Honors College Communication Intern

The Honors College Communication Team creative interns with an interest in:

• Graphic design
• Social media content creation and management
• Digital marketing (email marketing, web content management, etc.)
• Music composition/recording and audio production
• Photography

We also have positions available for people who intend to seek future careers in the creative industries, communications, media production, writing, advertising, and related fields.

About the Honors College Communication Team 

The Honors College Communication Interns work as a team to create compelling communications across several media platforms to support the Honors College's mission. 

Working under the supervision of the Honors College Director of Communication, the Honors College Communication Team produces appropriate public-facing messages that reflect the style and voice of George Mason University’s Honors College. Interns will be sensitive to audience, purpose, and form when creating new communications, productions, and designs.  

This is a paid experiential learning opportunity. Participants will build the skills necessary to work on a cross-functional creative team effectively, including both “hard” skills necessary to carry out creative and communication tasks and “soft” skills involving teamwork and professional collaboration. 

In addition to their own projects, they will be responsible for helping to brainstorm and develop collaborative projects, peer reviewing and editing work produced by other members of the team, and assisting with projects outside of their area of specialization. All team members are responsible for ensuring the full team maintains appropriate standards of quality, correctness, consistency of voice, and accordance with in-house styles and brand guidelines.  

Required Qualifications for Communication Team Interns 

• Undergraduate student at George Mason University who is a member of the Honors College or graduate student at George Mason University who was a member of the Honors College when they were an undergraduate.
• Strong skills in at least one of the major media used by the Honors College communication team: graphic design, social media content creation, social media management, email marketing, web content management, music composition, audio production, photography, animation,  writing, video, etc.
• Interest in developing additional/new communication skills
• Able to craft high-quality original content appropriate to medium, audience, and context in a timely way; able to follow style, brand, and content guidelines when generating new content.
• Able to collaborate with other interns to create communication campaigns across media; able to give constructive criticism, provide useful suggestions, and craft meaningful feedback for other communicators; willing to receive and make use of constructive criticism, suggestions, and feedback.

Preferred Qualifications 

• Skill in one additional major communications medium used by the Honors College communication team: animation, video, photography, graphic design, writing, audio production, email marketing, web content management, or social media management and marketing.
• Major or minor in a creative, communication arts, or marketing field, such as Graphic Design, Visual Art, English, Creative Writing, Communication, Film and Video Studies, Business/Marketing, etc. or career interests, plans, or goals involving related skills or civic engagement interests, plans, or goals involving related skills

Scheduling and pay 

• New Communication Team members have the opportunity to work around 9-10 hours per week for the Honors College. In subsequent semesters, it is possible to work more.
• Communication Team members work as student wage or Federal Work Study employees. University policy limits total hourly work on campus to 20 hours per week for student wage and Federal Work Study students. Those with stipend-based positions may work up to 29 hours per week in total, only with permission from all on-campus employers.
• $15/hour for the first year of employment with a raise to $17 after the first year.
• Most work during the academic year will be conducted on a regular schedule to be created based on intern availability; there will be frequent opportunities to work outside of the regular schedule, either as additional work or in substitute for the regularly scheduled hours.
• Communication team members are generally required to work in-person on Friday afternoons during the academic year, excepting breaks.

Application 

Cover letter. Your very brief cover letter (definitely <250 words) should cover:  

• how you think you might support the Honors College's goals
• any skills not reflected in your resume and how you developed them
• any communications skills you would like to learn or develop, and
• any personal/professional/civic connection this internship has to your goals or interests.

Cover letters that appear to have been composed using generative AI or which do not follow these guidelines will not be considered. 

Evidence of creative or communication skills. Please provide a word or PDF file containing examples of work you are proud of. If appropriate, you may provide a list of links in this Word or PDF file. If your resume or cover letter describe skills you already have in more than one medium - e.g. writing, video, photography, graphic design, audio production, digital communications, or social media marketing - consider providing evidence of skills in each of these media. If work submitted was collaborative, provide clear descriptions of the role you played in the production of the work.  

Resume. Your resume should not be longer than one page. Resumes that are not specific to the creative or communication employment sought will not be considered. Resumes that do not indicate your affiliation with the Honors College will not be considered.