Refugee Economic Empowerment Intern – Spring 2025

Background: The International Rescue Committee (IRC) responds to the world’s worst humanitarian crises and helps people to survive and rebuild their lives. At work in over 40 countries and 28 U.S. cities to restore safety, dignity and hope, the IRC leads the way from harm to home. Domestically, our 28 offices across the U.S. ensure new arrivals have food, shelter, and clothing, and work with refugees to help them gain self-sufficiency.

Scope of Work: The Economic Empowerment program assists refugees to become economically self-sufficient by placing recently arrived refugees in their first job in the United States. The goal of the program is to help clients reduce barriers to self-sufficiency and employment and assist clients in securing full-time employment. The intern will work directly under the supervision of one of the employment specialists. 

Responsibilities: 

• Assess new clients by creating their individual initial employment plan. 
• Create individualized resumes and cover letters, assist with finding job leads, and complete job applications with clients. 
• Strategically research potential employer partners and conduct outreach. 
• Regularly track service provision through electronic data entry and organize required client documentation. 
• Manage distribution and tracking of in-kind donations to clients. 
• Other duties assigned by the employment team. 

Learning Objectives: 

• Intern will gain US resettlement agency experience in assessing new clients. 
• Intern will gain insight into refugee and asylee workforce integration programs. 
• Intern will learn how to communicate effectively across cultures including by utilizing interpreters. 
• Intern will acquire knowledge of programs and public benefits available to humanitarian immigrants. 
• Intern will learn how to effectively create resumes and job search for clients. 
• Intern will gain skills in strategic research and outreach strategies. 
• Intern will learn reporting requirements for resettlement agencies and how capturing this data improves services.

Minimum Qualifications:

• Current undergraduate, graduate student or less than 12 months out of school. * 
• Minimum 24 hours per week, three-month commitment and three full working days per week; full-time 32-40 hours per week highly preferred. 
• Strong digital literacy skills and the ability to learn new software and tasks. 
• Organized and attentive to detail. 
• Ability to work independently and multi-task. 
• Strong verbal and written communication skills, including cross-cultural communication skills. 
• Works well in a fast-paced environment and adapts quickly to change. 
• Interest in working with refugee and humanitarian populations. 
• Fluency in Dari, Pashto, Ukrainian, Spanish, Kiswahili, Kinyarwanda, Tigrinya, or Amharic is a plus. 
• Access to an insured vehicle preferred, but not required. 

TO APPLY 
Click Apply Now at the top of this page. Please attach a resume, cover letter and list of (at least) three references to your application. The deadline to apply is January 6th, 2025.

This position is for Spring 2025 and requires a minimum commitment of 4 months. 35 hours per week preferred.

Spring 2025 Interns are expected to begin their internship term by attending an in-person intern orientation on January 27th, 2025 from 9:15AM-3:30PM. 

We currently offer internships during the following semesters:  

Spring: January – May  Summer: June– August  Fall: September – December

Internships are typically posted 2-3 months prior to the anticipated start date.

Note: Internships with the IRC in Silver Spring are unpaid. Spring 2025 interns may be eligible for per diem reimbursement at the rate of $15/day to offset the costs of food and travel. For information on scholarship opportunities, contact your university or the IRC Silver Spring intern coordinator at [email protected].

*Candidates applying who are not currently enrolled in an undergraduate or graduate program, or are outside 12 months of their graduation are welcome to apply. These candidates will be processed as volunteers.  

To protect our clients, the IRC requires all selected applicants to complete background checks. We ask that you make a $30 donation to help us cover the associated costs. Currently, 87% of our funding goes directly to programming to support our clients, and your help to cover this cost will ensure that no funding is directed away from serving our clients. Instructions will be provided after you have been selected to intern or volunteer. 

IRC leading the way from harm to home.

IRC is an Equal Opportunity Employer. IRC considers all applicants on the basis of merit without regard to race, sex, color, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, age, marital status, veteran status, disability or any other characteristic protected by applicable law.

If you need assistance in the application or hiring process to accommodate a disability, you may request an accommodation at any time. Please contact Talent Acquisitions at [email protected]. As required by law, the IRC will provide reasonable accommodations to qualified applicants and employees with a known disability.