Frieda Glauner finished her IRIO BA in 2022 and did an internship at the German Ministry of Defence as part of the Minor option in the third-year of IR.
Could you give us a short introduction about yourself?
"My name is Frieda, I am 23 years old, and I recently graduated from the IRIO BA program. As part of my minor in the third year, I was able to do a three-month internship at the German Ministry of Defence in Berlin."
What did your internship entail? And why did you choose this internship?
"First and foremost, I chose to do an internship as part of my minor because I wanted to gain some practical experience in the field, and I felt unsure about what to do in the future and about my future in IR in general. My internship possibilities were very limited due to the Covid19 pandemic, so the ‘most typical IR internships’ in an embassy were off the table (travel restrictions, etc.). This was when I had the idea to apply to a different ministry with related tasks instead – the Ministry of Defence.
I wrote a general application to the politics department and got an offer for the ‘Executive Group Information Centre’ which might sound abstract in the first place but fitted my interests 100%. My department’s main task is to supply the Executive Group (i.e., the Minister of Defence and other high-ranking officials) with current information about worldwide developments and incidents relevant to security and foreign policy. In other words, my department’s main task was to provide the Minister of Defence with the most important news of the day which we got from different sources."
What tasks did you have during your internship?
"Almost from the beginning, I was treated like a normal policy officer which means that I got to do mainly the same tasks as most of my colleagues. This meant writing articles that could be included in the information folder that the Minister would receive in the evening. My prime responsibility were news originating from diplomatic correspondence (meaning a written report by a German ambassador) which I had to read thoroughly and then decide whether the news were “important enough” to be included in the report. After that, my task was to summarise the news, but also to provide further information where necessary. From time to time, I also worked with information from other sources, such as news agencies or the secret service. After two months of working, my supervisor also allowed me to write a first-hand evaluation of some political event – this was the case when something important happened in the world, but there was or not enough information on the event yet."
What did you like most about the internship? And what were its challenges?
"Generally, I was really happy with my internship since the placement connected my interest in international politics and journalism. However, what I liked most was the vast amount of information I had access to (which is impossible to keep up with as soon as you stop working in this department). This meant that I learned a lot about conflicts or issues from all over the world that one would normally (reading a common Western European newspaper) not know anything or only a little bit about.
I cannot come up with any real challenges I faced. In the beginning, I was a bit intimidated by some of my colleagues – not because they were unfriendly or seemed mean (on the contrary, they were super nice!!), but because most of them were high-ranking soldiers of the German army. Also, some articles that I had to write were tough for me since they were about specific types of missiles, etc. for which I was lacking military expertise – but my colleagues always helped me out then."
Did the internship give you an idea of what you want to do after graduating?
"Yes and no. Before doing this placement, I was not sure if a career in IR is what I want for my future and now I am still not sure about it. As I said before, I really enjoyed my internship, and I would do it again 1000 times, and I also can imagine myself working in the Ministry one day. However, as part of my minor, I also took some courses from the media studies BA program, and I realized that I am way more passionate about media-related topics than I am about IR. Hence, now that I have graduated, I decided to do another internship (this time media-related) to decide in what field I would want to work in the future. So, in sum, I would say that the internship in the Ministry showed me that there are careers in IR that I enjoy, but I am still not sure if I want to stay in the field."
How did you find your internship?
"When I decided that I want to do an internship in one of the German Ministries, I simply looked on their websites, normally there is always some career page with information about interning there. For my favourite, the Ministry of Defence, it said that you had to apply 8-12 months prior which I luckily did. Thus, I’d advise you to start looking early, especially if you want to intern in a rather popular workplace."
Is there any advice you would like to give to students who are unsure whether they want to do an internship?
"My name is Frieda, I am 23 years old, and I recently graduated from the IRIO BA program. As part of my minor in the third year, I was able to do a three-month internship at the German Ministry of Defence in Berlin."
What did your internship entail? And why did you choose this internship?
"First and foremost, I chose to do an internship as part of my minor because I wanted to gain some practical experience in the field, and I felt unsure about what to do in the future and about my future in IR in general. My internship possibilities were very limited due to the Covid19 pandemic, so the ‘most typical IR internships’ in an embassy were off the table (travel restrictions, etc.). This was when I had the idea to apply to a different ministry with related tasks instead – the Ministry of Defence.
I wrote a general application to the politics department and got an offer for the ‘Executive Group Information Centre’ which might sound abstract in the first place but fitted my interests 100%. My department’s main task is to supply the Executive Group (i.e., the Minister of Defence and other high-ranking officials) with current information about worldwide developments and incidents relevant to security and foreign policy. In other words, my department’s main task was to provide the Minister of Defence with the most important news of the day which we got from different sources."
What tasks did you have during your internship?
"Almost from the beginning, I was treated like a normal policy officer which means that I got to do mainly the same tasks as most of my colleagues. This meant writing articles that could be included in the information folder that the Minister would receive in the evening. My prime responsibility were news originating from diplomatic correspondence (meaning a written report by a German ambassador) which I had to read thoroughly and then decide whether the news were “important enough” to be included in the report. After that, my task was to summarise the news, but also to provide further information where necessary. From time to time, I also worked with information from other sources, such as news agencies or the secret service. After two months of working, my supervisor also allowed me to write a first-hand evaluation of some political event – this was the case when something important happened in the world, but there was or not enough information on the event yet."
What did you like most about the internship? And what were its challenges?
"Generally, I was really happy with my internship since the placement connected my interest in international politics and journalism. However, what I liked most was the vast amount of information I had access to (which is impossible to keep up with as soon as you stop working in this department). This meant that I learned a lot about conflicts or issues from all over the world that one would normally (reading a common Western European newspaper) not know anything or only a little bit about.
I cannot come up with any real challenges I faced. In the beginning, I was a bit intimidated by some of my colleagues – not because they were unfriendly or seemed mean (on the contrary, they were super nice!!), but because most of them were high-ranking soldiers of the German army. Also, some articles that I had to write were tough for me since they were about specific types of missiles, etc. for which I was lacking military expertise – but my colleagues always helped me out then."
Did the internship give you an idea of what you want to do after graduating?
"Yes and no. Before doing this placement, I was not sure if a career in IR is what I want for my future and now I am still not sure about it. As I said before, I really enjoyed my internship, and I would do it again 1000 times, and I also can imagine myself working in the Ministry one day. However, as part of my minor, I also took some courses from the media studies BA program, and I realized that I am way more passionate about media-related topics than I am about IR. Hence, now that I have graduated, I decided to do another internship (this time media-related) to decide in what field I would want to work in the future. So, in sum, I would say that the internship in the Ministry showed me that there are careers in IR that I enjoy, but I am still not sure if I want to stay in the field."
How did you find your internship?
"When I decided that I want to do an internship in one of the German Ministries, I simply looked on their websites, normally there is always some career page with information about interning there. For my favourite, the Ministry of Defence, it said that you had to apply 8-12 months prior which I luckily did. Thus, I’d advise you to start looking early, especially if you want to intern in a rather popular workplace."
Is there any advice you would like to give to students who are unsure whether they want to do an internship?
"If you are still contemplating whether to do an internship or not, I’d recommend you do it because nowhere else you will learn how it is to work in the field of your choice. Furthermore, it allowed me to do something different than studying for a whole block (which I can recommend, as well)."
