CCI seasonal internship program

Meet our summer Interns 2020

CCI is excited to launch our seasonal internship program.

Our seasonal internship program allows adoptees to make a 2-4 month commitment to focus on a project within the adoptee community that they are passionate about with the support and under close supervision of a CCI board member. It provides interested adoptees with an opportunity to learn about the inner workings of CCI, play a role in shaping the growing Chinese adoptee movement, give back to the adoption community, pursue professional goals, and hone transferable leadership and communication skills.

There are three seasonal intern positions that we may open at this time: one in the Fall, Spring, and Summer. The number of interns that will be chosen will vary by season, but will be announced at the time that applications open. Interns are chosen through written application and a 15-20 minute video chatting interview.

**Please note: this is a REMOTE internship done completely online. Remote internships are not for everyone, so please think about whether this will suit your working style and personality. We do NOT have in-person internships yet and cannot provide housing. Unfortunately it is also still unpaid, and we cannot provide stipends. But at least you’re not alone; All of CCI works volunteer.**

WHO:

Open to Chinese Adoptees ages 18+. College students highly preferred. Chinese adoptees only please.

To ensure that our interns have a quality experience at CCI, we limit the amount of interns we accept for each term. The number of positions we are filling for a certain term will be clearly communicated in the announcement message. CCI Internships can be relatively competitive; therefore, we highly suggest that applicants create a back-up plan if possible.

WHAT:

Become a part-time intern for a time-limited period for a global community organization created by and for Chinese adoptees and work with CCI to complete a project of your choice. We are seeking adoptees who have a good sense of the project they would complete at the time of applications. This is not to say that we cannot help interns develop their project or that the specifics of the project may not evolve over the internship, but we have found that the most successful projects are those which the intern have a relatively complete sense of what kind of project they are interested in pursuing and what resources they might draw upon to ensure the project’s success.

There is no one project that the seasonal intern is limited to; this is both the beauty and the challenge of the internship. Seasonal interns typically work on a personally designed project based on their interests, personal, and professional goals and approved by their supervisor and the CCI Board. They may also take up miscellaneous tasks as needed.

We want the internship to be a valuable experience for both CCI and the intern. Before the internship begins, we will have a discussion about the professional goals of the intern and how CCI can best support them in achieving these goals during their time at CCI. We then tailor the internship towards the individual’s professional development goals. The internship will include an orientation meeting at the beginning and a reflection meeting at the end.

past examples:

In the past our seasonal interns have worked on the following projects:

• Researching, compiling, and editing a comprehensive adoption-related resource packet

• Working with our birth parent search resources team to conduct interviews and write an open-access birth parent search manual

• Designing and launching a project to help our members better understand their Chinese names

• Conceiving of and implementing a resource guide for adoptees hoping to live, work, study, or travel in China

• Creating a project to help Chinese adult adoptees explore the theme of home

• Researching, compiling, and annotating a set of COVID-19 resources for Chinese adoptees

when:

We may open up internships for the following general periods, depending on the availability of board members to supervise and structure the internships.

Fall: August 1- January 31st of next year

Spring: February 1 - May 31st

Summer intensive : June 1- July 31st

Approximate time commitment is 10-15 hours a week.

**Time periods are generally negotiable based on your availability and the availability of your supervising CCI Board member, and decisions are made on a case-by-case basis.**

requirements:

• You must be able to commit for the internship time period.

• You must be able to schedule and attend weekly virtual meetings with a CCI supervisor to check in on projects and set new goals. The timing of these meetings will be decided based on the availability of you and the CCI Board member.

• You will also need to be able to access your email and the internet since the internship is a remote one. That means you need reliable access to stable internet; we will unfortunately not be able to work with those who know they are traveling to areas with spotty WiFi access or who are uncertain as to their whereabouts during the time period. If you will be in China, you will need reliable access to a VPN to participate in this internship.

What we are looking for:

• You must be able to complete projects in a timely manner.

• We are generally looking for someone who already has some idea or ideas as to what personal project they would undertake.

• We’re also looking for people who can work relatively independently. Go-getters are highly desirable at CCI!

Other DESIRED SKILLS:

You do not need the following skills to apply, but we would especially appreciate those will skills in:

• Social media marketing

• Fundraising / grant writing

• Management of large-scale projects with many moving parts

APPLICATION:

If you fulfill all of the above requirements and are interested in this opportunity, we will ask you to fill out a written application and take part in a 15-20 minute video-chat interview. Please fill out the written application first; video interviews will be scheduled with you after we receive the written portion of your application.

The application does not require references, but it does ask you to think about your motivations for applying to the internship and realistically consider your ability to make a significant time commitment.

QUESTIONS?

Email Charlotte at chinachildreninternational@gmail.com.

Hear from Past Summer Interns