Prospective students often ask questions about the types experience we look for and the types of careers graduates of our programs pursue.  One great resource related to this topic is the book Careers in International Affairs.

It is quite common for career services offices at colleges to carry the book so if you are still in school I would recommend dropping by to see if it is available. If not, ask them to order it.  If you are out of school you might check public libraries or it is available in book or digital form via Amazon.com.  Below is the very robust table of contents – it is a great book no matter your age or experience level.

Part I: Strategies

1 INTRODUCTION TO THE INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS JOB MARKET
Maria Pinto Carland

2 INTERVIEWING
Maria Pinto Carland

3 NETWORKING
Maria Pinto Carland

4 FINDING AND WORKING WITH A MENTOR
Maria Pinto Carland

5 CHOOSING A GRADUATE SCHOOL
Candace Faber

Part II: Types of Employers

6 THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT

Careers in the U.S. Government
Matthew McManus

Careers in the U.S. Foreign Service
Maura Harty

Reflections on Joining the Foreign Service
Yvonne Gonzales

Careers on Capitol Hill
Denis McDonough

Careers in Intelligence Analysis
Volko F. Ruhnke

Introduction to the Presidential Management Fellows Program
Robert F. Danbeck

A Presidential Management Fellow Looks Back
Beth Flores

7 INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Careers in International Organizations
Jorge Chediek

Starting Out at the United Nations
Alf Ivar Blikberg

8 BANKING

Careers in Banking
Jeff Bernstein

Getting Started in Banking
Jae Lee

9 BUSINESS

Careers in Business
Karla Sullivan Bousquet

10 BUSINESS-RELATED ORGANIZATIONS

Careers in Business-Related Organizations
Jonathan Huneke

Getting Started in Business—Government Relations
Stephen Ziehm

11 CONSULTING

Careers in Consulting
Lindsey Tyler Argalas

12 INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND RELIEF

Careers in International Development
Kristi Ragan

Careers in Relief
Patricia L. Delaney

13 NONPROFIT AND EDUCATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS

Careers in Nonprofits
Denis Dragovic

14 RESEARCH INSTITUTES

Careers in University Research Institutes
Elizabeth Gardner

Getting Started in Research Institutes
Emile El-Hokayem

When describing SIPA to prospective applicants I will often say that SIPA is not an employment agency, however it is our job as a school to produce graduates that are prized in the policy marketplace.  Our curriculum is designed to equip graduates with the tools and skills that are desired by organizations in all sectors – public, private, and nonprofit.

The Office of Career Services (OCS) plays an important part in the development of our students.  OCS is responsible for running our professional development classes and assists students with resume and cover letter writing along with interview training.

The OCS mission extends beyond student development and includes extensive outreach to employers.  This includes site visits to employers, setting up recruitment opportunities at SIPA, hosting an annual career conference in Washington DC, and posting internships and jobs available to SIPA students and alumni.

Newly admitted students will have the opportunity to begin working with OCS during orientation.  As a short preview of the outreach that OCS performs, click here to view the OCS Recruiters’ Guide (PDF document).

Last week we featured a post highlighting some of our alumni.  This is the promised follow up post covering some other sectors.  Below are sector titles, names, program, graduation year, organizations, and titles.  Feel free to follow the links for related pages on those referenced.

NGOs and United Nations

Frederick Abrahams – MIA 1995:  Senior Advisor, Human Rights Watch

Diana Bruce – MPA 1997:  Director of Health and Wellness, District of Columbia Public Schools

Judy Cheng-Hopkins – MIA 1978:  Assistant Secretary-General, UN Capital Development Fund

Kimberley George - MIA 2006:  Executive Director, Greater Brooklyn Health Coalition

Joshua Lockwood – MIA 1997:  Executive Director, Habitat for Humanity, New York

Anselme Sadiki – MIA 2003:  Programme Specialist – Governance/Rule of Law, UNDP

David Saltzman – MPA 1985:  Executive Director, Robin Hood Foundation

Hawthorne Smith – MIA 1992:  Clinical Co-Director, Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture

Cihan Sultanoglu - MIA 1981:  Director of the Office of Human Resources, Bureau of Management, UNDP

Business

Patricia Cloherty - MIA 1968:  Director, NYSE Euronext Inc

Kirsten Frivold – EMPA 2003:  Vice President, Goldman Sachs & Co

Lloyd Kass – MPA 1998:  Vice President Energy Solutions, Willdan

Kedin Kilore – MPA 1995:  Head of US Emissions Trading, Barclays Capital

Amy Miller - MIA 1982:  Managing Director and Head of Global Loan Syndications, Scotia Capital

Bart Oosterveld - MPA 1997:  Chief Credit Officer, Moody’s Government and Infrastructure Finance

