My "chat" with a few planners at Washington County went well for an intern position with the Current Planning division. Per Annie's suggestion, I dressed up like it was an interview and went in with the expectation that it would be closer to an interview than a chat as the email had stated. Thankfully, my preparedness paid off and I did fairly well in what was a two-person interview. One of the people, Nadine appeared to be in her 40's and been in the profession for awhile, and the other Dyami had only recently graduated from the MURP program and looked to be at most 30. I think that I would best describe the questions as Interview Light, as they were pretty straightforward and could have been read from my resume. I feel like I adequately and succinctly answered their, well mostly Nadine's questions, to the best of my abilities and felt comfortable after the first few moments. Some of the questions were almost kind of funny, like would I be willing to do general work around the office and my willingness to do other tasks. I had figured that those sorts of sometimes more menial tasks came with the territory, but I can imagine that not all Master's students are so willing to do that. Nadine told me that they either had two or three other people getting interviewed for what would be two positions and that I would be informed sometime next week and the start date would be the following week.
The one thing that I wish I would have answered differently would have been how many hours per week I was willing to work. Since it's not paid, and that's by far and away the biggest knock against it, I don't think I should burn up all my time this summer working for free. Rather than 30 hours per week, I think I should have said something along the lines that I would be willing to do up to 30 on occasion, but would much prefer 24 or 25 so I can pick up hours flyering or doing other things for the Family Activity Study to actually earn money.
The other concern I have for this internship is the timing of when they will decide on whether or not they want to take me. On Tuesday I turned in my application for the paid internship with Metro that I would prefer to have and likely won't hear back on that for an interview until sometime next week at the extreme earliest. If Nadine decides that I would be a good fit for the project at Washington County, which is quite possible given my decent interview and the small amount of competition, I will be forced to decide on that well before I know anything from Metro. I'd hate to accept an unpaid position but leave a paid one on the table.
The one thing that I wish I would have answered differently would have been how many hours per week I was willing to work. Since it's not paid, and that's by far and away the biggest knock against it, I don't think I should burn up all my time this summer working for free. Rather than 30 hours per week, I think I should have said something along the lines that I would be willing to do up to 30 on occasion, but would much prefer 24 or 25 so I can pick up hours flyering or doing other things for the Family Activity Study to actually earn money.
The other concern I have for this internship is the timing of when they will decide on whether or not they want to take me. On Tuesday I turned in my application for the paid internship with Metro that I would prefer to have and likely won't hear back on that for an interview until sometime next week at the extreme earliest. If Nadine decides that I would be a good fit for the project at Washington County, which is quite possible given my decent interview and the small amount of competition, I will be forced to decide on that well before I know anything from Metro. I'd hate to accept an unpaid position but leave a paid one on the table.
