has to offer? Our website is a good place to start. Check out all of our office locations, many of which have pages explaining how to apply for internships.
You should also follow us on social media, where we’ll be sharing a lot of specific internship opportunities during the next few weeks. We’re on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn. If you have questions, those platforms are great places for you to ask!
Best of luck to all of you this semester. We offer internships throughout the year, so keep ITA in mind as you look for a great place to start your career!
Tradeology, the ITA Blog 