Launch Your Career with Truth Initiative: Internship Opportunities

Truth Initiative offers a variety of internships for passionate and committed individuals looking to gain practical experience in public health and contribute to the fight against tobacco and nicotine addiction. These internships provide valuable workplace skills, real-world professional experience, and general career guidance. If you're driven to make a difference, a Truth Initiative internship could be the perfect launchpad for your career.

What to Expect as a Truth Initiative Intern

As a Truth Initiative intern, you'll be an integral part of a team dedicated to preventing youth and young adult nicotine addiction and empowering quitting for all. This mission is what motivates the team every day. You'll work hard, learn a lot, and have fun while contributing to positive change in the lives of millions.

Available Internship Areas

Truth Initiative offers internships in various areas of specialization, providing opportunities to match your interests and skills. These areas typically include:

Marketing
Communications
Public Policy
Human Resources
Information Technology (IT)
Evaluation Science and Research
Youth Activism
Community Engagement
Innovations

Internship Duration and Time Commitment

The duration of Truth Initiative internships varies by semester. Fall and spring internships align with university academic semesters, while summer internships generally run from June to August. During the fall and spring, interns are expected to work between 15 to 20 hours per week. Summer interns may work up to a full-time schedule of 37.5 hours per week. Interns can participate in the program for up to two semesters.

Specific Internship Roles and Responsibilities

The specific duties and responsibilities of an intern will depend on the area of specialization. Here's a closer look at some of the available internship roles:

Communications Intern

The Communications Intern is fully integrated into the Communications team, assisting in all aspects of the department. Responsibilities may include:

Writing press releases
Drafting stories for the monthly newsletter
Assembling press kits
Researching media coverage
Compiling reporter information
Clipping and tracking media coverage
Compiling clips reports
Assisting with in-house press conferences and events

Ideal candidates are current students pursuing an undergraduate degree in communications or a related field, with a passionate interest in public health or tobacco control. Experience working on multiple tasks and projects in a fast-paced environment is essential, as are excellent communication skills.

Research Intern

Research Interns at the Schroeder Institute contribute to the department’s research projects. Examples of past tasks include:

Conducting literature searches for projects
Testing online surveys
Content analysis (e.g., social media surveillance)
Preparing results

Ideal candidates are detail-oriented, possess excellent communication skills, and can work independently as well as collaboratively in a fast-paced environment. Current students pursuing their graduate degree in Public Health are preferred. An interest in behavioral research and/or interest in tobacco control research is a plus.

Research Analyst Intern

The Research Analyst Intern will be in an undergraduate or Master’s program in public health, epidemiology, biostatistics, or a related field with a strong background in quantitative methods. Some experience with programming and data management, along with knowledge of statistical research methodology/principles is highly desired. The intern will support rapid research capabilities with an emphasis on managing and cleaning data and documenting data analytic procedures.

Responsibilities include:

Providing quality assurance support to ensure that data are cleaned, and processes are documented appropriately.
Cleaning and coding large data sets involving multiple years of data; ensuring consistent coding of variables across all survey waves; maintaining records related to study response rates and retention; performing data cleaning, data validation, and reporting tasks.
Conducting literature searches and reviews.
Conducting descriptive analyses and basic inferential analyses using SAS, Stata, R or mplus under the tutelage of the Senior Analysts.
Supporting research analysts in preparing datasets for use by others, and facilitating communication among collaborators, when necessary.
Helping with presentations of research findings at major conferences and meetings.

Public Policy Intern

The Public Policy Intern provides policy support for Truth Initiative’s outreach with various federal, state, and local governmental entities for the regulation of tobacco products. In this role, you will provide support for regulatory and other activities, including research and policy analysis related to tobacco control laws. This internship also provides opportunities to become familiar with the political process by way of Capitol Hill hearings and briefings. Ideal applicants will have an interest in public health/public policy and a strong interest in government affairs work and be detail-oriented with excellent organizational skills. You will be fully integrated into the Public Policy team and will participate in team meetings.

