I Don't Think I'll Ever Make it in DC, Thinking of Giving Up

[Anonymous]

I'm a current MPP (Master of Public Policy) student in my first year, and I haven't been able to secure any internships for the summer. I've applied to non-profits, The World Bank, fellowships, think tanks (Brookings, Atlantic Council, etc), consulting groups, senate committees, federal government agencies, and have been rejected or ghosted by all of them. I even had references and personal connections at some of these places! I'm currently interning with a non-profit in the city my grad school is in, and that internship will come to a close at the end of the semester. I've been looking to break into DC.

Prior to starting my MPP, I worked for a few years in the sector related to the area of policy I want to pursue. For privacy reasons, I don't want to give any more details as to what that is, because I don't want to run the risk of being identified. I tried applying to jobs at these organizations a couple of years ago, and was never successful. People told me I needed to go to graduate school to increase my chances of success, so I did. Yet, I still find myself in the same exact position I was in a few years ago: crying alone, feeling like a failure, feeling worthless and unwanted, and getting rejected or ghosted from everything. Nothing has changed for me at all. Many of my classmates and peers are securing roles at these places, even those with no prior work experience.

It's so frustrating and demotivating. I've exhausted hours upon hours writing personalized cover letters, ensuring my resume matches job descriptions--on top of a very demanding full-time course load, and managing a current internship I have with a non-profit. I've had multiple people--including some from the career office at my school, look over my cover letters and resume and say they don't understand why I'm not even getting interview requests at most places and that I seem like the perfect candidate. I don't know what more I could have done to stand out. Every door has been shut in my face. I made it to the second interview at a place I have connections with and still didn't get the position. I had another interview with a non-profit (not in DC, but remote) this past week, and I'm waiting to hear back.

With the semester closing out in two weeks, I'm panicking. I'm worried that not securing a good internship this summer will hurt my chances in finding a good job in DC after graduation. I've worked so hard to get good grades in my competitive classes, acquire heavy quant skills in statistics/program evaluation/econ/R/Python to do data analysis/data science, and I have sacrificed so much sleep, time at the gym, and even meals and I feel like it has all been for absolutely nothing. I feel defeated and regret trying to pursue this field and like I'll just never make it in DC or in this field, and that I'll never be able to put food on the table, have a family, and have a life. I expected much better than this from the elite MPP program I'm attending. My mental health is the absolute worst it has ever been. At this point, I just feel like I got my sign that I'll never make it in this field and this city, and that it's time to give up.

I don't even know what I'm ranting about. Just looking for some reassurance from anyone who has gone through this before.

[Anonymous]

Er... have you followed the news, recently? It's not a good time for non-profits and think tanks.

You're not alone, OP. Stop whining. Hustle to find a job, and maybe next summer there will be an internship somewhere.

Also, maybe your interview skills suck. Find someone in the know to practice with. Figure out in advance what to say whenever it's questions like "tell us about a moment when you struggled" or "had a conflict at work" and make those work for you by highlighting your strengths. Ie, polish up how you look and how you come across.

[Anonymous]

Bad timing, OP. These jobs are disappearing. Don’t you pay attention to the news?
It’s bad luck you were in the middle of getting a master’s degree when this happened.
But you are making this more of a catastrophe than it really is.
What is a “good” job to you?

FWIW, I didn’t even go to grad school. I have a BA in basket weaving from a college nobody heard has heard of. I started at the bottom and worked my way up. I now have what I consider to be a “good job” in a multidisciplinary role (involving law and data analytics) 40 hours a week making 140k. Maybe that’s not what you’d consider to be a good job. But if you are hoping for 300k you are in the wrong field to begin with. Maybe just get whatever summer job you can, finish your degree, and be prepared for things to be difficult for a while.

[Anonymous]

Why are you so focused on DC?

Public policy happens all over the country - why not look at the state level?

As far as figuring out that the issue is, I'd ask. Ask your placement office to find a friendly contact at a few of the places that rejected you and ask.

FWIW, I don't think you are whining. You have worked really hard and aren't finding doors open to you that you thought would be. That's hard. I think you are going to have to adjust your aperture on what kind of internship to pursue. I'd focus on the data science/data analysis skills in order to get your foot in the door.

[Anonymous]

I sympathize. My son may be in your shoes in 5 years (freshman now). He's interested in Public Policy.

