Every election cycle, DSPolitical opens its doors to college students around the country for our internship program. Typically running from July until the end of the election cycle in November, the program places interns into every department at DSPolitical, from HR to Business Development. Here at DSP, it’s our goal to provide a meaningful experience to all employees, and we take particular pride in mentoring the next generation of progressive professionals. Interns are encouraged to be involved with the whole team and produce quality work, and we strive to create an open environment where everyone can build lasting relationships and prioritize professional development.
“We like to make it about the learning journey,” says Human Resources Coordinator Khristian Colon. “A lot of internship programs are pretty much busy work… we want [interns] to actually learn; we want people to take practical knowledge from these different departments and get genuine industry experience.”
Interns at DSPolitical learn indispensable skills by working alongside industry professionals. Being an intern is a very hands-on experience, in which trainings with managers or through DSP Academy are challenging but relevant and rewarding.
One Client Services intern says of the program, “We do a lot of career building – I’d never done this in an internship before. Which, now thinking about it, seems like something you should be doing. [There’s] a lot of talk about ‘what are your goals? We know you’re an intern but we’re not gonna treat you like just an intern.’”
On top of growing professionally, interns are encouraged to have fun with the rest of the team, get to know one another and expand their networks, and are given opportunities to work with and seek guidance from even the most senior staff members of DSPolitical.
DSPolitical’s philosophy is that an internship should be about more than young interns getting a new line on their resume; it should be about investing in future leaders, professionals, and activists, and advancing the progressive values we all share. As one Business Development intern put it, “It’s interesting to see how with DSPolitical it’s kind of, one, how do we help ourselves? And two, how do we, at the same time, support the ideas and beliefs that we hold true?”
If you are interested in learning more about what it’s like to work full-time with DSPolitical, you can check out this blog post.