Undergraduate Blog / Career Development

Working for the Canadian Government

 

Hi, my name is Jess Thevenoz and I am a rising senior at Babson. I am from Montreal, Canada and only moved to the USA for college, but have always kept my Canadian Pride in any way I can. After three years in the US, I wanted to be able to have the chance to work for my country this summer. I have been working for about two weeks at the Embassy of Canada based in Washington DC as an International Business Development Intern and it has been an amazing experience thus far.

The Canadian Embassy in Washington DC is the largest mission, and one of the most important, for Canada in the world as it is set in the capital of the USA,  our largest trading partner (and, may come as a surprise, but America’s too largest trading partner too!). Especially now, the new liberal government, specifically PM Justin Trudeau, has emphasized strengthening the Canadian-American relationship. We are about 300 diplomats working here, compromised of local based staff and Canadian foreign service staff (with set terms ranging from 2 to 5 years).

The IBD department’s main role is to help Canadian businesses prosper in the Mid-Atlantic Region (Maryland, Virginia, West Virginia, and DC), as well as attract American companies to invest in Canada. From talking to others on our team, I also recently discovered that the team also works to help put Canadian companies in contact with all the international organizations set here such as the World Bank, and facilitate their ability to help with international development.

I am looking forward to understanding more about what working for government is like and how I can use my business backgrounds in different settings! Go Canada!