Technical Writer Internship (part-time, unpaid)
Internship Summary:
TechSoup Global is seeking a college intern who is interested in learning and writing about procedural operations within a Product Donations department. As this department focuses on expanding the organization globally, we seek someone who will play an important role supporting our international Cisco programs by helping to provide internal staff and external vendors with user guides and training materials. Ideal candidates include those majoring in a writing discipline. Applicants should have an enthusiasm for technology and working with diverse communities in a non-profit environment. An ability to communicate with staff, and a desire to assist the department in accomplishing its projects (as described below), is a must. This internship reports to the TechSoup Global products department.
Internship Duties:
- Provide entry-level writing support for technical documentation
- Revise documents
- Access, input and retrieve information from a computer to produce typed copy, free of errors, without assistance
- Establish a working relationship with internal staff and third party affiliates to research and meet documentation requirements
- Attend weekly meetings in order to better understand the operational processes of a product donation program
- Provide a progress report to management on a weekly basis
- Perform other essential functions as needed
Internship Qualifications:
- Must be currently enrolled, with an accredited college or university, to a program in English, technical journalism or related field
- Must have experience with or coursework in, technical writing
Required Skills:
- Exceptional verbal and written communication skills
- Proficient word processing skills
- Meticulous attention to detail
- Strong organizational abilities
- A working knowledge of MS Visio, MS Excel, and CRM database applications and e-commerce sites
Required Abilities:
- Ability to take ownership of a task or process, and see it through from inception to completion
- Ability to interact, in a professional manner, with diverse groups
Other Requirements:
Physical Demands & Internship Environment: The physical demands and environment characteristics described here are representative of those that must be met by an intern to successfully perform the essential functions of this internship. Reasonable accommodations may be made to enable qualified interns with disabilities to perform the essential functions of the position.
Physical Demands:
- Capacity to sit/stand for the duration of the internship
- Capacity to work in a cubicle environment at a workstation, and to come and go repeatedly throughout the day as is necessary
- Capacity to perform prolonged telephone duties using a handset, headset and computer located at the TechSoup Global facility
- Capacity to perform prolonged keyboard duties
- Capacity to communicate and enunciate adequately, in person or via telephone, in a manner which can be understood by those with whom the employee is speaking
- Capacity to pick up, leaf through and read books, files and other materials
- Ability to load discs and to change settings, devices, fixtures, etc., on various equipment used in and around TechSoup Global
- Capacity to reach forward to a high of 48 inches, to a low of 15 inches, to the side 54 inches and to the low side 9 inches above the floor
- Ability to lift and/or move up to 20 pounds
Office Environment:
- While performing the duties of this job, the intern may be exposed to typical components of an office environment such as florescent lighting, pollen, dust, recycled air, cooling fans, VDTs, semi-enclosed areas, central heating, seasonal temperatures and office noise
Application Procedure:
Email required cover letter and resume to tw@techsoupglobal.org with the specific internship title in the subject heading. Visit our website at: http://www.techsoupglobal.org/ to review internship eligibility, view other available internships, and to learn more about TechSoup Global.
No phone calls, please.
About TechSoup Global:
TechSoup Global is working towards the day when every nonprofit and social benefit organization on the planet has the technology resources and knowledge it needs to operate at its full potential.
TechSoup Global, a 501 (c)(3) nonprofit, was founded in 1987 on the belief that technology is a powerful enabler for social change. Since that day, we've assembled a worldwide network of individuals and organizations that share this conviction. This network includes foundations and corporations, governments and NGOs, social entrepreneurs and volunteers. Together, these unlikely allies have developed sustainable, community‐driven technology solutions to meet today's most urgent social challenges.
A guiding principle in our work is that NGOs are agents of change, not beneficiaries of aid. Our efforts are focused on creating sustainable communities, in which all participants are contributors, not on the redistribution of resources from the haves to the have‐nots. We believe that all participants have resources that, brought to bear on a problem, can result in real solutions. This currency of contribution underwrites all of our work.
Today, TechSoup Global has 200 employees, an annual operating budget of
$27 million, and operates programs in Africa, the Americas, Asia, and Europe through a network of independent, capacity-building NGOs. With support of leading technology companies, including Microsoft, Adobe, Cisco, and Symantec, TechSoup Global and its network have reached more more than
133,000 organizations, distributed 6.6 million software and hardware product donations, and enabled recipients to save more than US$2 billion in IT expenses.
Our programs include NetSquared, an ambitious global experiment that empowers individuals at the local level to build and share innovative solutions to social problems. Today, the NetSquared community has tremendous reach, with more than 27,000 members and local events in nearly
80 cities around the world. Recently, TechSoup Global combined operations with GuideStar International, a U.K.-registered charity that promotes transparency and civil society organization (CSO) reporting. In November 2008, the Council on Foundations selected TechSoup Global to design and host an equivalency determination information repository, now known as NGOsource. TechSoup Global was selected in part because of its extensive international network and proven ability to offer eligibility verification services. In partnership with the Council, we are currently developing this new web-based service.
For more information about TechSoup Global, please visit www.techsoupglobal.org
