Career Services Spotlight – Megan Caceres, MIA ’20, Peruvian Consulate of New York

This summer I had the pleasure of interning at the Peruvian Consulate of New York. It’s a funny story, because I applied to several internships like many students, and this internship experience came about in such an unorthodox manner. In fact, I was frustrated because I couldn’t find openings online for anything that intrigued me. Either positions were closed, or organizations had nothing on their websites indicating that they even held internships. So, one day, I ended up on the Peruvian consulate of New York’s Facebook page, and sent them a message on Facebook Messenger on a whim. I asked if they were looking to hire any interns. To my surprise, they messaged me quickly, and asked for an interview the next day! I went in for my interview, and secured it right after a long yet enthusiastic interview with the Deputy Consul of Peru. Being Peruvian is not required to work or intern there, but I think my Peruvian background and fluency in Spanish helped me to secure this position.

The most important responsibility and task I had this summer, was the job of renewing and creating Peruvian Passports and DNI cards (Peruvian issued national Identification cards). I worked with several coworkers in the office, and learned the computer system that is used to generate these government documents, and essentially the steps and requirements needed to produce them, such as how to effectively take someone’s fingerprints, which satisfies the requirement for the Peruvian Passport and the DNI card. Working with passports and Identification cards, helped me understand the fragility and seriousness that is required when handling these matters. Any error, can affect the production and process time of these documents, which delays patrons and causes an inconvenience.

I also helped in the technical production of the Consular office’s first ever Facebook Livestream, where we covered the procedures and requisites needed in order to transmit certain government and legal documents, such as birth certificates and passports. While live, we also took any questions and concerns that patrons may have had.

In addition, I prepared a statistical report, where I gathered data in regards to the amount of operations that were carried out for each month of every year since 2016, up until now. For example, I had to go into the Peruvian government archive system, and see how many passports were processed per month at the consular office for the year of 2016. Or how many matrimony licenses were registered at the consular office per month for the year of 2017. I generated a report, and used bar graphs and excel sheets, to explain what has been produced and carried out in the New York Peruvian consular office.

Overall, this internship has helped me realize how helpful it really is to know another language, aside from English which is universal. My knowledge of the Spanish language gave me the opportunity to serve a certain group of people with the purpose of solving and fixing any of their issues. I realized that I would like a career that emphasizes working with organizations, corporations, or people, with ties to Latin America. A career in diplomacy is also a career option, because I learned a lot about the role, and saw what the typical work routine of an ambassador and deputy consul consists of. It is challenging work, but very rewarding in the end. For those who are seeking an internship, I would recommend contacting organizations or groups directly either through email or social media, especially if you cannot find an opening for something in particular that you like. Like myself, I recommend just inquiring about any potential positions that may be open, and take it from there.