In early January, I applied to intern for Bob Corker (R-TN) on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. In all, I sent in my resumé, a two-page application and a short essay detailing why I want to intern on the SFRC. At the end of this month, I'll find out if I've made the cut and am currently satiating my hunger for the Hill by scouring the Internet for every tidbit of information that's relevant to interning on the Hill. Since I'm probably not the only one who's considering interning on the Hill this summer, I figured that I'd take what I learned from the hours I spent reading up on the Hill and compile a list of tips for the prospective intern. Hopefully this helps any individual who is also considering or seeking a summer internship on Capitol Hill.

TIPS AND TRICKS FOR THE PROSPECTIVE HILL-TERN:

Don't hold up traffic at the metal detector by wearing every metal item that you own.

Nothing infuriates staffers and other Hill employees more than being stuck behind an intern that has to pass through the metal detector multiple times because he keeps forgetting to take off all of his metal items. People really want to get in as quick as possible to work and don't want to deal with a traffic jam in the metal detector line every time an intern forgets to take off one of his/her metal items. Literally every Hill-related article I've read has mentioned this at some point.

Dress conservatively.

From what I've gathered, everyone should dress as if they're going to church, meaning suits for men and conservative dresses/skirts for women. Conversely, that means no polo/khaki/boat shoes combos for men and no nightclub attire for women. From what I've read, violating dress code norms will make you a prime target for your entire office to gossip about. People can get really savage about the interns that commit fashion faux pas. Everyone's supposed to be dressed to the nines except for when your superiors allow for exceptions. Following what your office does in terms of dress code should provide a good yardstick from which to measure the acceptability of your own attire.

Remember that at the end of the day, you're still just an intern.

While there is a certain prestige that comes with working on the Hill and rubbing elbows with power, never forget that you are ultimately at the bottom of the food chain. This also means that interns are utterly disposable, and that repeated screw-ups might possibly result in your internship being cut short by several weeks. I've read countless anecdotes of staffers who were taken aback by the haughtiness exhibited by interns who did not grasp where exactly their place was within the hierarchy. Apparently, staffers get really annoyed when they see an intern who flashes their badge around even when the intern isn't on the Hill grounds. Have some humility and keep your head down.

Leave your opinions at home.

You're not going to agree with everyone's views in your office, including the elected member that you intern for. The same also goes for everyone else, and you should try not to broadcast every detail of your political views to your coworkers/superiors because this seems to turn a lot of people off. Just be chill and don't get too caught up in debating the finer details of Obamacare with everyone that you meet.

Don't expect to be writing top-notch legislation and advising the member on policy decisions.

This is something that I found particularly enlightening. While it did shatter some of my previously romantic notions about working on the Hill, I think this is an important point for relatively ambitious people (like me). Interns usually do exciting things like shredding paper, getting your boss's coffee, giving tours, and dealing with angry constituents on the phone. From what the sites say, it would seem that interns usually start out with the horribly mundane tasks that their superiors would rather not do. However, once they've proven that they are indeed competent human beings, their bosses will then upgrade them to tasks that are mildly interesting. The trick to getting the mildly interesting stuff is to do the boring stuff really well to prove to your boss that you can do more sophisticated things besides making the office's coffee.

Be very, very careful of what you post on social media.

Social media can be an effective tool in the world of politics, yet never forget that it is a double-edged sword. Be mindful of what you post on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, especially when it's related to your internship. The last thing you want is to cause some serious damage to the reputation of the elected member that you work for by posting something silly on social media. If you have any doubt as to whether your actions will be harmful to the Congress(wo)man and his/her staff, I advise that you simply don't bother posting it at all. The same applies for the office e-mail listers that you'll have access to. I once read a vignette about how several interns who were setting up a get-together via the listers. In the exchange, several of the interns made a joke about the name of a bar known as the Pour House by pretending to mistake it with the word "whorehouse." While I myself found that to be a little funny, their bosses (who unbeknownst to them were also included on the listers) surely did not and were quick to reprimand them, much to their embarrassment. Keep your e-mail correspondence with fellow interns professional and appropriate, as you never know who might decide to take a peek at the conversations.

Don't whine about not getting paid/your boss/your coworkers. In that vein, don't engage in office gossip and keep it professional both in and out of the Hill.

D.C. is a lot smaller than what you might think. I once read a post on the DC SUMMER INTERNS blog where one intern was speaking poorly about his boss to another intern. Little did that intern know, but his boss's roommate was right behind him and overheard the whole thing. Needless to say, that first intern won't be getting a job anytime soon. But this should hammer home that you should always strive to be professional both inside and outside the office. Gossiping carries significant risks to any aspirations that you may have on the Hill. Pretty much anything you say can and will be used against you if overheard by the wrong person. Treat everywhere you go as if the walls have eyes and the lights have ears because more likely than not, that's precisely the case.

Network and make the most of your experience!

You're at the Hill to both learn about the levers of power and and to make some potentially useful connections. You probably won't be best buddies with the Congress(wo)man at the end of your internship, but try connecting with both fellow interns and the bosses that are the closest to you on the hierarchical ladder. It doesn't hurt to have a few friends on the Hill in case you decide to come back in the future. Don't be the lazy intern who tries to sneak in naps or has an attitude when asked to do a certain task because this is a great opportunity to really advance yourself. Conduct yourself with the utmost professionalism at all times as well as showing your bosses that you are a valuable asset and I think that you'll certainly stand out from among your peers.

Hopefully you've found these little nuggets of knowledge as useful to you as they are to me, and I recommend that if you're interested in interning for the Hill that you do your own independent research to supplement what I've written here. Look at the DC SUMMER INTERNS blogs to get a better idea of the Hill's culture as well as more information on how to be a good intern and capitalize the most on this experience.