Intern Recruitment
The intern recruitment period begins approximately half-way through the semester after intern mid-term evaluations have been completed. In the fall, this is usually the beginning of October; in the spring, recruitment begins the week after spring break.
We use the following strategies to recruit interns; they are listed in order of effectiveness:
- Career fairs
- Student information sessions/Class Talks
- Online postings
- Email announcements
Career Fairs: At the beginning of each semester, we will register for 2 to 3 career fairs at the University of Texas at Austin, and 1 career fair at St. Edward's University. The UT career fairs are: College of Communications, Liberal Arts, and Non-profit and Government (spring only). Registration for the College of Communications career fair should be free of charge, since we are being hosted by the College. Links to the career fair websites and login information for each site are contained in a spreadsheet, which should be updated as needed, in the Internships folder on the P-Drive. Two staff members should attend each fair. Business attire is required and staff must be prepared to tell prospective interns about the program and the organization, answer questions, accept resumes, and conduct on-the-spot interviews (if necessary, which it hasn't been up to now). We also bring free swag and printed materials about the Project and the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life to hand out at the fair.
Student Information Sessions: The Legislative Research Director may decide to hold one or more special information sessions, based on our resources and recruitment needs. We usually try to schedule one joint session with the Archer Center and the Annette Strauss Institute for Civic Life, as the programs administered by both of these organizations dovetail well with the Project Vote Smart internship program. Materials from past information sessions can be found in the internship recruitment folder on the P-Drive.
Class Talks: The Graduate Assistant creates a class-based list of professors to contact each semester and is responsible for scheduling class talks. However, full-time Project staff are ultimately responsible for performing class talks, as they may be scheduled at times when the Graduate Assistant is unavailable. Class talks should last approximately 5 minutes - a talk outline is located in the internship recruitment folder on the P-Drive. We cross-promote with the Strauss Institute, so please talk to the Director of Educational Outreach before the recruitment period begins to determine which programs should be plugged, and to provide information about Project Vote Smart to Institute staff who are also performing class talks. Always bring a large number of student information cards to pass out at the beginning of the talk and collect at the end. Give all completed information cards to the Internship Coordinator for him or her to input into Constant Contact.
Email Announcements: At the beginning of the recruitment period we will create an email announcement saying that the internship program is accepting applications for the upcoming semester. This announcement will be emailed to our contacts in Constant Contact, to the representatives of student groups on campus, and to professors at other nearby universities. Lists of these contacts can be found in the internship recruitment folder on the P-Drive, and should be updated annually.
Online Postings: A job announcement for the Legislative Research Internship should always be placed on the Access UT website and other job boards administered by the University of Texas at Austin. A complete list of these websites, including current login information, can be found in the internship recruitment folder on the P-Drive. In the past, we have also created ads on Facebook, Craigslist, Idealist.org, and other sites that cast a wider net.
Remember: Any time you obtain a student's contact information, either from an info card or some other source, be sure to add it to the Strauss Institute's master spreadsheet (P:\Strauss_Institute\Educational Outreach) and upload it to Constant Contact. Our colleagues at the Strauss Institute work hard to market Project Vote Smart on our behalf at their events and information sessions; we must return the favor by sharing information. Don't create a silo! Only by coordinating our undergraduate outreach efforts can we maintain our good relationship with the Strauss Institute. We are all presenting at the same classes and marketing multiple programs/events to the same students - let's not wear them out.
