Undergraduate Admissions

From the moment I heard about the internship program, I knew it was definitely something that I wanted to do—the chance to travel and live abroad in a new country and gain some hands on 9 to 5 work experience outside of the classroom. It just seemed like an ideal opportunity.

Almost all of the positions I applied for were abroad. That was my first criteria going into the program. I ended up at the ILO, the International Labor Organization in Geneva, Switzerland. It was a great fit for my interests in international relations. I worked in the Safe Work Department. It’s an office of their social protection sector and focused on occupational safety and health.

I worked on a global event that they oversee. It takes place on April 28th, the World Day for Safety and Health at Work. I also worked on small projects related to that; researching, formatting, sometimes translating reports, collecting and analyzing data that came in about the event—what countries were involved and what they were doing. I also worked on their website.

There were about sixty to seventy interns there at one time, but most of them were at the graduate level. As an undergraduate intern, I had a large amount of responsibility, but they helped me out with everything I needed help with.

They treated me less like an intern and more like a team member. I sat in on many organization wide conferences; sometimes even country-wide committees. There were several representatives from different countries, and I was expected to participate and give my opinions and ideas and not just sit and take notes in the corner.

It was really more than I thought it would be. I wasn’t sure exactly what I was going to be doing at the ILO, but with the amount of responsibility I had, the projects I worked on, the people I got to meet, the traveling and cultural experience that I gained, it was above and beyond what I would have expected from any internship at this stage.

Outside of working and meeting all these new people, I also traveled with my roommates. I lived with other Cornell students. We traveled to nine countries. We were traveling at least once a month. The ILO knows that interns have this desire to see the rest of Europe, so they give interns two and a half days each month to add on to any weekend—to extend a weekend and travel.

As far as the career related experience I gained , it was unbelievable—the contacts I made and the people I got to meet and the skills I gained. I was able to make new life-long contacts that will look great on my resume. I also met new interns from across the world; people I’ll be in touch with for a long time. I got closer with the Cornell students I was abroad with, and was able to see things in five months that I might not get the chance to see for years to come.

I think it was a great experience. I recommend that ILR students become involved in an internship, and I and several of the other interns who were there last semester have spoken at ILR events and classes and presentations.

Right now, I’m in the middle of the recruiting process, and I can’t tell you exactly what I will be doing in the future. My internship experience has shifted my interests. I have looked at and applied to human rights related positions—particularly SRI’s, which are socially responsible investment firms. These are positions I may not have otherwise been interested in at this stage in my life if it were not for my credit internship.