{"id":7977,"date":"2013-09-09T00:01:34","date_gmt":"2013-09-09T04:01:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.cos.ucf.edu\/?p=7977"},"modified":"2019-06-18T16:07:52","modified_gmt":"2019-06-18T20:07:52","slug":"alumnus-shares-advice-for-ucf-students-seeking-to-work-in-d-c","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/alumnus-shares-advice-for-ucf-students-seeking-to-work-in-d-c\/","title":{"rendered":"Alumnus Shares Advice for UCF Students Seeking to Work in D.C."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\"><a href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2013\/08\/marc-alberts_headshot.jpg\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-7978 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/29\/2013\/08\/marc-alberts_headshot.jpg\" alt=\"marc alberts_headshot\" width=\"218\" height=\"289\" \/><\/a>Marc Alberts, \u201911, graduated from UCF with a bachelor\u2019s degree in political science on the international relations and comparative politics track and a minor in Spanish. Shortly after graduation, Alberts arrived in Washington, D.C. to work as an intern for a governmental affairs office in the downtown area. His internship helped him get another paid internship working for a house committee. After only a couple of months, he was hired on as a staff assistant for that same committee in August 2012, and he has since been promoted to clerk for one of the subcommittees. Alberts plans to continue working on the Hill during the 113<sup>th<\/sup> Congress while he prepares for law school.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\">While his story is perhaps not unique in terms of how to find employment in Washington, D.C., he does have advice to offer political science students seeking to be more competitive. Alberts suggests that students should prepare early and to begin planning for future jobs while still in school. He feels that many students are well versed in the benefits of r\u00e9sum\u00e9 building and networking, but adds that practical experience is just as crucial. R\u00e9sum\u00e9s are much more useful for finding employment when they include work-related experience. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\">When Alberts reflects on his time at UCF, he feels he could have been more productive. \u00a0\u201cWhile I enjoyed my major in political science, I regret the fact that I was not more active outside of the classroom. I made the mistake of thinking that finding a job after college starts once I receive my diploma, when in reality that search should begin while you are still a student longboarding the sidewalks of campus. Nowadays it&#8217;s simply not good enough to have a r\u00e9sum\u00e9 that is &#8220;good enough.&#8221; \u00a0In my experience, here in the District, employers are looking for much more than just the grades,\u201d said Alberts. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\">He realized very quickly that the jobs available for students fresh out of college with a bachelor\u2019s degree were very competitive. The same is true for landing an internship with little or no pay. \u00a0Practical experience is the key, whether that means interning in local political offices, law firms, district courts, or getting\u00a0involved\u00a0in SGA. He adds that these experiences truly add to classroom education and, while they are excellent r\u00e9sum\u00e9 boosters, the real value of\u00a0participating\u00a0in these\u00a0activities\u00a0is that they will help build a network of professional contacts. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\">Alberts says, \u201cI attribute my success in obtaining an interview for my internship to my network. Through hard work and a little bit of luck, that internship turned into a paid\u00a0position. The chance of having your r\u00e9sum\u00e9 picked out of a stack of hundreds of others that look very similar to your own, or in many cases look even better than yours, can be increased with the help of a professional network.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\">Alberts continues, however, by adding that it&#8217;s not just about &#8220;who you know.&#8221; The way for students to build up a professional network and increase their opportunities in order\u00a0to put them \u00a0in the best\u00a0position\u00a0to land a job always comes down to one major building block: hard work. Professional relationships are solidified through the hard work and the quality that is displayed in the lower\u00a0positions an individual holds. He always\u00a0believed\u00a0that everyone should start at the bottom of the ladder and through hard work and dedication, work their way up to the top. He shares that as an intern, students should take on the mindset that they are lucky to have the opportunity to show their employers that they are a dedicated, hardworking individual worthy of a paid\u00a0position. At the very least, they are bound to receive a stunning recommendation for another opportunity elsewhere. When students demonstrate that they are passionate about the work they do, even if it&#8217;s just basic intern tasks, employers will appreciate that student\u2019s professionalism and be more than helpful by sharing their tips and resources in the job search. \u00a0Alberts notes that the political science courses he took at UCF helped instill this &#8220;hard work pays off&#8221; mentality, and he did\u00a0receive\u00a0a lot of good real world lessons from his professors. He only wishes that he had followed their advice a little more closely in his earlier academic years but is thankful that the learning environment at UCF was always professional.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-family: Calibri\">Alberts says, \u201cTo recap,\u00a0if you&#8217;re a Knight that is already doing well in your major, active outside of the classroom (engaged in state\/local\u00a0politics, participate in College Republicans\/Democrats, SGA, etc.), have an internship already in the bag and a sparkling r\u00e9sum\u00e9, congrats. You&#8217;re already on the right track and should do just fine when you decide to venture up to D.C. But for those students who need a little more of a push in the right direction, take my word for it, everyone is likely to benefit from an internship, whether it is locally in Orlando, back home in your district, or even in D.C. If you want to get a feel for what it&#8217;s like to live and work up in the District, I would recommend exploring\u00a0opportunities\u00a0through the Washington Center. \u00a0If you\u2019re not quite sure where to start, approach your favorite professor or the departmental internship coordinator and kindly ask them for a meeting where you both can sit and discuss your future goals. They are more helpful than I ever realized and my best planning came from a few brain storming sessions in the offices of UCF\u2019s political science department.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Marc Alberts, \u201911, graduated from UCF with a bachelor\u2019s degree in political science on the international relations and comparative politics track and a minor in Spanish. Shortly after graduation, Alberts arrived in Washington, D.C. to work as an intern for a governmental affairs office in the downtown area. His internship helped him get another paid [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":125,"featured_media":7978,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[5962,20,38,16,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7977","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-science-alumni","category-psaclassnotes","category-breaking-news","category-political-science-departments","category-shining-knights"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Alumnus Shares Advice for UCF Students Seeking to Work in D.C. - College of Sciences News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sciences.ucf.edu\/news\/alumnus-shares-advice-for-ucf-students-seeking-to-work-in-d-c\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alumnus Shares Advice for UCF Students Seeking to Work in D.C. - College of Sciences News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Marc Alberts, \u201911, graduated from UCF with a bachelor\u2019s degree in political science on the international relations and comparative politics track and a minor in Spanish. Shortly after graduation, Alberts arrived in Washington, D.C. to work as an intern for a governmental affairs office in the downtown area. 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