Looking for professional experience? Internships and assistantships are wonderful ways to acquaint yourself with a profession. Even if you don’t pursue that field as a career, you will learn valuable workplace skills. Take note of the examples we list below: they are real and attainable goals. Many of these organizations have accepted Carleton students in the past, so you can do it, too.

Assistantships

Assistantships are teaching positions where you aid a principal instructor. These are always paid positions, and we recommend a few possibilities:

Carleton Undergraduate Teaching Assistantships. Advanced students (usually juniors or seniors) with excellent French work with Carleton professors to provide language practice sessions in elementary French classes. For more information, contact the Language Sequence Coordinator, Sarah Anthony.

Carleton Research Assistants. Faculty sometimes work with Student Research Assistants during the summer months or winter break. If you are interested in conducting research on a particular topic that your professor is investigating, you may contact the professor to see if any assistantships might be available.

Teaching Assistant Program in France (TAPIF). The French government recruits hundreds of recent graduates from English-speaking countries to help teach English in secondary schools throughout France. The TAPIF experience provides a living wage, a relatively light schedule, and the opportunity to live and work in France for a year! Scores of Carleton students have done a TAPIF year and loved it.

Internships in French-speaking locations

Internships provide experience in professional workplaces. They may be paid or unpaid–and those arranged by outside organizations can become expensive. However, in the best cases (one organization in particular comes to mind, and has been popular with our students: IFE: French Field Study and Internship Programs — more information below), the cost is fully justified by the rigorous academic framing of the experience–which means that academic credit may be issued for it.

The Carleton Career Center is an excellent resource of internships, but we have listed here those agencies or organizations that focus on French-speaking locations. 

AIFS: Internships in Cannes, France
AIFS offers a variety of internship possibilities from social work to work with production companies along with intensive language courses. Spring semester study abroad students benefit from being in Cannes during its world famous film festival.

Boston University
Boston University’s Paris Internship Program offers a semester of study and work in Paris. Combines an internship with intensive French-language study and liberal arts courses.

BUNAC: British Universities North America Club
BUNAC offers Work Canada, a program authorized by the Canadian Government to allow U.S. college and university students aged 18-30 to work and travel in Canada. The Canadian sponsor is SWAP, Student Work Abroad Programs. In Canada, SWAP provides on the spot backup and support.

InterExchange
InterExchange offers U.S. students and young adults the chance to participate in work and travel, volunteer, education, language, au pair/childcare and internship programs around the world. Programs are available in France and Belgium. (Fee)

ICE: International Cooperative Education
International Cooperative Education (ICE) provides U.S. college and university students the chance to gain practical work experience abroad. Each summer ICE arranges for students to travel to Europe, Australia, Asia, and South America to work as paid interns in a variety of employment fields including retail sales, hospitals, banking, education and engineering.

IES: Internships in Dijon, Nantes and Paris France
IES internships are offered as academic options earning IES credit. They feature a strong academic component, which includes an academic seminar and an evaluative report from the supervisor of the organization offering the internship. In addition to the on-site work experience, students are expected to keep a work journal, give an oral presentation, and submit a final report, which analyzes and evaluates the activities performed during the internship.

IES in Dijon, Nantes and Paris arranges internships for students who are proficient in French during the semester with businesses and governmental organizations. Students must devote a minimum of 8-10 hours a week to the work experience, for a minimum of 80 contact hours during the semester. Students earn three semester credit hours for the combined seminar and work experience. Placements are competitive and not guaranteed.

IFE: French Field Study and Internship Programs
IFE is a Paris-based educational organization (with branches in Brussels and Strasbourg) offering a semester-long academic internship program to students and recent graduates of North-American universities. Enrollment is limited to 12–15 students per semester.

Knowledge Exchange Institute (KEI)
KEI’s European Internship Program allows students to gain professional experience in an international setting. Internship positions are available with companies, NGOs and law firms — in Brussels, Antwerp (Belgium). Internships are supervised by the International Management Institute (IMI). Students have the option of complimenting their internship with courses offered at IMI, professional visits and excursions in Europe. Academic credit is awarded by the IMI and Clark Atlanta University (accredited in the USA).

University of Syracuse
University of Syracuse’s program in Strasbourg France offers internships at the Council of Europe and the Court of Human Rights.

Other Options

The following fall between assistantships and internships, but are worth mentioning:

Concordia College Language Villages. These summertime positions (ranging from one to three months) provide the opportunity to work with (mostly) middle-school and high-school aged children in an environment of French immersion. Positions include camp counselors (“moniteurs“), teachers, and other (cooks, etc.). The staff is always a mix of Americans and adventurous souls from French-speaking countries. The pay is light, but people make lasting friendships.

Rempart. This is a volunteer organization that brings together mixed groups (French and international) to work on cultural projects in various regions of France. Projects range from restoration of historic buildings to preservation of natural sites. There’s a small registration fee, but most sites cover your food and lodging.

And finally, some general resources on working and interning abroad:

Transitions Abroad Magazine
Information on working, studying, traveling, and living abroad.