Launching Your Career with the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative: Internship Opportunities

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI) offers internship programs designed to provide students with meaningful, real-world work experience, complementing their academic learnings and introducing them to tech philanthropy. These internships are an excellent opportunity to tackle tough challenges and gain exposure to the inner workings of a leading philanthropic organization.

What to Expect from a CZI Internship

CZI internships are 10-12 weeks long and take place at their headquarters in Redwood City, California. These programs are strategically aligned with CZI's mission, providing interns with impactful projects that contribute to the organization's goals. Priscilla Chan, CZI Co-founder and Co-CEO, often kicks off an intern developmental series by sharing her career journey, offering invaluable insights and inspiration to the interns.

Key aspects of the CZI internship experience include:

Real-World Impact: Interns work on projects that directly contribute to CZI's mission, tackling some of the toughest challenges in areas like science, education, and community.
Professional Development: The program includes developmental series, offering interns opportunities to learn from leaders across the organization and gain exposure to new tools and technologies.
Networking and Community: CZI fosters a strong sense of community through company socials, volunteer activities, and other events, allowing interns to connect with their peers and CZI employees.

As one former intern noted, "The internship program was an incubator for my career." Interns gain experience that can accelerate the start of their careers by working on a project from end-to-end, learning from leaders across the organization, and gaining exposure to tools that they may not have had access to before.

How to Apply for a CZI Internship

CZI typically begins accepting applications for summer internship positions in the fall or winter. The recruiting team closely collaborates with each hiring team to understand the qualifications needed for all open positions across the organization.

The application process generally involves the following steps:

Application Review: A recruiter will review your application to determine if your work experience and skills align with the necessary proficiencies of the position, as well as other open roles.
Initial Assessment: To gain a better understanding of what you are looking for in your next position, as well as learn more about your previous work experience and skills, the process will progress to an initial assessment.
Team Interview: If you and your recruiter still feel that you could be well-suited for the position following the assessment, you will move forward with meeting the team. This provides an opportunity to learn more about the team and for CZI to gain a deeper understanding of your skills and experience.
Final Decision: Following the completion of all interviews, the hiring team will make a final decision, and the recruiter will be in touch to share the outcome of your interviews.
Offer and Onboarding: If the team would like to move forward, the recruiter will discuss the details of the proposed offer with you. Once you have accepted and signed your offer, your recruiter will introduce you to a member of the onboarding team to begin the process of onboarding you as a CZI employee.

Please note that the interview experience may vary across roles depending on the qualifications needed.

CZI's Commitment to Diversity and Inclusion

CZI is dedicated to maintaining a great experience for every candidate and is committed to fostering an environment where people are valued, supported, and empowered to thrive. Their culture begins with their employees, and they are committed to making sure that every person feels like they belong and are valued.

Benefits of Working at CZI

Choosing the right workplace is much more than just finding a job - it’s about joining a company that invests in you.

CZI offers a wide range of benefits to support its employees, including:

Financial Benefits:
- CZI matches qualified donations to 501(c)(3) organizations by employees 2:1 up to an annual maximum amount.
- CZI Life of Service Gifts are awarded to employees to 'live the mission' and support the causes closest to them. These gifts are awarded following key anniversaries.
- Annual benefit for employees that can be used in the most meaningful way for them and their family such as housing, student loan repayment, childcare, commuter costs, or other life needs.
- Pre-tax transit and parking benefits, annual Caltrain passes subsidized for employees who take Caltrain to work once or more per week and free onsite parking at our buildings.
Health and Well-being:
- CZI provides 100% of the premium cost for employees and 75% of the premium cost for dependent coverage for medical, dental, and vision coverage.
- Access to emergency back-up child care and adult and elder care. Additional benefits include preferred enrollment at select centers and resources to find sitters and pet care.
- CZI offers a monthly reimbursement for employees' physical fitness costs (i.e. gym memberships).
- Coaching and therapy care options for employees and dependents include stress management, financial wellness, relationships, parenting transitions, career advice, inclusion and belonging, and other life challenges.
- Healthcare FSA and Dependent Care FSA available.
- Life insurance designed to protect employees and their families against loss of income due to accidental death.
Other Benefits:
- Paid time off to volunteer at an organization of your choice.

CZI's Culture and Values

CZI's culture is shaped by its employees, who lead programming that allows them to have fun outside of their day-to-day roles, including team-wide and org-wide happy hours, lunch and learns, volunteer opportunities, and offsites. They value collaboration and see it as the tool to do their work. They believe the most effective collaboration happens when people are together in person. This requires strengthening in-person connections and cultivating a team-oriented environment.

CZI's core values include:

Whether in education, science, or our local communities - we know the people most affected by the issues should help drive the solutions. Their teams work closely with educators and parents, scientists and community leaders to ensure the voices of people most impacted are heard every step of the way.
Though near-term wins are critical, it will take a new level of commitment and dedication to make lasting, long-term change.
Though they focus on building for the long-term, they also move quickly. They put in the work because they understand the urgency of the challenges their partners take on.
They have big ideas about the future they’re working toward, but they can only be realized by placing the perspectives and experiences of the communities they serve first.
Good things happen when people from different backgrounds work together. They’re thankful to have an incredible team behind their work.

Employee Resource Groups

CZI also has several employee resource groups that connect employees and foster a supportive community.

B.L.K. Sprouts connects early-career CZIers to foster a social and supportive community.
WIN is a community of women and their allies dedicated to learning, growth, and support.

Additional Opportunities within the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Foundation (CZIF)

In addition to internships, CZI offers various career opportunities across its science and education teams. You can play a key role in streamlining, securing, and optimizing Payroll, Planning, and Absence management processes through the Workday platform. You can oversee a team of event professionals, guide the design and delivery of convenings from concept to completion, and ensure every gathering reflects our values of inclusion, purpose, and excellence. You will set the vision for CZI’s social presence, lead a high‐performing team, and partner closely across communications, marketing, Biohub, and Learning Commons to bring their work to life.

Read also: Tuition & Fees at UMass Chan

Leveraging Open Source for Diversity: The Ocean Genomics Model

Ocean Genomics provides a compelling example of how organizations can proactively improve diversity and inclusion within specific fields. By establishing internship programs specifically targeted to underrepresented groups in open-source technology development, Ocean Genomics aims to address disparities and create opportunities for women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ individuals.

Key strategies employed by Ocean Genomics include:

Targeted Outreach: Partnering with existing groups focused on creating opportunities for women, BIPOC, and LGBTQ+ groups. Advertising the program directly to these communities by leveraging existing social, professional, and academic organizations.
Paid Internships: Providing paid internship opportunities for the development of open-source technologies.
Mentoring and Support: Offering mentoring and support to interns throughout the program.

This model provides a valuable blueprint for other organizations seeking to promote diversity and inclusion within their internship programs and broader workforce.

Read also: Jackie Chan's Operatic Roots

tags: #chan #zuckerberg #initiative #internships