**TL;DR**: accepted an internship in one government agency, then was offered an internship in the agency I originally wanted to work with.
Over the summer I applied to a government agency internship posting that was accepting applications for the fall and spring semesters. This agency is where I want to end up down the line.
Within the agency, there are multiple divisions. I really wanted an internship in Division A, but I ended up getting an internship in Division B for the Fall semester. Which was still great, it’s within the agency I wanted to work for and it will look good on my resume.
Come fall, I started looking around for spring internships. I emailed the contact on that job posting asking whether I could apply again to the same agency where I’m doing my fall internship for the spring semester, but I got no response.
I started looking elsewhere to different agencies who do similar work, and I actually found, and accepted an internship with an agency who does substantially similar work as Division A of the agency I wanted to work at.
Then, out of the blue this past week, I was offered an interview, and subsequently an internship, with Division A of the first agency based off of my summer application. This was unexpected.
In a perfect situation, I would have accepted the Division A internship first. But now I’m in a difficult place. On the one hand, I realize it would be bad form to back out of the internship I accepted. The internship application deadline ended on sept. 30th. I also know that they are both similar internships working with similar subject matter. On the other hand, working with Division A could put me a really good place down the line to obtain an actual position at the agency.
Any advice would be appreciated. What would you do in my situation? If you were in this same position in the past, what did you do?
I’m stressing out a bit because I realize that whatever choice I make could impact my future career, and I’m not sure what to do. I’m talking with people trying to get advice, but I think some of you could give me a wide range of opinions that could help me.
Over the summer I applied to a government agency internship posting that was accepting applications for the fall and spring semesters. This agency is where I want to end up down the line.
Within the agency, there are multiple divisions. I really wanted an internship in Division A, but I ended up getting an internship in Division B for the Fall semester. Which was still great, it’s within the agency I wanted to work for and it will look good on my resume.
Come fall, I started looking around for spring internships. I emailed the contact on that job posting asking whether I could apply again to the same agency where I’m doing my fall internship for the spring semester, but I got no response.
I started looking elsewhere to different agencies who do similar work, and I actually found, and accepted an internship with an agency who does substantially similar work as Division A of the agency I wanted to work at.
Then, out of the blue this past week, I was offered an interview, and subsequently an internship, with Division A of the first agency based off of my summer application. This was unexpected.
In a perfect situation, I would have accepted the Division A internship first. But now I’m in a difficult place. On the one hand, I realize it would be bad form to back out of the internship I accepted. The internship application deadline ended on sept. 30th. I also know that they are both similar internships working with similar subject matter. On the other hand, working with Division A could put me a really good place down the line to obtain an actual position at the agency.
Any advice would be appreciated. What would you do in my situation? If you were in this same position in the past, what did you do?
I’m stressing out a bit because I realize that whatever choice I make could impact my future career, and I’m not sure what to do. I’m talking with people trying to get advice, but I think some of you could give me a wide range of opinions that could help me.
