I. The Application and Placement Process

The Application Form

When completing the application form, you should take some time to evaluate your interests and to set realistic goals. If you need advice and assistance in thinking through your goals, we strongly recommend that you contact a career counselor at your home school, to discuss this further.

Students should particularly evaluate whether they wish to receive constant Russian language practice at their internship or whether their goal is to obtain more concrete work experience. Ideally, students will work in internships where they acquire both. However, we have often found that in practice, the internships in which students gain the most in terms of work experience are in Western-type organizations where English is more prevalent. Conversely, those environments in which the students gain the most Russian language practice often offer less “transferable” professional experience. Both are equally valuable, but each student should weigh his/her own goals and explain them in their application.

The Resume and Cover Letter

Along with the application form, all applicants must submit a resume (in English) and cover letter. Your resume should be appropriate to the type of internship you are seeking. For example, if you want an internship with a newspaper or radio station, you should show you have some knowledge of or experience in journalism. If you need assistance in writing your resume please contact your Career Services Office. There are also numerous web pages dedicated to resume writing techniques, among the best are:

http://www.jobweb.org/catapult/guenov/restips/html,

http://jobstar.org/tools/resume/index.htm, and

http://owl.english.purdue.edu/Files/35.html (written especially for college students).

The cover letter should be addressed to the Resident Coordinator for the city in which you hope to intern (Elisabeth Kruger for Irkutsk; Adrien Smith for Moscow; and Megan Corrigan for Yaroslavl.) It should explain your concrete goals in pursuing an internship in Russia and should explain how your past work experience and/or academic background would be applicable in your desired internship field.

Language Interview

All single-semester students will be required to participate in an informal Russian language interview during their orientation program at the beginning of the semester. The goal of this interview is to both evaluate the student’s Russian language level for placement in an internship and to discuss concrete internship interests in more detail. Students with functional comprehension and conversational skills (approximately 3rd year level) will generally be approved for placement in an internship immediately. Those who are not approved will be encouraged to pursue a January or summer internship after they have completed one semester in Russia and are more comfortable functioning in Russian.

II. The Placement and Interview Process

Once approved for placement in an internship, applicants may be required to interview further with potential internship supervisors. The Resident Coordinator (RC) will arrange interviews with potential internship hosts and will accompany students to these interviews. Your RC will explain the goals and requirements of the internship to your potential supervisor, and will give them your resume. You should be prepared to discuss your goals and interests, as well as what you hope to contribute and gain from the internship.

Here are some points to remember during the interviews:

· Each interview is different. Remember, the main objective is for you to persuade the supervisor that s/he should accept you for the intern position.

· Think about your interests, skills, training, and work experience, and how you will convey these in the interview.

· Express your interest in particular projects or tasks; and do not be afraid to ask questions. Let the interviewer know what you would be interested in doing as an intern and how you would be an asset to his/her organization.

· You will find brief information about the organization in the Internship Catalogue (in case such information is not in the Catalogue, your RC will provide you with it prior to your interview). Review this information before the interview, and prepare several questions to ask about the organization (its purpose and activities), your duties and responsibilities, and the type of projects in which you may be involved.

· Do not be late to your interview, and by all means, do not miss your interview. Confirm arrangements with your RC about the time, place, and person who will interview you. If there is an emergency and you are unable to make the appointment, please let Ms. Bonneville know right away so the interview can be rescheduled.

· Dress neatly and make yourself presentable. Appropriate attire varies depending on the type of work environment, so discuss this with your RC.

· Be sure to show your enthusiasm! Explain why this particular internship is of interest to you, and how it will help you work toward your future personal and professional goals.

III. On the Job.

In order to ensure a successful internship experience, you must be pro-active and take initiative. You will be responsible for yourself and your learning. Staffs in many organizations and businesses are extremely busy and overworked and if you do not assert yourself, you may fall through the cracks.

You may have to prove yourself to your supervisor in the first few weeks. If you are given an easy assignment which makes you think “I didn’t come all the way to Russia to do this kind of work!” do the assignment cheerfully and with as much effort as you would for an assignment that is more challenging and interesting. Your supervisor may have given you an assignment to see how you will deal with it. Remember, at all times during your internship, you will need to be flexible.

Unless you are working for an international agency, you will also need to be comfortable working in a relatively unstructured work environment. If you are not working on a specific assignment at the moment, use the opportunity to learn more about the organization and the field in which you are working. In general, internship supervisors not only appreciate your asking questions, but they expect it. Take the time to get to know your supervisor and discuss what is expected of you. Remember, your employer may never have hosted an intern before, so you may have to take the initiative.

Also, remember that every job has slow days. These slow periods are ideal times to get more acquainted with the people with whom you work, even if they are not your age. There are lots of things you can learn from your co-workers if you make the effort.

