This Summer I have two internships, one of which is going extremely well (the other is going fine but nothing noteworthy). It’s an unpaid position with my State Representative and she’s been impressed with all the work I’ve done thus far. She has given me fairly important tasks to accomplish like writing speeches intended for large audiences. We have an excellent relationship and I’m wondering how I can build on it as I move beyond the Summer. Are there any sorts of paid internships available in politics? What about getting an internship at a law firm? I’d like to make the most of what I think will be an excellent resume booster and reference.
It depends on what you are interested in. Politics is big business, so there are plenty of ways to get involved.
You could see if she needs help in her re-election campaign, which would be this year - with that, you could volunteer or see if her budget allows for paid staffers (for a state rep, I doubt there would be any part-time paid staffers, but you never know!).
You could look into political research - think tanks do it, analytics firms do it, and universities do it, so you’d need to figure out where to aim your efforts.
You could get involved with your local election administration - if you’re over 18, you could work the polls on Election Day.
You could get involved with your party, first as a volunteer and later as an elected committeeperson, where you would be responsible for handling GOTV efforts, doing some party-first mailers, etc.
For law firms, they generally don’t offer paid internships except to law students, but you might be able to swing a job as a legal assistant for a summer.
Different people have different definitions of “resume booster” - law and politics are related, but a job at a law firm won’t win you any favors in politics, and a job for a politician won’t help so much for getting into law school. At this stage, I would worry about figuring out your interests first and resume second.
@chrisw thanks for your advice! I actually am helping with her re-election campaign currently.