Brian Wynter – MIA 1985:  Governor, Bank of Jamaica

Academia and Think Tanks

Richard Greenwald – MPA 1993:  Senior Fellow, Center of Civic Innovation, Manhattan Institute

Francesco Mancini – MIA 2003:  Senior Fellow and Director of Research, International Peace Institute

Kara McGuire Minar – MIA 1992:  Director of Career Services, Harvard University Institute of Politics

Luis Carlos Ugalde - MPA 1992:  Faculty of the Department of Political Science, Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México

Our Office of Career Services (OCS) is very active in the lives of our students.  The job of OCS is to help our current students prepare for immediate engagement in the policy world upon graduation and to assist alumni with continued career development.  The following are some of the highlights of the most recent OCS Newsletter that was sent to our students.  This list should give you a peek into the wonderful service afforded to our students and alumni.

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Economic and Political Development, Human Rights and Urban and Social Policy Alumni/Student Networking Reception

On Thursday, February 17, 2011, from 6:00-8:00pm, the New York City Career Series will host the Economic and Political Development, Human Rights and Urban and Social Policy Alumni/Student Networking Reception at the Scandinavia House, 58 Park Avenue (near East 38th Street). Hundreds of alumni from the New York City area and series panelists are invited to attend. The reception will provide an exciting opportunity to network with alumni in your field of interest.

Japan Travel Program for U.S. Future Leaders – Application Deadline: Friday, February 18, 2011

The Japan Foundation Center for Global Partnership (CGP), in collaboration with the Association of Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA), will implement the Japan Travel Program for U.S. Future Leaders for the third time. The goal of the program is to foster a new generation of future leaders in the United States who are interested in achieving a greater understanding of Japan and its roles in global affairs, and in engaging in dialogue and interchange with their counterparts in Japan.

The Program will invite approximately twelve (12) first-year graduate students – no more than two from each U.S.-based APSIA school with full membership – to Japan as a group for a period of approximately ten (10) days in August, 2011. The group will consist of students who currently are or previously have been engaged in Japan studies as well as those who successfully demonstrate a serious interest in Japan but may not have previous exposure to the country.

To see a sample itinerary, visit SIPAlink’s Career Resource Library section and click on “Japan Travel Program 2010 Itinerary Reference Only.”

This itinerary is for illustrative purposes only.

CGP will organize all aspects of official programs and bear all program-related costs of the group, including travel and per diem (accommodations and meals). Costs not covered by CGP include but are not limited to the following: passport application fees, U.S. domestic travel to and from the nearest airport, personal incidentals during the program such as gift purchases, personal time excursions, etc.

F-1 Student Optional Practical Training (OPT) Information Session

The International Students and Scholars Office (ISSO) staff will outline your employment options for off-campus work following completion of an academic program. We will discuss eligibility requirements, time limitations, and application deadlines and procedures for off-campus employment (Practical Training) after your program of study.

The New York City Career Series

The New York City Career Series was established in 2005 by the Office of Career Services and is designed to provide a forum for students to discuss career trends with professionals in their fields of interest. It is comprised of approximately 20 career panels that take place throughout the school year, including topics such as Human Rights, Urban Policy, Gender Policy, the United Nations, Public and Private Consulting, Finance and Media.

Panelists include a mixture of SIPA alumni and other professionals working in New York City. The Career Series allows SIPA students to make important connections for jobs, internships and informational interviews.  Many of the private sector career panels were held during the fall semester, while those with a more public sector focus will be held in the spring.

Here is a list of the upcoming career panels for the Spring semester:

Monday, February 28, 2011: Gender Policy Career Panel

6:00-7:30pm, Room 1512 IAB

Monday, February 28, 2011: Urban Policy and New York City Government Career Panel

6:15-7:45pm, Room 1501 IAB

Tuesday, March 1, 2011: Foundations Career Panel

6:00-7:30pm, Room 1512 IAB
Wednesday, March 2, 2011: Security and Political Risk Analysis Career Panel

6:00-7:30pm, Room 1512 IAB

Monday, March 7, 2011: Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs Career Panel

6:00-7:30pm, Room 1510 IAB
Tuesday, March 8, 2011: Social Enterprise Career Panel

6:00-7:30pm, Room 1512 IAB

Wednesday, March 9, 2011: Non Profits/NGOs Career Panel

6:00-7:30pm, Room 1501 IAB

Monday, March 28, 2011: Public Sector Consulting Career Panel

6:00-7:30pm, Room 1512 IAB

Tuesday, March 29, 2011: Environmental Policy Career Panel

6:00-7:30pm, Room 1512 IAB

India Employer Outreach Trip: Report by Irene Coffman, Director of Employer Outreach

In my new role as Director of Employer Outreach, I took my first overseas trip to India in November 2010, along with representatives from three other Association of Professional Schools in International Affairs (APSIA) schools.  During the course of the trip we met with 28 organizations located in Mumbai and Delhi, as well as alumni.

