Undergraduate Admissions

My credit internship gave me a different look into the world of labor relations and some great work experience. I knew I wanted to be in Washington, D.C. or Switzerland. I ended up applying to the AFL-CIO in Washington, D.C. and the ILO—the International Labor Organization in Switzerland. I ended up working at the ILO.

The ILO is an agency of the UN where I got to work with governments, labor unions and employers to advance labor relations on an international scale.

I was in Geneva, Switzerland and my supervisor gave me a number of projects. I helped update the termination of employment digest. Every five years they publish a summary of the termination laws for various countries. I also did some literature reviews. For example, at the beginning of the week, she asked me to get information about social contracts. I would go on the internet and look up everything I could find concerning social contracts. I also helped out with the Better Factories Cambodia program. The ILO works with factory managers and labor unions in Cambodia to improve working conditions and improve work productivity.

The ILO had me analyzing legal codes of various countries to help them update their digest. I did the literature reviews, and I was familiar with that because I had done that in the past for a professor. I also spoke witreah occupational safety and health experts in the ILO to try to ensure that what was in the best practice sheets really was the “best practice.”

Before I began this internship, I was very nervous about what it might entail. My previous internship experiences had involved a lot of clerical work. I really did not fully understand what would be asked of me. When I got to the ILO, I was pleasantly surprised because they gave me real responsibilities. I had described to my supervisor, before I left, what I wanted to do—to contribute to the substantive output of the department, and she really allowed me to work on projects that mattered.

I would say being in Switzerland and living there for a while definitely changed my global perspective. ILR teaches you this neo-economic viewpoint and they frame labor relations in that context. Just living and working in Europe really made me reconsider my opinions about welfare systems. Before my internship at the ILO, I wanted to be an arbitrator, and now I want to work in international human rights. I want to develop policies and programs to improve the lives of workers in developing countries.

ILR provides you with a comprehensive view of American labor relations. My internship really broadened my perspective—just analyzing the labor laws of Indonesia, for example, makes you really think about what our system is—how that compares to other countries, how other countries may do it better than we do. I say to my friends, somewhat facetiously, that the United States isn’t the only country in the world. To an extent though, it’s very true, especially with regard to labor relations. We are not the only country that deals with labor issues—there are other ways to do this.

I strongly recommend the credit internship to everyone. I think it’s critical to get out of the classroom environment and experience the world in a different context. Having a job, living in an apartment, going to work everyday instead of class really gives you a taste of what’s after college. I’m not nervous about graduating and I think some of my friends are. I sometimes feel that I learned more in a week at the ILO than I did in a semester at school just because of all the new things I experienced—living in a foreign country, being among people from all around the world, working on these real projects that will affect people at some point in another place. It was incredible. Absolutely, I recommend it.

I’m applying to law schools right now. At one time, I wanted to be an arbitrator, but after working at the ILO, what I want to do with my law education is completely different. I want to work in international human rights; so I’m basically applying to schools with strong international programs and I would not have done that if it was not for this internship.