I love writing these holiday posts. It’s always fun to think of holiday related internships, and since today is President’s Day, I had a lot of options. I could have looked at car dealerships or retailers that celebrate with a President’s Day sale, but I wanted to feature some internships that honor our past presidents. Since Washington and Lincoln are all over our money, we’re going to check out the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. If you’re not familiar with them, they’re responsible for printing all of our paper money, but that’s not all that they do. The BEP is also the country’s largest producer of security documents, which includes “U.S. passports, materials for Homeland Security, military identification cards, and Immigration and Naturalization Certificates.” They don’t produce our coinage – that’s the United States Mint, but they do have the coolest domain name in the government – MoneyFactory.gov – even though it kind of sounds like a get rich quick scheme’s web site. And last but not least, they must be pretty busy because the current low interest rates mean that the government is printing a lot of new money.
If you don’t believe the saying that “money can’t make you happy,” then you might be well suited for an internship with the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. You’re probably not going to get rich with a career in the Federal government, but you’ll certainly be surrounded by cold, hard cash. The BEP looks like a fascinating place to work, and they do seem to have internship opportunities, although they don’t call them that. On the Special Programs section of their Careers page, they have an area that describes their Student Temporary Employment Program (just like the government to have a long name like that for internships). It’s open to U.S. citizens who are enrolled in college, and offers half and full-time positions depending on the student’s availability. There’s no formal application method for this program, but this Excel sheet provided by House.gov lists information on all government internships, and it directs students who are interested in interning with the Bureau of Engraving and Printing to this Contact page. If you can pull up any more information on BEP internships, we’d love it if you’d share what you find in the comments.
Links to Help You Begin Your Research
What’s your favorite bill produced by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing?
Do I Know Anyone at Bureau of Engraving and Printing? - Check LinkedIn | Check Facebook
Tags: government, holiday, Internships, paid, Texas, Washington DC
Thank you for posting this article. I’d heard about the student internships, but couldn’t find much information detailing the application process. It would be nice if the BEP included more details on their site, but this is a good start.
FYI – The Bureau of Engraving do not produce Passports. The US Government Printing Office has always produced US Passports.