In 2016, Sylvia was an AWE student double majoring in English and Political Science when she decided to take the risk and apply for an unpaid, international internship.
“It was a really anxious time for me because I was in the middle of a school term. I wasn't sure what relocating would look like for four months. I also had to figure out housing and how I was going to pay for it.
I'd gotten a couple of rejections from other positions before I got the internship. And after that experience I felt like I wasn’t cut out for anything. However, I know that you are bound to fail sometimes. Nothing is set in stone, but you just have to believe that you have strengths that can help you land a job that is suitable for you. You just have to just keep trying.”
Her work term took her across the border into Washington D.C., where she worked as an intern for the Alberta Office, a subsection of Global Affairs Canada. The office there supports Alberta interests in the U.S and builds working relationships with stakeholders and partners from many states. Sylvia’s main jobs were to track current events, organize stakeholder meetings, and help with embassy events.
“I was assigned the topic of proposed tax reform and border tax, which was proposed by the Trump Administration. I would do media scanning every morning, attend hearings, and participate in think tank events to make sure we had all our facts straight. Then I would produce a briefing note for them every week.”
To me, that sounded like a huge responsibility, and it wasn’t the only one that she had while in Washington.
“I attended a lot of other think tank meetings and hearings around D.C. and on Capitol Hill, just so that our office is aware of what's going on when it came to Alberta’s interests. The other part of my responsibility included helping out with embassy events. I wasn't part of the official event team, but all the interns helped. Some examples included the inauguration event, which was really exciting! It was a great experience because there were many really important political figures there. I didn't really get to talk to them, but it was cool to see them from afar (especially Chrystia Freeland)! I also helped out with Canada 150 celebrations. The interns were sent to the Capitol Office on Capitol Hill and handed out pamphlets and pins to all the congress and senate members.”
Sylvia had wanted to work for the Government as a public servant for a while, but she wasn’t sure exactly how to get started. That was when she began networking.
“I didn't have any connections prior to working in Washington. I didn't know anyone who was working in the federal government, but I knew I was interested in public service. So I reached out to people who were already working as policy analysts. I didn't know them, so they were just complete strangers that I found on government directories. I sent them an email asking if they had time to grab a coffee so I could know more about their job. Almost everyone I asked agreed, and I learned so much from them. Talking to them really helped me in the job search process.”
These days, Sylvia has continued to work for the government, and she continues to use the many skills she learned and developed while completing her internship.
“I'm currently a policy analyst for the Canadian Forest Service (a subset of Natural Resources Canada). It's a federal government department here in Edmonton, housed at the Northern Forestry Centre. I applied to be a summer intern right after D.C., and then I kept this job throughout my undergrad until I graduated. After graduation, I became a full-time employee.”
A policy analyst, in Sylvia’s own words, is “someone who provides strategic advice on a course of action or inaction to address certain issues or problems.” Sylvia’s team is small, consisting of just Sylvia’s manager and herself, but together they help the local management team support the priorities of the department and make decisions that can reverberate through all levels of government.
“One way that we do that is through media scanning, which is similar to what I did in D.C. We have certain interests that we focus on, including wildfire, caribou, forest disturbances, reclamation, climate change, and biomass. I would look for relevant articles for those topics to make sure that management knows what's going on so they can help their boss and then their boss’s boss (including our minister) make informed decisions about things that affect Canadians. The local policy unit ensures the management team has all the important information they need to help support department decisions regarding the forestry sector. We often amalgamate this information into briefing notes or policy scans.”
Though you can't currently hop on a place and fly somewhere for your AWE Work Term, AWE is still offering virtual International Internships! Click here to check out the full list of available positions.
Written by Sydney Henderson, Faculty of Arts Communications and Program Support Intern.
