BSM
Internship
Brian Massey, an official with the Secretary of State's office and Deputy Attorney General, Brent Beal, entering the Wilcox County Courthouse Annex during Thursday's unannounced visit to review absentee ballot applications
-Amanda Walker, al.com
Interning within the Alabama Secretary of State’s office has been the most electrifying experience I have had thus far in my professional career. Since I was a child, I have had a fascination with the history of Montgomery, especially the Alabama State Capitol. There is so much history that has transpired inside the walls of the Capitol Building and so much history that is currently being made.
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My internship with the Secretary of State's Office was not a typical student internship. Student internships with the Secretary of State’s Office last two months during the summer. However, I worked with the office for over a year, most of the time fulfilling the same responsibilities as the full-time employees. During my time in the Secretary of State’s Office, I had the opportunity to work within the Executive, Elections, Uniform Commercial Code, and Business Services divisions. However, I spent the majority of my time in the Executive Division working directly for Secretary Merrill and his Chief of Staff.
What I learned most from working with the Alabama Secretary of State’s Office is the role that emotional intelligence plays in professional spaces. From what I gathered working in the field, one of the hardest parts of an administrator’s job is leading the staff. While in my classes, I became versed on theories of leadership. However, theories cannot exist in a vacuum. When we add a humanistic element, the methods we have learned are often insufficient to manage office spaces. However, learning various approaches are still important because as practitioners, we can identify best practices, tailor them, and apply them to our organizations. One of the greatest things I learned from my internship is the importance of emotional intelligence and learning methods or best practices that reinforce emotional intelligence in Seminar in Leadership was very beneficial to my career.
John Merrill speaks to reporters in his office at the State Capitol about what happens next in the U.S. Senate race, which Doug Jones won narrowly over Roy Moore.
-Mike Cason, al.com
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When working in an organization, it is important to understand the hierarchical structure of an agency. The value of understanding hierarchical structures is because it makes processes within agencies work quicker. Through my internship, I spent many hours during the legislative session working with analyst and legislators reviewing and proofing legislation before it was presented to the committee. This process is one that is very tedious as things have to be in tip-top shape before it leaves the office. This experience was very beneficial to me because it boosted my skills of analyzing, synthesizing, thinking critically, solving problems and making decisions while I was directly participating in and contributing to the policy process. Building working relationships with state legislators will directly help me with my new job as the Staff Director of the Governor’s Office on Education and Workforce Transformation. With government work, there is a lot of red tape regardless of who you are in an organization. However, because of networking and having connections, the process of getting things passes can be less prolonged while cutting through the red tape.