The Hill Life: Teach Your Interns Well

On the Hill, we talk a lot about our expectations for our interns.  We expect them to be courteous, competent and eager to learn.  But I don’t think we talk enough about what we, as full-time paid staff, should be teaching them. 

Too many interns complete their semester of servitude knowing nothing more than how to give a tour and sort mail.  This is unacceptable.  Don’t believe me?  Ask the Department of Labor, whose guidelines explicitly state that a free internship must be similar to training provided in an educational environment.

So what should you be teaching your interns?

Phone skills are critical.  Interns must learn how to talk to constituents, how to calm angry callers or at least placate them, and how to repeat the same talking points thousands of times without spitting them out like they don’t matter.

Working in a congressional office is closer in practice to working in a customer service call center than it is to working in any other field.  The voters are your customers and the customers must be treated with respect.  It is a staffer’s job to listen to them, educate them and pass their thoughts along to the Congressman.

Even if your interns don’t choose to stay on the Hill, learning to interact with the public is a valuable skill.

In my opinion, being able to research and summarize a complex issue is the most valuable, critical thinking skill that Hill interns can learn.  How to read a report, a news article or a bill and sum up the important policy points is like being able to speak a foreign language.  So take some time to teach your interns how to write a standard research memo. 

Don’t know where to start?  Have them sort through the Dear Colleague letters or read the local newspaper and choose a topic that appeals to them. 

Making a persuasive argument goes hand in hand with being able to do legislative research.  Because once you understand an issue, you should be able to tell your Boss where you think he needs to be on that issue.  What about commodity prices, for example, matters to your district?  Which groups and voters care about this issue?  And does your Boss need to take a stance or get involved?

Once you learn about an issue, being able to make a cogent argument to support your position on that issue is the next logical step. 

Some interns also want to learn specialty skills like scheduling, press writing or committee work.  You should encourage these interests, but first you have to get to know them.  And yes, that means you actually have to talk to the interns.

What are they studying in school?  What are they interested in?  Do they want to work on the Hill someday, and if so, what job in the office appeals to them? 

Who knows?  If you nurture their talent early on, you might be able to lighten your workload a bit.  I once had an intern who was such a good writer that I didn’t write a co-sponsor memo for almost three months.  It was bliss.  And when she left us, she got a job in PR for a local government relations firm based on the strength of her writing samples.  It was a mutually beneficial relationship.

Interns come to the Hill to learn.  To learn how to answer the phones, how to research and how to write.  They come here to learn the difference between a rule and a suspension, an H.R. and an H.J.Res, a media alert and a press release.  It is your job to teach them.  And if you’re not taking your role as teacher/mentor seriously, the interns aren’t the only ones who you are failing. 

When they leave you, your interns add your Boss’ name to their resume.  If they are poorly taught and inadequately trained, that reflects poorly on him and on you.  Think of interns like emissaries who carry your Boss’ reputation with them wherever they interview or work. 

So if you’re reading this post and wondering if your interns have learned any of the skills listed above this summer, now would be a good time to find out.  Because you only have a few short weeks to fill their little heads with knowledge before they leave you.  And if they leave an empty vessel, their resume will forever brand them as your empty vessel.