How to find jobs and internships with social impact
The PKG Center has collaborated with Career Advising & Professional Development (CAPD) to create this summer internship guide. To read the full guide, please click here to visit the CAPD website.
If you’re looking for a mission-driven opportunity with social impact, your MIT community is ready to help. In this article, we’ll break down several ways to find social impact work, provide resources, and showcase student experiences.
Whether you’re an undergrad, grad student, or recent alum, consider this your jumping-off-point for resources, no matter your career interests.
Engaging in meaningful work while developing yourself
As you make a difference through a social impact opportunity, you discover more about yourself and your career goals. Plus, if you choose to pursue an undergraduate- or graduate-level internship, you’ll get to translate your work in the classroom into real-world experience.
The PKG Public Service Center has years of experience connecting students to internships, fellowships, and projects that promote social or environmental change. We’ll share more about their programs in the next section, but here’s what several of their students have gained personally through their Social Impact Internships:
Career Clarity
“My time at [the NAACP Legal Defense Fund] solidified my hopes and dreams of becoming a lawyer one day. I really cherished looking at people who were working for civil rights every day. Nevertheless, watching the lawyers at LDF make significant moves in racial equality helped me see how powerful the law is.” – Obiageli “Oby” Nwodoh ‘21, Physics with a minor in Political Science
Expanded Perspective
“This experience has expanded my perspective on how I would like to work with people, and it has shaped how I will be considering the social impacts of my contributions in the future.” – Julian Zulueta ‘23, Biological Engineering
Workplace Community
“I really enjoyed my half year at MassHealth! I felt part of the team since Day One and did some of the most meaningful work of my life!” – Suki Zhang ‘22, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
Professional Development
“From this experience, I learned not only new skills in UI/UX, but also how to create technologies that are focused on user-centered design – i.e., the idea of designing with the target users’ specific behavior and psychology in mind.” – Katherine He ’24, Computer Science and Management
Tags: Social Impact Internships, Social Impact Internships Summer 2021
