C/Corps

For a more detailed description of responsibilities and roles, please see this linked job description. Basic responsibilities are as follows:

• Fulfill tasks initiated by NN principals, project managers.

• Participate actively in meetings, take minutes, coordinate tasks.

• Apply design-thinking process to projects (develop problem statements, conduct interviews, compare existing programs, iterate solutions, and write briefs).

• Conduct formal interviews and make presentations to clients. 

• Develop playbooks, feedback sessions, video clips, and tool kits.

The program is time-boxed by seasons and/or terms, with some projects being transitioned from one team to another across several cohorts. Interns will generally work with NormalNext for 2 to 4 months.

To be eligible for the Normal>Next internship, you should be:

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• an undergrad or grad student between terms, taking time off from school, or figuring out what’s next after graduation

• passionate about improving the world around you (at a local or global level)

• skilled in verbal and written communication skills

• eager and interested in joining a team to both lead and take direction

• comfortable multitasking

• able to cope well under pressure

• working from a safe location with good wifi and video capabilities.

The evaluation by students was also extremely positive. They contrasted this experience with previous internships, where they felt they did a lot of “make work” that was not central to the host organization’s work. One student said, “I learned and did more in my first two weeks here than in my other internships combined.” All were proud of what they achieved in terms of making a substantial difference in a real project affecting society.

Some projects come with a fairly consistent time requirement, many projects don’t. While our approach is flexible, you should be available for some meetings during traditional work hours. Teams will agree upon the time needed for each phrase at the outset, accommodating interns’ calendars as best possible, yet expecting this may also require non-traditional scheduling and at times long hours. To date, workweeks have varied from 20-40 hours and have begun each day with a full team check-in at 10am ET.

Our 5-person founding team has deep experience in addressing complex challenges and launching initiatives that have gone to scale. 

Our team members have taught at the secondary school, university, and corporate levels, and one has been a dean and academic administrator, as well as having long experience in educational policy.

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We bring extensive experience in design thinking, entrepreneurship, organizational behavior, innovation, strategy, economics, law, public policy, creation of communities of practice, and technology. We have worked in the private sector, public sector, and the nonprofit world, and we are more than happy to show you the ropes to these complex systems.