We met with a spectrum of organizations that included private sector firms, think tanks, NGOs and multilaterals that included: Monitor Inclusive Markets, Yes Bank, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Infrastructure Development Finance Company, Azure Power, TERI (The Energy Research Institute), Oxfam India, Institute of Peace and Conflict Studies, Centre for Social Research, UN Development Programme, Aga Kahn Foundation, and American India Foundation.

Several of the organizations we met with have already posted internships for the summer and we are in the process of following up with the rest.

Peer Perspectives Series

Would you enjoy the opportunity to share with your classmates your professional experiences prior to or during SIPA? Give back to the current student body by sharing your expertise in a structured setting. If you have full-time professional work experience in a specific field, sign up to be a speaker as part of the OCS Peer Perspective Series that will showcase one of SIPA’s greatest resources, its student body!

Alumni Career Advisory Program (ACAP)

Attention students! Please note that you have access to the Alumni Career Advisory Program (ACAP), which is part of the SIPA Global Connection alumni website. ACAP is an online directory of SIPA alumni who have volunteered to serve as career mentors to current SIPA students and fellow alumni. ACAP is an excellent source for networking.

Online Job Search Resources

Current students have access to Vault Online Career Library. Vault is the world’s leading source of career information.  It will make your efforts at researching employers, industries, and career subjects infinitely easier and more efficient. In addition, students have access to Wet Feet Library. Since 1994, WetFeet has been a trusted third party for job seekers, helping students and young professionals make smarter career decisions. The Wetfeet Career Resource Site gives you access to the complete Insider Guide library and the inside scoop on more than 1,000 companies, careers, and industries, along with videos and tips to help find and score your ideal job.

Also, please check out our new subscription to the Going Global database! Packed with country-specific career information, this research tool provides expert advice and insider tips for finding employment opportunities domestically and abroad. Explore career and employment opportunities in countries around the world.  Listings are updated daily.  Resources include: business and networking groups, job search resources, cost of living data and more. H-1B employer listings are included in each City Guide, as well as a state-by-state roster.  Access more than 400,000+ country-specific company profiles.  (Available to students and alumni, UNI authentication required.)

One topic that sometimes will come up when prospective students are considering where to do go to school are the pluses and minues of geographical location.  Geographical location of a school is a logical topic to consider and I thought I would provide a bit of input to complement the entry below, submitted by current student Lacey Ramirez.

There are certain tangible benefits of going to school in a particular place.  If you go to school in New York you will be close to the United Nations for example.  However, if you were to go to the United Nations today and stop ten people that work there, it would be highly unlikely that all ten graduated from a school in New York.

I would say the same for Washington D.C.  I have several friends that work in D.C., however none of them went to school in the greater D.C. area.   In short, and I am not providing earth shattering insight here, you do not need to go to school where you wish to work.  I went to school in Portland, Oregon and have worked in Pusan, South Korea, Santa Clara, California, and New York City.

Another fact that you might be interested in is that the second largest network of SIPA alumni in the world is located in Washington D.C.  We do understand the desire of our students to have exposure to what Washington D.C. has to offer and one part of this is our annual Washington D.C. Career Conference.

In addition to the article below on the 2011 Conference, I think you will find the following former blog entries to be useful as well:

• Interview with organizer of the 2010 Career Conference

• A SIPA alumnus, now working in Washington, D.C. reflects on his time in New York City

• A blog entry by a student that attended the D.C. Conference in 2009

Without further delay, here is the entry composed by Lacey that she wrote after attending this year’s conference.

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A very important question one has in choosing a graduate school is what kinds of employment opportunities will come from a particular school.  This was a central question when I was looking at programs, and I was especially interested in those that offered some kind of professional development.  At SIPA professional development is a core component of the curriculum.

Each year we are required to take a day-long professional development course.  The courses are tailored to meet different interests of students in the program, and include the following topic areas: private sector, international students, career changers, media and communications, and international/nonprofit sectors.  Courses are taught by successful SIPA alumni and professional recruiters.  I have often used the resources and materials that I gained from these courses in my internship and job searches.

Another really interesting professional development experience offered at SIPA is the Washington DC Conference, which is a 3-day event offered during winter break.  I participated in the conference this year, and it truly was a great experience and central to the job search I am initiating as I enter my last semester.  The conference provided a great opportunity for me to gain exposure to my different fields of interest and practitioners.  Also, the conference is only open to SIPA students making it really easy to maneuver and feel comfortable.

