Unlike college seniors who are looking for full time employment, interns-to-be don't need to worry much about recession and other macroeconomic factors. Since internships are temporary and often meagerly paid, if paid at all, they don't put the same kind of strains on companies that a permanent hire does. That means that you don't need to worry about recession-proofing yourself yet; however, you may want to keep an eye to the future by considering an internship at a non-profit that takes many of its interns on full time. One example is the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research, "a private, nonpartisan, not-for-profit institution dedicated to research and education on issues of government, politics, economics, and social welfare," which has hired 50 of its interns permanently over the past 10 years.

The main activities of the American Enterprise Institute are sponsoring research and conferences and publishing books, monographs, and periodicals. By doing so, they push for a "competition of ideas" that they see to be the essence of a free society. They claim to be non-partisan, much like the Brookings Institution; however, there tends to be some debate over that. Both organizations have a similar focus, but allegedly their political leanings are opposite of each other. It's good to know that, despite their differences, Brookings and AEI have a history of cooperation, having launched the AEI-Brookings Joint Center for Regulatory Studies as well as the AEI-Brookings Election Reform Project. You'll certainly want to take a look at the types of research that AEI conducts before you consider applying for any of their internships.

The reason that we see non-profits like AEI as recession resistant is that they get funding from a variety of sources - donations from corporations, foundations, and individuals in addition to investment gains from their endowment. With that said, there's almost no better way to recession-proof your future job search than by being a superstar intern. Now is the time to find a great place to work, and prove your worth. Do that and you'll be sitting pretty while your classmates are freaking out about how entry-level hiring has dried up (not that we predict that's going to happen, but just in case). Let's look at AEI's internship program, so that you can see what kind of opportunities will make your job search easier a year or two from now.

Interns at AEI are paired with a "a scholar or business director whose area of expertise coincides with the intern's interests." In addition to this, there are many educational opportunities for interns such as entrance to lectures and tours of Washington, D.C. There are about 50 positions in fields that include "economic policy, foreign and defense studies, social and political studies, media affairs, The American magazine, publications editing, information systems, marketing, and human resources." The AEI internships page is very in-depth but doesn't say a lot about what day to day tasks interns are expected to take on.

The deadline to apply is April 1st for Summer internships and September 1st for Fall internships. AEI has a page that details their application process, but you should know that a cover letter, resume, writing sample, and unofficial transcript are all required. Like we said, there's a lot of information on the AEI site.

Article by Willy Franzen and courtesy of One Day, One Internship | A blog about internships for college students.