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Washington D.C. Career Conference

Posted by Matt Clemons

· Wednesday, January 26th, 2011

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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.

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Categories : Academics, Career Services, Meet Seeples, SIPA

Tags : Career Services, internship, job, washington d.c.

Not Your “Average” Profile: Things to Consider as a Young Applicant to SIPA

Posted by Matt Clemons

· Wednesday, December 8th, 2010

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The following post was submitted by Brittney Bailey. Brittney is working in our office this year and she, along with several other students, are contributing posts throughout the year. Another helpful entry on this topic written from an administrator standpoint can be found here.

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One of the most common questions we at admissions are asked is:

“What are my chances of getting into SIPA if I am a younger applicant? Do I even stand a chance?”

Usually these questions come from prospective students who have been out of school for 1 or 2 years or those who are in their final year of their undergraduate program and want to transition straight into graduate school. And many times, these specific questions are deferred to me.

I entered SIPA one year after graduating from undergrad and was commonly marked as the “baby” of every group assignment or SIPA bonding-experience. The reality is that SIPA does lend itself to students who exude a certain clarity and confidence in what they want to do and know how their degree program will specifically fit into their career goals. Of course, this isn’t always the case, but older students with more professional experience generally fall into this category.

So, from one “young” student to another, I wanted to list a few key tips to keep in mind when approaching the admissions process to professional schools like SIPA.

Be aware of the statistics

About 5%-10% of accepted students come directly from undergrad each year. These students tend to have extraordinary academic records, significant internship and/or study abroad experience and a fairly clear idea of what career path they want to head on. Note, the more substantive the internship experience, the better. Yes, having lots of internships at big name organizations can look good on your resume. But keep in mind that the Admissions Committee does more than glance at this section. They expect to see a CV longer than one-page (see resume entry here), unlike a typical job resume, and are really looking at content. So, making sure that even a few internships, fellowships or part-time jobs can better demonstrate your ability to handle relevant and substantive work is vital.
In many cases though, students with very strong academic backgrounds are not offered admission but are in fact, encouraged to reapply after gaining a year or two of relevant work experience. Applying for competitive or prestigious short-stint programs like Teach for America, the Peace Corps or Fulbright and Luce Scholarships are a good stepping stone into graduate programs that can further give you the hard skills, connections and credentials you need to advance in an international affairs career.

Think Quant!

I could not stress enough the need to familiarize yourself with quantitative analysis before applying to SIPA. Honestly, I avoided quant classes like the plague during my undergraduate career, even though basic economics courses were required as part of my international relations degree. This was definitely to my detriment! Although I ended up loving my economics courses at SIPA, especially those that applied to development, I have always felt as if I were playing “catch up”. Having a few courses in Micro and Macroeconomics, statistics, and mathematics under your belt are incredibly important tools for the SIPA experience and any international affairs or policy career. Not only do they make your transition into graduate school much easier, but they serve as a form of “leverage” in the application process when being benchmarked against many students who have years of applied, practical knowledge.

Be clear about career objectives

As a young student, you inevitably have less “tools” to work with. Your CV will most likely have less pages than an average SIPA student who was the Director of an NGO on the Thai/Burma border working with refugees for five years or who moved up the ranks as a Senior Analyst at Citibank in New York, Hong Kong and New Delhi offices. Not to worry! Even if your goal is to essentially become one of your peers, a SIPA degree can very well enhance these career paths. Being as clear as possible in your personal statement about how to achieve this path is imperative. Ask yourself regularly: What do I think I want to do? Have I already taken all of the basic steps to get there? And how will this degree at SIPA and many of its components – from the concentration, specialization, professors, locale to the potential student body – help me to get to this goal?It’s not a simple question to answer at whatever age. But, it’s an imperative one to address and drive home in your personal statement, particularly as a student with limited professional experience.

Don’t be afraid to “stay out of the game” (for a bit)

I know that this is usually not the answer people want to hear. But speaking from personal experience, had I gone through the admissions process all over again I would have spent another year or two working in international development. In fact, after my first year at SIPA, I took off some time, in part, to do just that. Gaining the additional professional experience helped me to really refine my objectives at SIPA. I am much more confident in what I have to offer to a future employer and what I need to take from the program here. Staying out of the SIPA game for just a few years can really enhance how well you play once you’re in it.