The first day of the conference included panels on different sectors and covered topics such as corporate social responsibility, urban and social policy, international development consulting, security policy, energy policy, multilaterals, and the list goes on and on.  It was challenging for me to narrow the ones I wanted to participate in!!  Admittedly, I am not typically a huge fan of panels, but I was incredibly impressed with the practitioners who led them.  The panels were also mediated by a staff member from the SIPA Career Center, and the audiences were just the right size for questions.  The best part was being able to approach the practitioners after the panel and exchange contact information!!!

The second day of the conference was a series of site visits.  The visits included many different offices in the federal government, consulting firms, development banks, think tanks, and private practitioners.  It was a whirlwind of visits and also provided an opportunity to connect with specific offices of interest.  I also realized in a site visit that I am extremely interested in a particular organization that I will be applying to this spring.  The best part is that I have a series of contacts that I now know, and I can email them for guidance through my application process.

The evening of the second day of the conference the Career Center organized an event at the Four Seasons Hotel in Georgetown that was a little more informal event with hors d’oeuvres and drinks.  SIPA alumni in the DC area were all invited to the event, and it gave us another venue to get advice from seasoned professionals and recent grads.  I also appreciated that it was a little more of a relaxed environment in which to network.

The final day is reserved for one-on-one informational interviews.  The SIPA Career Center sends out a list of SIPA alumni available to participate in the interviews. I then sent out a number of emails to alumni working in offices of particular interest to me.  I was able to set up about five interviews, and it was a fantastic process.  The ones I chose were different from the ones I visited on the 2nd day, and it really helped me to narrow down organizations that I am specifically interested in and the potential job opportunities that fit my interests.

The best part of the conference is it provided current students exposure to a number of varying fields ranging from security policy, humanitarian affairs, development, and even included private sector opportunities in finance and economics.  I was able to cover my range of professional interests, and I know several other people who also felt satisfied with the experience.  I have made some amazing contacts through the whole process, and I have a new sense of confidence about applying for jobs.  I am very pleased that I chose to participate in the conference, and it truly was a great benefit to me.

This is the fourth entry in our recap of summer internships completed by SIPA students working in the Admissions Office this year.  Erisha Suwal is a second-year SIPA student from Nepal. She is pursuing an MPA degree with a concentration in Economic and Political Development and a specialization in Advanced Policy and Economic Analysis.

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Internship with Search for Common Ground in Nepal

This summer I interned with Search for Common Ground (SFCG) in Nepal. Search for Common Ground is an international non-governmental organization that works in conflict transformation and peacebuilding. I knew about SFCG because a friend worked there. But, I found out about the internship opportunity through SIPALink. After two interviews, I succeeded in getting the internship. My experiences in diverse cultural settings, language and writing skills and deep interest in SFCG’s work helped me get the internship.

Nepal’s peace process started in 2008 after a decade long civil war. As someone interested in development, I realized that effective development could not happen without moving beyond the post-conflict situation. At the same time, lack of development or rather unequal development was among the many reasons that contributed to conflict. I wanted to learn about conflict transformation and peacebuilding and its relation to development. I also wanted to gain more grassroots experience and see more of Nepal.

The first month was a crash course on conflict transformation and community peacebuilding. Attending trainings and workshops that SFCG gave to its partner organizations, local political leaders and youth active in their communities; I gained theoretical knowledge on conflict analysis and transformation. I learned how SFCG’s produces radio shows and now a TV show as means for peacebuilding.  Once acclimatized, I worked on compiling information for the first draft of SFCG’s annual report. I collected case studies and success stories.

The highlight of my internship was the final month. I was based in Lahan, a highway town in southeastern Nepal. I was responsible for researching on ways to enhance young women’s role in peacebuilding and to recommend possible strategies and ideas to be used in SFCG’s future programs with women in peacebuilding. Majority of the women in southeastern Nepal are Madheshis, a marginalized group treated as second-class citizens, much like immigrants in the United States, until their movement in 2007. I was also responsible for assisting in organizational capacity building for Samagra Jana Utthan Kendra, SFCG’s implementing partner.

To give a sense of my day in the field in Lahaan: Wake up at 7 a.m. Drink black tea with Tulsi leaves and black pepper. Talk to   my host sister about the situation of women is Lahaan or other gossip.  Have lunch at 10 a.m. Walk about 15 minutes to Samagra by crossing a stream dotted with shadowy figures defecating and passing a vegetable bazaar. Read newspapers and talk about Nepali politics. Once everybody drops in, confirm on the plan made for the day since plans change very fast. Select villages to visit. Arrange for a mode of transportation. Once in the villages, gather women for a focus group discussion. Talk to them about   what they think women’s rights is, or what women’s role in peacebuilding should be, or why women are not allowed to leave their homes. There can be heated debates between the mothers-in-law and daughters-in-law, which often is when the truth comes out. Listen to stories. After talking to the women, talk to men including village elders. Return to the office. Drink tea. Debrief with Samgra’s staff on the day’s happenings. Plan a new strategy for approaching women for the next field visit.

