Internships

The CCOE Internship Program fuels our pursuit of academic and non-academic excellence by expanding our knowledge of concept development, training, and education. By bringing on new interns we aim to enhance our engagement with civil academia and non-academics while raising the profile and visibility of the CCOE globally. Therefore, we are looking for highly motivated candidates from a huge variety of disciplines: political science, international relations, security studies, social studies, pedagogy, media communication, journalism, marketing, web design, and information technology.

The CCOE Internship Programme provides current students, recent graduates, and interested civilians with the opportunity of professionally evolving through a conducted internship within the CCOE international community in The Hague, The Netherlands. Internships are usually offered over a set time (3-6 months) during which the selected interns will be offered the possibility to conduct research on topics of mutual interest, improve their skills through practical assignments and gain an understanding of CIMIC and related subjects while substantiating their CV/professional portfolio.

A win-win situation

For you:

  • An opportunity to learn from the CCOE community and gain a thorough understanding of the organization and CIMIC in general
  • Accommodation directly at the CCOE for free and experience The Hague
  • A full-time paid internship in a highly professional environment
  • An excellent opportunity to build relationships within the CIMIC community, which can greatly help to find later a great job in this field

For us:

  • Access to the latest theoretical and technical knowledge that the interns can apply through practical work assignments, as well as with additional staff resources
  • Expanding understanding of CIMIC and CCOE in other countries

How to apply

There are two ways of applying for an internship at the CCOE:

  1. Check our available internship offers to refer to specific projects currently running at the branches
  2. Apply via open solicitation and present your own idea/project you would like to work on *

Applications have to be submitted electronically to the Internship Point of Contact not earlier than 6 months and not later than 2 months before the desired internship period.

* Projects might be a specific research questions for Bachelor’s or Master’s degree referring to NATOs Cross-cutting topics, for instance. Perhaps you have new ideas about how to improve our training and evaluation methods for our courses. The options are rather open.

What you need to attach

 1. Motivation letter

All candidates will be required to submit a 1 page letter (approx 400 words) giving details on their motivation for an internship at the CCOE. Some basic things to consider are as follows:

  • Why do you want to work at the CCOE/a specific branch?
  • Why do you want to work on the specific project?
  • What kind of expectations do you have during the internship?

If you are applying via open solicitation you will need to present your own project to us! Sell us on your project.

  • Briefly describe your project. What do you aim to do? Do you have a research question?
  • Tell us why you wish to do your project
  • How does your project align with the work of the CCOE?

2.  Curriculum Vitae

Of course, we would like to know who you are and what you have done in the past. Maybe your experiences from other internships or specific modules at university might be of high interest to our potential work at the CCOE.

3. Official proof of English

The CCOE is an international environment and English is our working language. Therefore, it is necessary that you can at least speak and write in English to a C1 level. This makes communication with co-workers much easier and more fun!

4. List of your last degree/grades

Along with your letter and CV we would like to know how you have done so far academically. Maybe you have participated in some interesting modules both sides can take advantage of. If you have some references, we are very much interested in reading them as well!

Next step

After receiving your complete application, we will figure out, if your portfolio matches our projects. Within 2 weeks we will reach out to you again and let you know if your application has risen interest in any of our branches. Is that the case the branch will directly notify and invite you for an interview (whether in person, by phone, or virtually), where details can be discussed before a final decision is made.

After you and your future branch have agreed on all necessary details (start and end dates of internship, milestones you have to achieve, the general task you need to fulfil, etc.), your contract will be compiled and signed.

Of course, you will get all the necessary information about your first day and The Hague in general beforehand.