Having said all this, it is possible to be a young student at SIPA and make the most of your experience. I hope these tips, at the very least, help out some of you who have asked this common question.

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Categories : Admissions, Meet Seeples

Tags : Application, experience, internship, resume

Summer 2010 Internship – Post 7

Posted by Matt Clemons

· Thursday, October 14th, 2010

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This is the seventh entry in our recap of summer internships completed by SIPA students working in the Admissions Office this year. This time we hear from Lacey Ramirez, a second-year MIA student pursuing a concentration in Economic and Political Development with a specialization in Advanced Policy and Economic Analysis.

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I am very grateful that there is an internship requirement in the SIPA curriculum. It forced me to take the time to seek out a professional experience in my field, whereas I otherwise would have taken a lovely summer vacation somewhere. In the end this will make me a stronger professional candidate when it comes time to apply for a job after I complete my Master’s program.

When I was narrowing down the type of summer internship I wanted, I decided that I wanted to do international development consulting at a private firm. This was an area of the development world that I had no prior exposure to, and I was very curious to encounter what it was like. In securing this position, I learned the essential value of networking. It was by networking that I was able to make a contact at the private firm called Chemonics and have my résumé considered.

Chemonics is an international development consulting firm. They mainly contract with USAID, and they are implementing and managing projects in all the major sectors in every major region of the world. It was a very exciting opportunity, as it was a paid internship and would also give me the consulting/program management opportunity that I eagerly sought.

My internship was based in D.C. (sadly I didn’t get to go overseas), and my assignments were to work on three project teams. One of the projects was working on public-private partnerships in the Philippines to increase the access to and sustainability reproductive health and family planning care. Another project was a value-chain linkages project in Bangladesh, and the last project was a financial sector information sharing project. I was not intimately involved in the creation or technical management of the projects, but I did learn a lot about program management and the many administrative/client relation tasks that go into project it.

I had many tasks and duties that required a high level of effort and multi-tasking, and most of my tasks were administrative in nature. Some of my daily tasks included: budgeting, auditing, client/consultant relations, editing project deliverables, and grant program development.

Chemonics also provided several training courses to orient employees to the firm and the different work being done in the field. I also had great relationships with my directors who have been practitioners in the field for many years, and they took the time to talk with me about how I might meet my career aspirations and goals.

Over all I had a great internship experience. It definitely helped me to further articulate where I want to work in the field of development, and what knowledge and skills I would need to get there. It also gave me a greater perspective of the type of job opportunities in my field.

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Categories : Admissions, Columbia University, Meet Seeples

Tags : d.c., development, internship

Summer 2010 Internship – Post 6

Posted by Matt Clemons

· Monday, October 11th, 2010

· 1 Comment

This is the sixth entry in our recap of summer internships completed by SIPA students working in the Admissions Office this year. Carrie Dorn is a dual degree student pursuing her Masters in Public Administration and Social Work. This is her third year at Columbia University and she is focusing her studies at SIPA in the Management and Urban/Social Policy tracks.

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My summer interning in New York City unexpectedly turned into my own exploration of the city, social policy and my future career goals. I knew that summer in NYC would include sticky weather and suffocating subway stations, but also the fun of sidewalk cafes, free outdoor movies and festivals galore. While many SIPA students started packing their bags for summer internships and vacations abroad in May, I buckled down and focused on my search for a NYC government internship– an inevitably slow process, that had started months before. At what felt like the last possible moment, I was interviewing for a few internship positions at three different agencies. At last, in the midst of final exams, I secured a position working at the New York City Department of Homeless Services assisting the Director of Executive Projects and Operations.

Luckily, I was very familiar with the NYC Department of Homeless Services (DHS). In my Urban Politics course I had analyzed the agency’s funding sources, policy initiatives, and budget allocations in a 30 page paper. From an outside, academic perspective, I had my own thoughts and recommendations about how DHS could improve their programs and functioning. Little did I know that I would get the opportunity to contribute to the change process myself.