Dalit mother and daughter in Lahan, Siraha

From day 1 at SIPA, the Office of Career Services plays a huge role in the career development of our students.  Our goal is to prepare our students for careers in international and public affairs and this includes personal professional development.  Services for our students include:

• Employer Information Sessions

• Workshops

• Career Fairs

• Conferences

To get a taste of the services, resources, and opportunities available to our students, click here to view a recent edition of our Career Services Newsletter.

All MIA and MPA students at SIPA complete thirty weeks of professional development during their two year program.  Fifteen weeks is comprised of an internship and fifteen weeks is comprised of a group project referred to as a workshop or capstone project.  SIPA offers no summer classes and this allows our students the opportunity to complete their full time internship anywhere in the world.

There are several SIPA students working in the Admissions Office this year and I have asked each one of them to write about their summer internship experience.  This first entry was written by Sawako Sonoyama, an MIA student concentrating in Economic and Political Development.  Look for more entries on this topic in the near future.

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My summer internship was with the Mae Fah Luang Foundation (MFLF) in Northern Thailand. The MFLF was established under the patronage of Her Royal Highness the Princess Mother who wished to promote development programs that focused on economic and social growth.

There are numerous development projects in Thailand, the Union of Myanmar, the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan and the Republic of Indonesia, and I was stationed in the Doi Tung project area, near Chiang Rai. The Doi Tung Development Project is on its 23rd year of a 30-year development plan. The Foundation’s final goal is to transfer the ownership of the project to the local people.

My internship’s objective was to analyze the transfer of ownership of the business units and its management and leadership from the organization to the local people. With a team of four graduate students and two Thai undergraduate students, we examined the current structure of the business, organizational structure, and local government in all their dimensions through first hand interviews with relevant stakeholders. The team also conducted research on existing models and examples of organizational transfer from throughout the world.

Drawing from these models, we assessed and proposed appropriate institutional, financial, managerial framework and organizational structures to transfer any or all the social enterprises. We also examined what kind of capacity building is needed to develop local leadership which will enable them to take over the activities based on the proposed plan.

Finally, we raised some key overarching issues for the transfer plan and emphasized the importance of institutionalizing the MFLF philosophy to the Doi Tung area. Of all of the various knowledge I gained from MFLF, the most interesting was learning about this MFLF philosophy. The MFLF philosophy and development approach are based on the values of His Royal Highness King Bhumibol Adulyadej and his mother, the Princess Mother.

The King believed that the people and nature must co-exist in harmony and each step in development should be holistic, integrated, and people-centric. Understanding that the root problem of the region was poverty and lack of opportunity, they worked on providing the basic needs of health, livelihood, and education. The King inherently understood that development takes a long time, and proposed a thirty-year plan. A development project that lasts thirty years is unheard of in U.S. agencies. Because the project has a thirty year time line, the Foundation is very patient and slowly builds relationship with the aid recipient.

Following its people-centric philosophy, the Foundation’s every step starts from learning from the people to understand their lifestyle. They hold large meetings, small focus groups, and individual chats to gradually win the trust and support from the local people. Even the Executive Director will personally go knocking on people’s doors to get to know them. Their approach is extremely humble. The MFLF hopes to spread these philosophies to development practices in the West.

As an American intern in this Foundation, I believe that one of my duties is to help with that dissemination. I hope to carry on many of the foundation’s values: to become a humble development practitioner that can learn from and truly understand the lives and needs of the local people.

John Hughes graduated from SIPA in May and spent the better part of this summer working in the Admissions Office to assist with projects and help fill in for a staff member on maternity leave.  John has contributed to the blog over the summer in his series “Summer Reflections” and this is his last post.  John will be working for the State Department in Washington, D.C. and we are sad to see him go, but happy that he will now start doing what he came to SIPA for.  This post was written on Friday, August 13th.

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I’m leaving New York this evening for my new life in Washington, so I thought it apt to write my final blog post on a few things that I’ll miss about SIPA and NYC:

Though New York can seem like a separate place from SIPA at times when you are busy with classes, homework and looking for jobs, I will miss the fact that there were always a million options of things to do when I wasn’t at school.  I’ll miss the fact that I can head downtown at any time and be surrounded by thousands of other people regardless of what I decide to do.  I’ll miss being able to choose any country in the world and hop on a subway to eat food from there.  I’ll miss being able to ride the subway 24 hours a day.  I’ll miss walking down a random street in Manhattan and inevitably stumbling upon a famous building or famous person.  I’ll even miss the craziness that is New York, all sights, sounds and jostling people.

