Ga-Young So
Seoul, South Korea; Okemos High School, Okemos, Michigan; Transfer from University of Illinois
I have always had an interest in working at an international organization. When I was doing some research on ILR, I knew of some opportunities available at the International Labor Organization (ILO). The ILO is an agency of the UN in Geneva, Switzerland that focuses on international social justice and human rights issues.
As an international student studying in the states, I knew I was interested in international development research. I worked on macro policy issues—a macro policy coherence process, which is about creating more jobs and better jobs at the same time. Together, my supervisor at the ILO and I tried to prove that there is no point in creating jobs if the jobs created exploit people. My supervisor gave me an extension, so I took an additional semester off to stay there longer.
I was very interested in public policy, and the ILO opportunity provided me with a chance to work in that area. My responsibilities were in finding statistics on macro variables of the world, and then implementing them with a statistical package.
The pattern of my work was pretty much set. The only thing that I had to figure out was how to use the statistical package on my own, but that was not hard to do. It was interesting work. I had a concentration in economics and I had taken ILR's statistics classes, so I was able to apply what I learned in the classroom.
My internship work was more than I expected. I was really satisfied. I enjoyed my stay in Geneva, and I had the opportunity to meet a lot of people from all over the world. That was a plus.
My internship helped me to know what I want to do. I gained hands on experience of what I learned at ILR, and it enhanced my self-confidence in what I am capable of. In fact, I just received an email from my supervisor at the ILO who told me that I can go back there and work! The networking you can do at your internship can lead to great opportunities.
My experience helped me realize that I would like to get a master’s degree in public policy. After the credit internship, I knew that I wanted to be a researcher in the public policy area. So, my ultimate goal is to become a researcher at an international organization or a university.