My DH got a grad degree from Georgetown in the 90s and never had a really decent paying job during the first 2 years after graduating. In my opinion, DC has always exploited interns and newbies. So we relocated away from DMV so I could get my grad degree and never went back due to the unaffordability of real estate and the difficulty of breaking in to the truly high-paying job market. My husband switched to an IT career and doesn't use his undergrad or master's degree at all. It happens. We have no regrets now.

Instead of DC, have you considered moving to any state that might have a healthy local job market instead? Have you thrown yourself on the mercy of former professors and alums? The Dean of your grad school? Your congressperson from home state? Does anyone in your family have connections? Have you interviewed with any DC temp agencies? Do you have friends headed to DC that you can crash with while you look on the ground for a few weeks? Times are tough and people are looking out for themselves right now. I've lived through many recessionary periods and this is definitely one for white collar people.

I just noticed a former "retired" MBA colleague of mine has taken a retirement job as a groundskeeper at my alma mater. Didn't see that coming. My MBA friend who is in her 50s has been underemployed for about 5 years due to our local job market being hard for her industry specialty. Those are some of my personal proof points on how bad things are.

Please don't take this too personally. It's easy to end up in your shoes in a tough economy.

The most important thing when you don't have a job is to stay busy and keep trying. It's mentally soul-sucking but there's not really a feasible alternative. Find ways to meet more people/keep meeting h.r. people in person (job fairs?). Internet applications are low yield compared to personal connections. And maybe try some volunteering.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't stress about the internship to much. Just get a job, regular job, any job. You will feel better and it will help your resume.

People hiring want people who work and have worked their way up, regardless of where.

[Anonymous]

I work in this field and my DC-based organization has cancelled its summer internship program for this summer for first time ever. The company just can’t afford it when it’s had to do mass layoffs and is trying to preserve as many jobs as possible. I’d imagine other companies in the field are taking similar steps. That means more competition for the few DC-based intern slots available. In my opinion, as a manager, a summer internship just doesn’t carry that much weight in this field. Cast a wider net and consider staying put in your current city or see if you can extend with your current nonprofit. I would stay focused on getting good grades in the program you’re in and in building additional connections for the post-graduation job search. Also start brainstorming adjacent careers you could target upon graduation where the market is better than it currently is in DC policy jobs. For example, if you’re in health policy, instead of working for a think tank, you could work for a hospital/health system or a health plan.

[Anonymous]

Look for jobs in local and state government - more administration, less policy. You’ll build real skills that will be greatly valued later in your career by all of the places you’ve been applying. The pay will be awful initially, but the experience will be worth it. And yes, work your professor network!

[Anonymous]

At your level, good grades and relevant skills are not sufficient for the places you are targeting.

How are your soft/communications/interview skills?

[Anonymous]

The DC Federal adjacent job market is a dumpster fire and will be for at least 4 years. Consider this a wake up call to switch your focus to state/local government, unfortunately. See if you can talk a professor into making you a summer research assistant so you have something on your resume this summer. Good luck, it's tough out there.

[Anonymous]

I think you are right and should bag it. Maybe get a job in retail or something.

[Anonymous]

Sending you support OP!

This is a terrible time to be job searching. It’s probably one of the toughest job markets I’ve seen, especially for new grads. Even if you are doing all the right things, it’s understandable that you’re getting rejected.

The silver lining is you won’t get judged as harshly as in other years for not having secured an internship.

Get A job, a PAYING job anywhere in DC. In the meantime, continue to build your network, publish regularly on LinkedIn and maybe scholarly or industry journals. This way you are still building up your experience toward your desired career path.

[Anonymous]

I am sorry OP. It has never been tougher out there in this field, and it was never easy. Being great isn’t enough, you also need to be lucky. In fact, being lucky is more important than being great.

I think the advice to look further afield is good. There are a million interesting career paths outside the main ones that people with MIPP go into. Talk to everyone and apply for everything. Once you get your foot in the door you will be fine. And one day this will all seem like a bad dream. Good people eventually make it, though it can take years and more resilience than you think it should.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sending you support OP!

This is a terrible time to be job searching. It’s probably one of the toughest job markets I’ve seen, especially for new grads. Even if you are doing all the right things, it’s understandable that you’re getting rejected.

The silver lining is you won’t get judged as harshly as in other years for not having secured an internship.

Get A job, a PAYING job anywhere in DC. In the meantime, continue to build your network, publish regularly on LinkedIn and maybe scholarly or industry journals. This way you are still building up your experience toward your desired career path.

This. You have to be local to get a local job. Come to DC if you're set on getting a job in DC.

[Anonymous]

You are doing fine. Why not look at your state capital city?