I’ll miss being overloaded with extremely interesting new academic topics every day and having discussions with very smart people about those topics constantly (though I won’t miss the actual school work).  I’ll miss being surrounded by over 1,000 students all roughly my age and from over a hundred countries.  I’ll miss the built in social life that the situation brings:  In graduate school there are always people around to grab coffee or a drink with, or head to a show or to dinner.  I’ll also miss the SIPA parties, and the accompanying fact that I didn’t have to get up at 7 am each day like I will now.

Most of all I’ll miss the access:  While at SIPA you have access to speakers, events, brown bag lunches, happy hours, food nights, amazing professors and amazing classmates every day.  And that’s just at school.  You also have access to New York and all that it has to offer.  Of course, I’m very happy to be starting my new career in Washington and am certainly looking forward to receiving a regular paycheck again.  Without SIPA I would have never gotten the new job to begin with, and for that I am grateful.  I recommend the program to anybody who may be reading this, as you too will gain the access described above and will have a great two years.

Part of being a professional school is taking the career development of students seriously.  From the day a student arrives at SIPA the Office of Career Services is involved in making sure there is a strong focus on developing career management skills.

The message below was recently sent out to incoming SIPA students.  I thought I would post it here for students interested in our program to provide a glimpse of the type of resources available.  Note that most of the links in this message require a user name and password that is only provided to incoming students.

So, if you are an admitted student please take advantage of the links.  If you are a prospective student, this message is just meant to provide general information about the first steps new students take with our Office of Career services when they join us for Orientation.

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Dear incoming SIPA students:

We in the Office of Career Services at SIPA are looking forward to meeting you upon your arrival for Orientation on Monday, August 30, 2010. It will be an exciting time as you embark on this journey to prepare for careers in international and public affairs. Obtaining internships and getting the opportunity to apply your new knowledge will be an important part of your experience at SIPA.

Many private sector employers and some federal government agencies begin recruiting for interns as early as September, while other public and nonprofit recruitment begins in the spring. You will be able to prepare for your internship search through various OCS programs available throughout the fall, including the Professional Development Class, career-related workshops and career advising appointments. Those of you interested in the private sector should register for the Private Sector Professional Development Class which will take place on Saturday, September 11, 2010. A schedule of additional classes will be available during Orientation.

We suggest you review the following information to ensure a successful internship search.

SIPAlink: OCS uses SIPAlink to advertise job and internship opportunities, career events, employer information sessions and on-campus interviews. As an incoming student, you will be able to register with SIPAlink at http://sipa.columbia.edu/resources_services/career_services/current_students/find_job.html on Monday, August 30, 2010.

Resume: Make sure you have a well written and clearly formatted one page resume. You may refer to our Online Career Resources for sample resumes and fact sheets, such as Resume Writing-General Tips and Resume Writing Tips for Positions in Finance and Banking, listed online at http://sipa.columbia.edu/resources_services/career_services/current_students/career_resources/fact_sheets.html.

Business Attire: If you’re interested in private sector employers, be sure to have a conservative business suit to wear to all business/finance employer information sessions and on-campus interviews. For some public sector and nonprofit employer presentations, business casual attire is acceptable.

Employer Information Sessions: These sessions offer a company/organization overview and provide excellent networking opportunities with employers. You should conduct prior research on the employer and arrive with well formulated questions. This will demonstrate your seriousness and interest in the particular employer and their industry. Once you have registered on SIPAlink, you will be able to view and sign up for employer information sessions of interest to you. In order to see a list of recruiters who came to campus last year, please look for a document entitled On-Campus Recruiters 2009-2010 in the SIPAlink Resource Library.

All students attending employer information sessions should order professional name tags through OCS. They can be ordered by logging into your SIPAlink account at https://www.myinterfase.com/cusipa/student/. Under On-Campus Recruiting and Career Events, click Career Events. From there go to the event labeled Office of Career Services: Getting a Name Tag First-Year Students Only (Class 2012) and sign up for this event by clicking the RSVP button. The deadline for the orders will be Monday, September 13. In addition, it is a good idea to order business cards to give to employers after their formal presentations. These can be ordered during your first week at SIPA through the Journalism School or Printing Services at SIPA.

Enjoy the rest of your summer, and we look forward to seeing you on during Orientation!

John Hughes just graduated from SIPA and during his second year of study worked in our office.  He is spending the next two months in the office to assist with projects and help fill in for a staff member on maternity leave.  John is set up for a job in Washington, D.C. and will be moving there in August.  I asked him to reflect a bit on his experience as a SIPA student and contribute to the blog over the summer.  This is his third entry.

