VSFS Intern
My experience
Overview
10 Hours a Week contributing to a project both with coding and qualitative assessment elements. Cannot go into detail.
This internship, though unpaid, has been an amazing resume line and has given me wonderful mentors in the federal world. Using it as a talking point in interviews, I secured both a winter paid internship and a summer paid internship for the following year (the latter being in my dream industry, with the former being great coding experience).
Pros
INCREDIBLE Resume Line, Real Work With Code, Diverse Duties, Great for Federal Networking
Cons
Depending on department, you may be limited in what you are allowed to disclose to employers. You also get out what you put in (volunteer to assume more duty if you want to get a better reference and more applicable experience).
Would recommend it to people who...
Want to work for the government in some capacity, need an easier-entry internship, and want something unique that goes towards a cause. There is an immense variety of projects and anyone can certainly find SOMETHING they are a match for.
Impact of work
Time spent working
How did working remote affect your experience?
It's standard for this type of internship (the Virtual Student Federal Service). Made it a great first, unpaid internship due to it meaning I had no housing costs and could do it during the school year.
Interview advice
How did you find the job / apply?
Interview Rounds
Interview type
Interview questions
N/A ; They needed a statement of interest for the position however, and some more selective internships in the program do require interviews.
Advice on how to prepare
Willingness to write out a lengthy federal internship application and time to browse through the many potential internship opportunities in the program. Willingness to work an unpaid internship that may not be EXACTLY in what you want to do, but that will serve as a perfect stepping stone to your ideal industry. Willingness to approach supervisors to take on more work, once in the internship, so as to gain more applicable experience.
More questions? Send the reviewer a message!