Recruitment Message: 

Interested in obtaining hands-on experience with public relations that will convince employers that you’re the best candidate for the job?  Looking for first-hand knowledge of how to work with employees of a large organization to get their messages heard?  Need to demonstrate solid skills in managing databases for a large organization?

Boat People SOS is a nonprofit, community-based organization with 28 years of service to Vietnamese-American refugees and immigrants.  With 14 branches around the US, it presents a great opportunity to learn the nuts-and-bolts of public relations from the local to national levels.    

Besides the career development opportunity, this internship represents a chance to make a difference on issues you care about, ranging from domestic violence to human trafficking, women’s health to community development, mental health to senior services.  

To carry out this mission, BPSOS seeks a public relations intern to support the public relations and communications manager within the department of the executive director. 

Your work on public relations will help raise awareness of opportunities available to members of economically vulnerable and easily isolated immigrant communities, so that they gain access to the services they need to survive and prosper.

The specific need you will meet is bringing the BPSOS media contact list up to date.  Because we share this list with the Tahirih Justice Center, you’d also be helping our neighbor, an advocacy organization that brings legal services to women and children who face gender-based violence.  

Effective database management can make or break an organization like BPSOS.  That is where your work as an intern will be essential.

You will be involved in the nuts-and-bolts of PR work by researching, mostly via Internet but occasionally via phone, the media contacts on our list to make sure they are up-to-date.  That research will, in turn, serve as the basis for others to distribute the media advisories and press releases that bring press and public attention to the poor and under-served immigrant populations that BPSOS assists.

The intern’s duties in relation to the PR manager and BPSOS will include the following:

 1)      Researching existing media contacts using Internet/phone to make sure they’re current

2)      Identifying new media contacts in radio/TV/print sectors

3)      Feeding updated information into BPSOS spreadsheet/database

4)      Devising systems to ensure that the data remains current

Hands-on experience with the media, PR, and databases desirable, but not required.  More important are good communications skills (written and spoken), an outgoing and easygoing manner, and solid organizational skills.  Written/spoken Vietnamese a plus, but not essential.

Students, grad students, recent grads, and those with greater or lesser workforce experience are encouraged to apply.

Time commitment:

From part-time (4-20 hours per week) to full-time (40 hours per week), for between three and six months, depending on the availability and interest of the intern.

Location:

With enough preparation, many responsibilities could be fulfilled from home or campus.  However, the intern must commit to meeting at least once a week, for up to two hours, with the PR manager at the BPSOS office in order to discuss priorities, go over work, and receive training.  Because PR is a fast-moving field, the intern must also be available at other times (within reason) by phone and email in order to receive fine-tuned supervision.

Additional info: 

This is an unpaid internship. What the intern gets out of working with BPSOS will depend on their eagerness to learn and willingness to invest their energy.

In return for the intern’s commitment and follow-through, the PR manager commits to training them so that they master the following skills over a 3-6 month period: 

1)   How to research media contacts using the latest Internet technology such as Lexis-Nexis

2)      How to identify new media contacts relevant to the organization’s mission

3)      How to create systems for maintaining database at optimal level

4)      How to coordinate database work within a large, multi-cultural, multi-branch organization 

Besides acquiring the career-building skills listed above, the intern should leave the program with a portfolio of solid research and a professional-looking database to show to prospective employers.  The intern can also expect to benefit from advice on how to present these new skills in a resume in order to attract employer interest. 

BPSOS will provide gas reimbursement for trips to the office.

Summer inernships are closed; please contact us ASAP regarding fall and winter 2008 internships.

To apply:      

All interested applicants should mail a brief cover letter and resume to:

Boat People, SOS Inc

Jon Pattee

Manager, Public Relations and Communications
6066 Leesburg Pike, Suite 100
Falls Church, VA 22041
703-538-2190
703-538-2191 (fax)

Or by e-mail to jon.pattee@bpsos.org [1] with Media Database Management Internship Application in the subject line.