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One of the things people rightly often ask when thinking about SIPA is what sort of job prospects people have after completing the program.  This is indeed a great question, since a major reason for attending a professional school for many people is landing a job that they otherwise would not be able to get.

This was definitely true in my case, and I found that SIPA offered many resources for me to do this.  First, during your first semester SIPA has everybody take a one-credit career development course.  There are a number of different sections of this course, each one focused on something different to suit different interests.  For example, there are courses on job searches for career changers, job searches for consulting, job searches for careers in development etc.  These are typically offered at the beginning of the semester, and provide a good foundation for students to begin thinking about the job search immediately.

SIPA’s Office of Career Services also offers a number of services to students to help them in their job and internship search.  These include résumé and cover letter critiques, mock interviews, and countless guides on careers in different sectors.  Career Services also posts internships and jobs that they find daily to a site accessible to students only, and students are free to apply to any of these.  Some are offered through alumni or through companies that have a strong relationship with SIPA, and others are simply interesting positions that the Career Services staff has found that they wish to alert students to.

The Office of Career Services also brings in companies and organizations throughout the year for recruiting sessions, and sometimes these recruiting sessions are combined with on-campus interviews.  To be completely honest there were not a huge number of these interviews in the last couple of years due to the recession, but those of you incoming or thinking of applying should have many more such opportunities.  Even when times were bad as of late SIPA still managed to bring quite a few banks, consulting companies, non-profits and governmental agencies to campus, to name a few, and I know some classmates who got jobs and internships through these opportunities.

The greatest resource that Career Services provides, however, is the alumni database.  This is truly where SIPA outshines its competitors in my opinion.  Because we are such a large school with students with so many varied interests, we literally have thousands of alumni working in every type of field.  SIPA students have access to a searchable database where they can find alumni through field of interest, location, sector or a number of other criteria.  I found that all of the alumni that I e-mailed through this database (and I e-mailed quite a few) were very receptive to hearing from current students.  Every one that I talked to was willing to do an info interview over the phone at a minimum, and most offered to do one in person.  The majority helped put me in touch with other people to expand my network, and a couple even helped me to get interviews.

The caveat to all this is that getting a job after school really is the result of how much work you put in to get one.  Though academics are of course important, the job search needs to be your number one priority while in school.  This means that you should treat the job search just like a class, and spend at least a few hours each week working towards your goal.  My advice is to go beyond this and spend as many hours as possible doing this (as long as you manage to still have some fun), and I can confidently say that things will work out if you put in such effort.

I’ll be leaving New York in August to go work for the State Department as a PMF.  This position, ironically, came about through a standardized test rather than networking.  However, every other opportunity I had this year was the direct result of speaking with people who knew other people who knew of a position etc.  Almost everybody else I know here that is currently working got a job the same way, so I can’t stress enough the importance of reaching out to people while you are here.  This extends beyond just e-mailing alumni, of course, and includes things such as attending networking events, attending lectures by people in fields you are interested in, talking to professors and classmates about people they may know in fields that interest you, and hitting up friends and family for any connections.  Don’t be shy.  The more that you put yourself out there the easier it will be for you.

It’s easier to forget this advice once you’re actually here and you have 3 mid-terms and a paper staring you down.  However, it’s important not to lose sight of why you came:  to get a job.  Keep that in mind and you’ll be well on your way to being in the position in the future to have current students contact you about your great job.

I know that the location of a graduate school is an item on the minds of those applying, but I wanted to offer a bit of perspective. Many applicants for example might think that if they want to get a job at the United Nations, SIPA would be the best choice because the U.N. and SIPA are both in New York City.

While it is true that SIPA and U.N. are both in NYC and that many SIPA students do take advantage of this, it is also true that many of those who hold positions at the U.N. hold degrees from schools located outside of New York City.

Why am I bringing this up? Well it came to my mind when I received this email from our Career Services Office recently:

Stay Connected with Columbia During Your Summer in Washington, D.C.

Columbia’s Office of Government and Community Affairs will sponsor several events for Columbia students spending the summer break in Washington DC. In addition, they will maintain a listserv to help get the word out about these and other events and opportunities of interest.

An interesting item of note is that Washington, D.C. ranks second in terms of cities with the most SIPA alumni. It is probably not surprising that NYC is ranked first. Just like it is possible for students that graduate from schools outside of NYC to work at the U.N. (or any of the multitude of organizations in NYC) it is possible, and actually highly likely, that many of our graduates will work in Washington, D.C.

Last summer when I finished a recruiting event being held in D.C. I randomly ran into three current SIPA students that were doing internships in D.C. and two students that have worked in my office this year are both moving to D.C. shortly to start working full time.

