Getting into aid work: dos and don'ts for internships for organisations and hopeful entrants

I'm about to leave my first (or second, depending on how you count it) job at a large humanitarian aid organisation after three years. In that time I've had many conversations about the rights and wrongs of internships - whether or not they are useful, for the organisation and the individual; who benefits the most; whether they are ethical.

Then the other day, this article surfaced on my Twitter feed, arguing that making internship a critical element of getting into politics effectively restricts the field to the affluent. Hmm, I said. Same thing in aid work - you have to be young and unencumbered, or you can't do the internships and low-paid admin jobs that get you your first 'proper' job. Understandably, I got called on it - it is possible to get field-work positions which enable you to live a fairly nice lifestyle even at a low level. But when I'm talking about is pretty much the standard route recommended to many eager graduates from degree courses on aid and development in the UK, even by me. What follows is a personal take on this route, the pros and cons, and how to make it the best experience it can be for both aid agency and willing skivvy.

Why do an internship?

It's true, it's the best starting point I know of, barring outrageous luck or the money and chutzpah required to move out to Country X, and bang on doors until someone gives you a job because you're there and it's easy. The other alternative, by the way, is to get qualified as an accountant or a logistician or an engineer or a plumber and then work your way across laterally. But I'm assuming you're me, three years ago - newly graduated, with a theory-focussed degree under your belt and a headful of critical questions and fascinating debate, but no experience.

What an internship won't do: get you into the field. It's not magic. It will not of you an experienced aid worker make. It is the red pill that keeps you inside an aid agency office long enough to work out what happens there. Play your cards right and an internship, ladies and gentlemen, will get you your first admin job in an aid agency. This, by they way, is the way to get into aid work. It's unfair and a scandalous waste of your brilliance, but there it is.

Make the most of it:

• At interview, if the tasks aren't clear from the outset, clarify what you'll be doing. A good internship will mean you're treated like an employee - you should have a line manager and regular one-to-ones. Push to have specific projects, something you can stick your name on and put on your CV.
• Be realistic - organisations need extra pairs of hands for what can be totally naff jobs. Suck it up, Princess. You can learn from almost any working experience, be it organising lunch for a meeting or event (ask to sit in the corner! offer to write up the note!), going through boxes of old papers (pinch unwanted articles and books!), analysing data (a vital skill) and writing summaries of programmes.
• Many internship schemes offer proper training, including inductions on the organisation structure and ethos. Take advantage of this. Understanding the basics of the humanitarian aid system, such as the difference between international organisations, NGOs, and the Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement makes you sound professional and knowledgeable and can make a real difference later. And first aid training is always handy. Grab it with both hands.
• Similarly, take advantage of any opportunity you have to learn. You can't fail to pick up terminology and an understanding of how things work on the ground (i.e. what you can't get from a degree) if you keep your ears and eyes open and read every document that passes through your inbox whether it's relevant to your duties or not. Focus on real narrative accounts of programmes: evaluations, trip reports, and the like, rather than strategy or policy documents - they might give a bigger picture but on their own they won't give you anything you can't get on the internet.
• That said, be informed. Find out which geographical and thematic areas are key for your adopted organisation and start following relevant news on IRIN and Reliefweb. A scan of the headlines and reading one or two articles in the morning will do wonders for your knowledgeable expression at team meetings. The more savvy you seem, the better the work you'll get.
• Apropos: lingo matters. Acronyms and buzzwords are the curse of every industry but they are crucial to your credibility. Understand the org chart and the shorthand people are using and it will gain you respect.
• Make contacts and use, but don't abuse them. It's great to have the organisation on your CV and someone with a proper job title to put down as a referee (don't forget to ask!). But don't abuse it - regular emails asking for work will put people off. You want them to remember you if you ever go back to them for a job, and not in the bad way.
• If you see an opportunity to apply for an admin role within the team or the wider organisation, do go for it. The path of least resistance is very attractive to agencies who are always under tremendous pressure, and someone with experience of the organisation who can start immediately will often trump someone who might beat you to the job on an equal footing. Make no mistake - the admin job is the first step towards something meatier.
• While you're at it, get some experience of travel in developing countries. It won't make you employable on its own, but it does show passion and interest and is the only argument I can think of for the sort of paid volunteering scheme Alanna Shaikh rightly despises. When the time comes for you to apply for support jobs where you'll be more involved with programmes, it'll show that you're competent and safe to travel in difficult places.

Agencies - don't be evil.

Interns are good cannon fodder, it's true - free and fifty of them queuing out the door for every job. But they are people too, so be nice:

• Do a proper advert and recruitment process. Good practice, good experience for them, and you will get the cream of the crop. On spec CVs and people's friends' children might be good, but opening it up to the field means you'll get someone great.
• Make it possible for people without a trust fund. Pay reasonable travel and lunch expenses, and don't require full-time hours and extended commitments. A three-day week for three months is absolutely do-able even for London - you can cover your three unpaid days with four days of bar work and still pay the rent for three months.
• Build a job description around general support and admin (and be clear about this at interview), but add one central project they can get their teeth into and include on their CV. As long as they knew what they were getting into, it's fine to give them administrative and repetitive work. The intern should be aiming for an admin job in the sector, so they will need to prove they can do this kind of work.
• Don't use them for the wrong jobs. If you have an endless procession of interns doing mapping and coordination work, say, others in your workplace will get frustrated that their are continually briefing beginners, and you'll be missing an opportunity to give something meaty to your admin staff, who (make no mistake) know the place backwards.
• Admit them to organisational induction programmes and normal training and learning events - inexpensive and a good perk for the intern.Make sure they know exactly who their line manager is, and make them approachable. Managing interns is a good fillip for first- and second-jobbers too, as it adds personnel management to their list of experiences. But do the odd review yourself so you know how the relationship is going.
• Finally, a pet hate. Some organisations have rolling internships for support jobs which other organisations would run as a permanent position. This isn't fair to the project or the people. If there are real responsibilities and long hours, and they'll be in trouble if they don't deliver, it's a salaried role.

So what did I miss? Any other tips and rants, leave them in the comments and we can all have a row about this.