In my internship I was able to see the whole spectrum of programming at DHS. At first I was assigned some of the intern tasks that I had anticipated such as compiling data and proofreading reports. One day out of the week I traded the commute to Wall St. to venture up to the Bronx, at the central intake office for homeless families called Prevention Assistance and Temporary Housing (PATH). There I saw the challenges of managing a 24-7 operation where more than 100 families each day come to request emergency shelter. I studied up on the legal shelter eligibility guidelines and counseled homeless and at-risk families via the PATH hotline to best direct them to community resources.

I also assisted with preparations for the second year of Advantage Academy, a joint program between DHS and St. John’s University, that offers a fully subsidized Associate Degree to those in the NYC shelter system. I had the chance to welcome the new student cohort and brainstorm how to improve retention rates, student outcomes and support systems.

Then, the internship blossomed into something bigger for me when I had the opportunity to sit in on meetings about the functionality and design of a case management system that is advancing the way that DHS operates and interfaces with other agencies. I learned about implementation of this system, from stakeholder collaboration to the logistics of training employees. In meetings, the voices of my professors would sometimes echo in my head as I watched how the concepts of organizational culture, regulation, federalism and accountability unfolded in real time.

I couldn’t have anticipated a better summer experience, becoming familiar with the process and challenges of city government. My internship at DHS confirmed my interest in wanting to administer and develop social programs in the future and it also sparked my appetite for more knowledge about how to effectively run organizations. By the end of August, I had scrapped my plans to take fun electives and instead signed up for cost-benefit analysis, human resource management and law for non-profit managers. Now that the summer months have quickly transitioned into the school year, sometimes I do imagine the type of “field work” I that could have accomplished in some exotic beach locale, but all in all it was very rewarding to have braved city life in an NYC summer .

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Categories : Admissions, Columbia University, Meet Seeples

Tags : career, internship, NYC, social policy

Summer 2010 Internship – Post 5

Posted by Matt Clemons

· Wednesday, October 6th, 2010

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This is the fifth entry in our recap of summer internships completed by SIPA students working in the Admissions Office this year. Beatriz Guillén is a second year student concentrating in Economic and Political Development.

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How to do an Internship, get married, and go on your honeymoon in the same summer

I am originally from Spain but have worked and studied in Italy, Mexico and Venezuela, which can be a prototypical profile of a SIPA student. This summer I add an additional international component to my life, and married a Salvadorian Dow Jones correspondent who, oddly enough, is also at SIPA doing a dual degree with the Journalism school.

But I also had time to do my internship. I worked for Enterprise Solutions to Poverty (ESP) an organization based in New York City that mobilizes leading corporations and emerging entrepreneurs to build competitive and inclusive growth strategies that engage large numbers of low-income people as suppliers, distributors and consumers. ESP’s goal is to support companies in increasing the income and assets of over of low-income people. I started working at ESP a few hours a week since last February, and then began working full time during the summer.

While working at ESP I focused on agribusiness, decentralized distribution, financial products and profitable social services. Over the last four years, ESP has mobilized the leaders of over 150 large companies and entrepreneurs in India, China, Mexico and Colombia, with activities initiated in Kenya and Brazil. Part of my work at ESP included:

Working on a range of rural finance initiatives in China, including work with China Mobile and the Agricultural Bank of China on building out rural payments and banking in China.
Developed fruit and vegetable initiatives with leading agribusinesses in Colombia.
Was part of the team that worked with Novartis in financing rural health providers in Novartis’ massive Arogya Parivar rural health initiative in India.

For someone that had never worked before in the United States, working in New York was a challenging experience. Moreover, working in development with the private sector gave me a new perspective on how to tackle with development problems and find innovative solutions. I didn’t have the opportunity to travel during my internship, but since I worked with Colombia, China, and India I sometimes had to adjust my working hours to those of our partners in different countries!

Overall, I can say that the experience was great and helped me a lot in my career.

Although I didn’t travel with my internship, I traveled to my hometown, Barcelona (Spain), as I said, to get married. Yes, it is possible to combine your personal life with your studies and with an internship. I started working in my internship in February so that I could take a month of for the wedding and the honeymoon. The wedding was great with people from all around the world. After the wedding we flew to Sicily and spent a couple of weeks traveling around the island enjoying the food and visiting ancient Greek ruins, medieval towns and enjoying the beaches.

These are some of the pictures from the trip to Sicily.

San Vito Lo Capo