D.C. is just one example of course, we have over 16,000 graduates living in over 150 countries across the globe. But as I stated in my pro-con entry a while back, NYC is a great place to spend two years of your life. I will warn you though, you might end up addicted to NYC like me.

The Office of Career Services sends out  weekly bulletin to current students and here are some highlights from the recent edition.

Graduating Student Survey

In order to pick up your graduation tickets, please be aware that you must first fill out the Graduate Employment Survey at http://www.zoomerang.com/Survey/WEB22A2PGDFPSF

Tickets will be distributed beginning on Monday, April 26, 2010.

Whitman Family Foundation 2010 Summer Fellowship in Environmental Policy

With financial support from the Whitman Family Foundation, the Energy and Environmental Policy (EEP) concentration is pleased to offer the 2010 Summer Fellowship in Environmental Policy. An award of $1,000 will be given to a student in the environmental track participating in an unpaid summer internship related to environmental policy.

Chris Hill MPA Internship Grant

SIPASA is pleased to honor the life of former MPA student Christopher Hill with a scholarship fund for continuing MPA students undertaking public interest summer internships with government or nonprofit organizations.  Christopher died in March 2000, while still studying at SIPA, after a courageous battle with cancer. Christopher’s friends and family created and funded the first year of the scholarship.

More details and eligibility requirements are available on SIPAlink.

SIPA Travel Grant Program

SIPA provides internship grants to qualifying students to help defray the costs of summer unpaid or low-paid internships overseas.

The application deadline is Friday, April 23, 2010.

SIPASA/OCS Business Cards and BBQ

Get ready for an evening of food, fun and networking on Friday, April 23 from 5:00-8:00pm on Ancell Plaza! SIPASA and OCS present a new twist on our annual barbecue – “Business Cards and BBQ”. In addition to the usual BBQ, beer, music and games, we also encourage students to bring some of their business cards to share job and internship experiences. This event is FREE to SIPA students with their CU ID.

The following was composed by John Hughes, a second year MIA student studying Political and Economic Risk Analysis.

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On Friday, April 9^th the SIPA Energy Association held its annual Symposium in conjunction with the Columbia Business School Energy Club.  This year’s Symposium, entitled “2030: An Energy Odyssey,” brought together experts across the energy spectrum and students and faculty from Columbia to discuss the challenges facing the industry in the next 20 years and beyond.

The Symposium was held in the historic Low Memorial Library’s Rotunda on the main campus, and featured four expert panels, each exploring a different aspect of the energy industry.  The panels were: Energy Development in the Developing World, U.S. Energy Policy and the Portfolio of the Future, Commercial Structure of the Energy Supply Chain, and the U.S. Smart Grid Effort.  Experts from private, public and non-profit sectors weighed in on each of these issues as the day progressed, while also answering questions from the audience.  The event also featured a keynote address from John Hess, Chairman and CEO of the Hess Corporation, who spoke about the challenges he sees facing the energy industry in the coming years.

While students were happy with the conversations alone, they were also treated to a gourmet breakfast and lunch, as well as a cocktail hour following the session.  The cocktail hour gave students the opportunity to meet some of the panelists, as well as to network with other students and alumni interested in similar energy issues.

Overall the day was a rousing success, all courtesy of the hard work put in by students at both SIPA and the Business School.

The following was composed by John Hughes, a second year MIA student studying Political and Economic Risk Analysis.

_______________________

On February 18^th SIPA held its annual New York City Career Series networking event at the Gabarron Foundation, a chic art gallery and cultural center in Murray Hill.  The event brought together first and second-year SIPA students interested in possible career opportunities in New York with over 100 alumni who work in the city and region.  The alumni represented a multitude of industries and sectors, coming from banking, the UN, non-profits, environmental consultancies, media companies and multinational corporations, to name a few.

As attendants skirted through the crowd with trays of hors d’oeuvres and wine, students and alumni mingled around the room, stopping to speak with each other for a few minutes about careers and interests before moving on to a new conversation.  Students received a list of alumni attending beforehand, so many had already reached out to a few alumni and now had the opportunity to meet in person.  Others used the opportunity to learn about new fields they may not have thought of.  Regardless, students found that the alumni were all very approachable and eager to help, with many offering their business cards and an invitation for students to follow up to learn more about their organizations and fields.

This event is just one indicator of the strong alumni-student bond at SIPA, a true strength of the program.  Whether students choose to attend events like this one or not, all have access to the alumni database.  There students can search thousands of alumni to find those in careers of interest to them.  An e-mail or phone call can easily lead to an informational interview and another person to add to the student’s network.  Though not all students necessarily get concrete job offers out of these efforts, many find that having access to such a wealth of dedicated, successful alumni certainly helps towards this goal.