In Discussion: Volunteer & Staff
Expectations (Part 2)
Intern’s Bill of Rights
Sasha Schechter
Community Engagement Coordinator
Friends of Thirteen, Inc
Sasha Schechter, Professional Intern
• Began interning in high school at
age 16
• Past internships include:
– Hope Street Kids
– The Office of Senator Hillary
Rodham Clinton
– Colgate-Palmolive
– CLIC Sargent for Children
with Cancer (Bristol, UK)
– LeadDog Marketing Group
– WNET
Sasha Schechter, Community Engagement
Coordinator:
Intern to Staff
• Began Internship with WNET in July
2011
• Became staff at WNET in September
2012
• Incredibly valuable internship
experience:
– Hands-on, “real world” work
– Trust, building relationships
– Broad range of experiences and
opportunities
• From fundraising to shooting on
location
Internship Projects
Responsibilities & Opportunities
Research Assistant to Neal Shapiro
Treasures of New York
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– Pitch Writing
Scheduling
Phone Etiquette
Asking Questions
Follow-up Strategies
Budgeting
Letter Writing
American Graduate Day
– Background Research
– Booking Guests
– Production Assistant
Major Market Groups Arts Initiative
– Watching/Selecting Relevant Programming
– Rights and Clearances
Volunteer Work
– Learning how other departments work
Wonder Women! at
Macaulay Honors College
Applied skills learned during
internship to execute this event:
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Wrote Pitch
Booked Guests
Established relationship
with Macaulay New Media
Lab
Panel Topic Research
• Worked with panel
moderator
Production – Livestream
Rights and Clearances
Leveraged relations from
internship to highlight the
event on-air
Staten Island Talks Education
Progressed from 60 people to 600:
• Coordinated and managed preparation
for this large-scale event
• Starting small helped build up to this!
Internship Projects – Responsibilities &
Opportunities
Research Assistant to Neal Shapiro
Treasures of New York
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–
–
–
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– Pitch Writing
Scheduling
Phone Etiquette
Asking Questions
Follow-up Strategies
Budgeting
Letter Writing
American Graduate Day
– Background Research
– Booking Guests
– Production Assistant
Major Market Groups Arts Initiative
– Watching/Selecting Relevant Programming
– Rights and Clearances
Volunteer Work
– Learning how other departments work
What is an internship, anyway?
Survey says…
…Say What!?
“Opportunity”
“Academic”
“Explore”
“Career Development”
“Pre-Professional”
“Mentorship”
Intern’s Bill of Rights
Interns work WITH the station,
not FOR the station.
This means…
Interns are not:
– Free Labor
• The Department of Labor says that interns, on occasion,
may even slow a supervisor’s progress
– Your “Go-fer”
• Think twice before you ask for that cup of coffee…
– Entry-level employees
• They’re preparing to climb the ladder, but they haven’t
quite stepped on the first rung yet
Interns are:
– Volunteers
• How would you work with a volunteer? Interns deserve
that same respect!
– Great resources for young, new perspectives
• Great sounding board for ideas
– Advocates for your station
• These young people can be your biggest advocates in their
communities and their (hard to reach) demographics
Interns are: (cont’d)
– Eager to say yes!
• Interns are looking for a variety of new opportunities and
hands-on experiences – everything from filing to observing
senior-level meetings.
– Looking for guidance, feedback, and ROI
• Taking on an intern means investing time in teaching
someone how to do a job
• After doing their work, interns will expect ROI. Which is to
say that interns are…
– Potential Employees
• Clear goals, learning objectives, and deliverables
– Especially important when an internship is for academic credit
Intern’s Bill of Rights
Questions?
Sasha Schechter
Community Engagement Coordinator
Friends of Thirteen, Inc. / WNET
schechters@thirteen.org