Securing the bag in Politics can be hard. Quality internships are scarce and paid internships are almost unheard of. As a Political Science major, watching your peers get substantial amounts of internship opportunities each year can be very frustrating, especially when you know you’ve been grinding just as hard, if not harder.
The hard truth of the matter is, in politics and paid internships are seldom just going to fall into your lap. It takes persistence and confidence to obtain the internships you want at the pay you desire. Although internship scarcity for poli-sci majors is frustrating, simply speaking up for what you want can alleviate much of the issue.
Most people in this field entered it because of their natural love for helping the community through active involvement within their community.
In the most basic terms, a politician is simply a community rehabilitator.
With this in mind, it is no wonder these students are willing to work crazy jobs for zero pay. This, however, is not the mindset. In order to make your mark in politics you must be ready and willing to fight for what is necessary. Especially when what is necessary is dealing with your livelihood.
When looking to get paid internships in politics you must always know your value before you even engage in a conversation with potential employers. If you know you are well versed in your field then you should not expect to just give your valuable knowledge away for free. Most employers are willing to pay you, they are just simply waiting for you to ask. When given the opportunity to work with someone, it would be wise to say “I’m a college student who needs to support myself, if you could pay me for my services you will not regret it and I will be worth every dollar.”
It seems simple, but employers admire someone who knows what they want and goes after it. It should be noted, however, that if you know your work is not of high quality and your knowledge in the field is not where it needs to be, perfect your craft before you have these conversations. You must be a strong employee if you wish to be respected as such.
No matter what your major is, you should always value yourself enough to not just work for free. That is a volunteer not an employee. You did not pay all this money to attend college and spend all this time in the classroom to be undervalued by anyone.
Once you get into these spaces and secure paid internships you must do the work. Politics is very much so about reputation. Mess up once and that will almost indefinitely affect your reputation forever.
Never be the person who secured the bag only to fumble it later on because you did not do the work that your pay required.