Community Engagement Intern

The Community Engagement Intern supports Truth Initiative's Community Engagement expertise center in various function areas and with special projects to broaden their knowledge of social justice, advocacy and community activism. The intern will be involved in various community initiatives such as National Partnerships, Tobacco Free College Program, truth Ambassador program, College & Community Leader programs. The intern will also be responsible for the execution of strategies related to promoting and dissemination of the youth activism materials, event planning, and data entry. Ideal candidates are undergraduate students with a demonstrated interest in community activism, social justice, public health education and health promotion. Applicants pursuing a degree in public health or business administration, marketing, political science, economic, or related fields are preferred.

Human Resources Intern

The Human Resources Intern will support Truth Initiative's Human Resources expertise center in various function areas and with special projects to broaden their knowledge of the HR function. They will assist with performance management projects, learn HRIS processes and assist in processing employee changes/updates, file/discard HR files and contracts consistent with Truth Initiative's document retention policy, read and understand Truth Initiative policies, procedures, and benefits to answer employee inquiries, and assist with updating benefits information into and HRIS. Ideal candidates are students currently pursuing an undergraduate degree with an interest in learning more about Human Resources as a profession.

Information Technology Intern

The Information Technology Intern's primary responsibility will be to respond to user questions and issues about PC's and provide Help Desk support. PC support responsibilities will include, but not be limited to installing new and upgrading computers for staff, assisting with staff moves, and resolving hardware and software problems. The intern will also provide project based support in areas of interest to IT.

Read also: Unpacking "It is a Truth..."

Innovations Intern

The INNOVATIONS INTERN will assist with research studies and project management for the team. Innovations is a team that focuses on developing new digital tools to help people quit tobacco use, ranging from mobile apps to full-service digital platforms, as well as conducting federally-funded research to learn best strategies for tobacco cessation.

Sales Intern (Innovations Team)

As the SALES INTERN for the Innovations team, you will be assisting with sales initiatives to help develop prospective new clients and partners for the EX Program. Your focus will be on providing digitally based tobacco cessation solutions to large employers and health plans. We are seeking an eager candidate interested in learning about SaaS selling and business development. You will have the opportunity to learn and participate in the entire business process from initial prospecting, assisting with meetings and presentations, developing proposals, contracting, and client management.

Marketing Intern

The MARKETING INTERN will help with a variety of tasks that vary from week to week.

Digital Marketing Intern

As a DIGITAL MARKETING INTERN, you’ll be in-the-know with all things pop culture with an interest to dig deeper to learn how digital marketing and analytics are directly correlated. This team player will assist with a variety of tasks such as conducting research and analyzing campaign performance to provide input to truth® campaigns. This includes assisting with building out the digital assets and understanding how to analyze performance metrics through numerous digital platforms we use.

Eligibility and Application Process

Intern candidates are generally current students pursuing their undergraduate degree. Graduate students are primarily considered for internships with the research teams. A passionate interest in public health or tobacco control is a significant advantage. Experience working on multiple tasks and projects in a fast-paced environment is also essential.

Interested applicants should submit their cover letter and resume. Be prepared to answer a few questions about your interest. No telephone calls please.

Compensation and Benefits

Truth Initiative internships are paid positions. Undergraduate students are competitively paid at $18.00/hour, and graduate students are paid $21.00/hour. Interns are expected to work a hybrid work schedule.

Additional Opportunities with Truth Initiative

Beyond internships, Truth Initiative offers various ways to get involved in their mission:

The Culture + Cessation Collective: A community-driven initiative providing safe spaces, conversations, and resources to help communities disproportionately impacted by tobacco break free from nicotine addiction. Share your story about how nicotine addiction has impacted you or those you care about.
Tobacco / Nicotine-Free College Program: Colleges and universities can apply for funding to advocate for and adopt 100% tobacco-free policies.
EX Program: Share resources for quitting, including the EX Program, a free digital quitting program from Truth Initiative.
Partnerships: Partner with Truth Initiative to help empower quitting for all and prevent young people from ever starting to smoke, vape, or use any tobacco product.

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