Data Insights Intern

State of South Carolina • Richland County, SC

2d • Onsite

About The Position

Reporting to the First Steps Data Insights Coordinator, the Data Insights Intern provides essential administrative and technical support to the First Steps Research and Evaluation team. This role focuses primarily on the foundational stages of data management: identifying and gathering relevant datasets, analyzing feedback from internal staff surveys, and creating graphs and charts for internal and external use. Additionally, following the implementation of the agency’s new data system, the intern will assist the Data Insights Coordinator by building clean and easy-to-understand Power BI templates for both dynamic and static reports.

Requirements

• Current enrollment in or completion of a graduate-level program in Data Analytics, Statistics, Public Policy, Social Sciences, or a related field.
• Successful completion of graduate-level coursework in data analysis, data visualization, or program evaluation.
• Strong foundational knowledge or academic experience with data visualization tools like Power BI.
• Solid understanding of spreadsheet modeling (e.g. Microsoft Excel) and reporting tools (e,g, Microsoft PowerPoint or Canva).
• Ability to present data cleanly and clearly, and experience creating data reports for internal and external audiences.
• Strong organizational skills, detail-oriented with basic familiarity with data modeling and understand best practices for creating clear, user-friendly data visualizations.

Nice To Haves

• Experience using Cognito Forms, or another data collection/survey platform is preferred.

Responsibilities

• Identify and extract relevant information from public datasets, including the American Community Survey, and internal agency databases to support ongoing reporting needs.
• Consolidate data into structured, well-organized spreadsheets, ensuring data accuracy and readiness for analysis.
• Work closely with the Data Insights Coordinator to routinely refresh and maintain datasets utilized by executive leadership.
• Support the Local Partnership and 4K teams with data imports and exports.
• Construct clear, user-friendly internal surveys to gather staff feedback on agency events, training sessions, and/or operational needs, requesting and incorporating feedback from necessary stakeholders.
• Tabulate survey results, identify key takeaways or common themes in feedback, and summarize findings.
• Organize short-answer responses into clean, digestible formats so agency leadership can easily review responses and understand themes.
• Assist the Data Insights Coordinator in developing dynamic dashboards and data queries for the agency’s new data system.
• Provide support with basic data reports and building Power BI templates for future use.
• Create DAX codes for cleaning and reformatting data in the new data system to ensure up-to-date reporting.
• Trouble shoots any issues regarding the maintenance of previously published dashboards.
• Other duties as assigned.

Benefits

• Health, dental, vision, long-term disability, and life insurance for employees, spouses, and children.
• 15 days annual (vacation) leave per year
• 15 days sick leave per year
• 13 paid holidays
• Paid Parental Leave
• S.C. Deferred Compensation Program available
• Retirement benefit choices
• State Retirement Plan (SCRS)
• State Optional Retirement Program (State ORP)

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Intern