Government
Accountability
office
Office of public affairs
Summer 2021
I was proud to serve as an intern in the GAO's Office of Public Affairs during the Summer of 2021. The GAO's work for Congress and the nation is awe-inspiring; not only did I learn a lot about its work, but I had the opportunity to work with some of the most dedicated public affairs officers in the country. It's no mystery why the GAO is always ranked the best place to work in the federal government!
What made this opportunity so fascinating was reading GAO reports and creating content based on their findings. On this page, you can learn more about what I did at the agency. Want more information on what I did at the GAO? Sure, let's talk! Feel free to contact me.
TWO-MONTH impact project
Instagram Transition
When I arrived at GAO, the Instagram was not run through the social media team. Throughout the summer, the Office of Public Affairs transitioned the platform and its content creation to the social media team. I took this opportunity to re-design our format on Instagram and establish new guidance for content creation.
LONG-TERM PROJECT
SOCIAL MEDIA STRATEGY
At the GAO, each intern gets the opportunity to complete a long-term project and make recommendations to the office to which they are assigned. I chose to concentrate my efforts on ways the GAO can increase engagement through modern visual principles on social media.
DAY-to-day
SoCIAL MEDIA WRITING
Part of my duties were to craft social media posts on major platforms, such as Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn. At the GAO, we draft social media based on new reports, major milestones, podcast releases, or blog posts. After drafting and getting the text approved, we would find visuals to accompany posts.
SHORT-TERM development PROJECT
STANDARDS OF PRACTICE
One exciting project for our office's interns was to develop a standards of practice for how teams at GAO could use our office's resources to help the creation of their reports. Sometimes, it can be good for a team to be connected with a member of the public who might have valuable information. We developed a document that was made available to teams at GAO so they could understand how GAO can help them achieve their goals.
DAY-to-day
BLOGGING
The Office of Public Affairs writes blogs based on the various GAO reports that come out throughout the year. This was an exciting opportunity because it required me to really dive deep into each GAO report and understand the issue at hand. GAO's blogs are meant to be written so anyone — not just those who are an expert on the issue — can understand our research and recommendations.
DAY-to-day
MEDIA MONITORING
One of GAO's goals is to gain coverage through traditional media platforms, such as TV or print. OPA measures this goal by watching the media mentions of the agency. By cataloguing our coverage, we can learn how to better target our traditional media outreach in the future.
DAY-to-day
Watchdog Podcast
The Government Accountability Office connects with the public in a variety of methods. One of our most successful platforms is a podcast with somewhat short episodes, most being just five to seven minutes long. Our host discusses a recent report with a director of the team who crafted it.