Once you’ve been at your internship for awhile, ask for more challenging assignments. Ask to take responsibility for a project or a component of a project that will draw on your strengths, address your weakness, and allow you to improve yourself and gain valuable experience.

Your overall internship experience will be monitored by your Resident Coordinator. Your RC will contact you and your internship supervisor monthly to discuss your internship. Please contact your RC immediately if you have any problems or need other advice or help regarding your internship. It is not acceptable to stop attending your internship because you decide you do not like it or because it is not what you expected. If this situation occurs, talk to your RC so any problems can be addressed. Also, if you are sick and cannot go to work, it is your responsibility to inform your internship supervisor of your impending absence.

At the end of your internship, be sure to send a thank-you note to your supervisor, recognizing his or her efforts and support for you. This is also important because you may want to use this individual as a reference for future jobs or graduate school applications.

The Russian workplace:

Each Russian organization and business is different, so it is difficult to predict exactly what to expect from an internship in a “non-Western” environment. In general, office hours tend to be from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. with a lunch break (which is usually negotiable). The work environment is usually more relaxed than in the United States. Since there are fewer computers and copy machines, basic tasks might take longer than you are used to, which can be frustrating – but Russians themselves are helpful and patient.

The concept of smoke-free environment has not been accepted in Russia, so if this is an issue for you, please let your Resident Coordinator know your preferences prior to your placement.

IV. Internships and Academic Credit.

The School in Russia can offer undergraduates the opportunity to earn one unit of academic credit for an internship, thus lightening their course load for that semester from 5 to 4 courses. For those who choose this for-credit option, internship grades will be awarded to the student by the Director of the School in Russia, in collaboration with the Resident Coordinator and the internship supervisor.

Middlebury graduate students should consult with the Director of the Russian School to see whether they can arrange to receive credit for an internship.

Undergraduates wishing to earn a course credit for their internship must apply for a credit-bearing internship through the Director of the School in Russia, Nana Tsikhelashvili. Normally, internships for credit are only available to students studying in Russia for the academic year. Interested students must indicate on the internship application that they would like to receive credit. In addition to their application and resume, they must also submit a short essay which describes what they hope to pursue in an internship and how that experience will compliment their academic program at their home school. Candidates will then be selected in a competitive process and will be notified of selection when they receive their internship placement.

These students will be required to fulfill a variety of assignments not required of other internship participants. They will work from 15-20 hours a week, on average 5-10 more hours per week than students undertaking non-credit internships. Students must keep a daily journal of their activity at the internship (in English) and upon completion of the internship must hand in a 10 page research paper, in RUSSIAN, with a topic based on their internship experience. The journal should be a record of the internship experience: recording assignments given, tasks completed, personal impressions (of the field of employment and host site’s role in it), etc. The paper should be an in-depth study of a particular aspect of the internship, fully documented and with at least 3 sources in RUSSIAN. Like all student interns, those with credit-bearing internships must also complete a short evaluation form at the end of their internship. Finally, Middlebury College students will be required to make an informal presentation in an appropriate campus forum during their senior year, and will be asked to advise students seeking to participate in the program in subsequent years.

Students will earn one unit of credit for the internship and take only 4 other classes that semester compared to the normal 5 that non-credit internship students take. Students may NOT take 5 units of credit AND receive academic credit for their internship in addition. Internships will be graded on an A-F scale. Interns are not allowed to receive any salary or other financial support from their internship hosts.

Students receiving credit will also be slightly more constrained in their choice of internships, as credit will only be awarded if the student is in a Russian-speaking environment no less than 75% of the time.

At the start of the internship, students, their internship supervisor and the internship coordinator will sign a form agreeing to the terms for receiving credit. At the end of the internship, all parties will sign a similar form verifying that all requirements were met. Upon receiving these three signatures, the internship will appear on the student’s Middlebury transcript and the student will receive one academic credit.

V. Evaluation and Other Requirements.

The Resident Coordinators will provide evaluation forms to ALL student interns and their supervisors prior to the end of the internship. All students must return these forms to their RC before their departing from their School in Russia site.

As noted above, all credit-bearing internship participants will also be required to submit a journal and a research paper in Russian on their internship experience. These materials must be given to the Resident Coordinator at the end of the internship and BEFORE departing from Russia. Credit will not be granted to students who submit their journals and papers after the end of the semester.

VI. Contact Information.

Office of Off-Campus Studies, Professor Jeffery Cason, Director; Liz Ross, Associate Director, for general information about internships and the Dillon Dunwalke Fellows program
(802/443-5745; ebross@middlebury.edu )

Career Services Office, for advice and counseling
(802/443-5100; cso@middlebury.edu)

Middlebury College School in Russia (MCSiR) - Central Office in Moscow, Nana Tsikhelashvili, Director
(Tel./Fax: 011-7-495-250-3539; ntsikhel@middlebury,edu