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Key Responsibilities and Required Skills for a Knowledge Strategist Intern

💰 Competitive Intern Stipend

InternshipKnowledge ManagementStrategyInformation ScienceContent Strategy

🎯 Role Definition

Welcome to the world of Knowledge Strategy! This isn't just about organizing files; it's about shaping the intellectual capital of an entire organization. A Knowledge Strategist Intern is a curious and analytical thinker who helps a company capture, share, and effectively use its collective wisdom. You'll be a detective, an architect, and a storyteller all in one, working at the intersection of people, processes, and technology. Your mission is to ensure that the right information gets to the right people at the right time, turning scattered data into a powerful strategic asset. This role is a fantastic launchpad for anyone passionate about how information shapes business success.

📈 Career Progression

Typical Career Path

Entry Point From:

  • Students pursuing degrees in Library & Information Science, Communications, or Business.
  • Individuals with a passion for organization, research, and systems thinking.
  • Previous experience in roles like Research Assistant or Content Coordinator.

Advancement To:

  • Knowledge Manager or Knowledge Strategist
  • Information Architect
  • Content Strategist or Senior Content Strategist

Lateral Moves:

  • UX Researcher
  • Business Analyst
  • Digital Asset Manager

Core Responsibilities

Primary Functions

  • Conduct comprehensive audits of existing knowledge repositories (like intranets, wikis, and shared drives) to identify content gaps, redundancies, and opportunities for consolidation.
  • Assist in the design and implementation of new taxonomies, folksonomies, and metadata schemas to improve the findability and usability of organizational knowledge.
  • Collaborate with subject matter experts (SMEs) across various departments to capture, codify, and synthesize tacit knowledge into accessible formats like playbooks, best practice guides, and process documentation.
  • Analyze user search queries, navigation patterns, and content usage metrics within knowledge systems to identify trends and inform ongoing content strategy.
  • Support the development and maintenance of a centralized knowledge base or enterprise intranet, ensuring all content is accurate, current, and adheres to brand and style guidelines.
  • Participate in user research activities, including interviews, surveys, and usability testing, to deeply understand user needs and pain points related to information access and discovery.
  • Develop and help deliver training materials and workshops designed to promote the adoption of knowledge management tools and best practices throughout the organization.
  • Assist in creating and managing content lifecycle workflows, defining processes for content creation, review, approval, archival, and eventual deletion.
  • Research emerging trends, tools, and best practices in the fields of knowledge management, information architecture, and enterprise content strategy to bring fresh ideas to the team.
  • Map critical knowledge flows within core business processes to identify information bottlenecks and recommend solutions for improved efficiency and collaboration.
  • Support the governance of enterprise content, ensuring it aligns with legal, regulatory, and internal policy requirements.
  • Transform complex information and raw data into clear, concise, and visually compelling summaries for a diverse range of internal stakeholders.
  • Curate and organize collections of digital assets to ensure they are easily discoverable, properly tagged, and reusable for various business purposes.

Secondary Functions

  • Support ad-hoc data requests and exploratory data analysis to answer specific business questions.
  • Contribute to the organization's broader data and information strategy and help shape its long-term roadmap.
  • Build and maintain strong relationships with key stakeholders to act as a champion for the value of effective knowledge management.
  • Collaborate with IT and engineering business units to translate data and content needs into clear technical requirements.
  • Participate in sprint planning, daily stand-ups, and other agile ceremonies within the project team.
  • Assist with content migration projects, ensuring a smooth transition of information between different platforms and systems.
  • Support the launch and ongoing moderation of internal social collaboration tools such as wikis, forums, or enterprise social networks.
  • Document system requirements and user stories for new features or enhancements to knowledge management platforms.

Required Skills & Competencies

Hard Skills (Technical)

  • Content Management Systems (CMS): Familiarity with platforms like SharePoint, Confluence, Guru, or similar enterprise knowledge bases.
  • Taxonomy & Metadata Design: Understanding the principles of creating classification schemes and tagging strategies to organize content.
  • Data Analysis: Experience using tools like Excel or Google Sheets for data manipulation, and bonus points for familiarity with Tableau or Power BI for visualization.
  • Search Analytics: Ability to interpret search logs and user behavior data to improve information findability.
  • Information Architecture: Basic knowledge of how to structure and organize websites or intranets for intuitive navigation.
  • Project Management Tools: Exposure to tools like Jira, Asana, or Trello for tracking tasks and collaborating with a team.
  • Basic HTML/CSS: Understanding of web fundamentals is helpful for working within many modern CMS platforms.

Soft Skills

  • Analytical & Critical Thinking: The ability to see the big picture, connect disparate pieces of information, and diagnose the root cause of a problem.
  • Exceptional Communication: Excellent written and verbal skills, with the ability to explain complex concepts clearly to different audiences.
  • Empathy & User-Centricity: A genuine desire to understand the user's perspective and solve their information-related challenges.
  • Innate Curiosity: A strong drive to ask "why," learn how things work, and continuously seek out new knowledge.
  • Collaboration & Teamwork: A natural ability to work with diverse groups, build consensus, and influence without authority.
  • Meticulous Attention to Detail: A commitment to accuracy and quality, whether you're editing a document or tagging a piece of content.
  • Problem-Solving: A creative and resourceful approach to tackling unstructured problems and finding practical solutions.
  • Adaptability: The flexibility to pivot between different tasks, from strategic thinking to hands-on execution.

Education & Experience

Educational Background

Minimum Education:

  • Currently enrolled in and actively pursuing a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree program at an accredited university.

Preferred Education:

  • Currently pursuing a Master's degree in a relevant field of study.

Relevant Fields of Study:

  • Library and Information Science (MLIS)
  • Knowledge Management
  • Communications or Technical Writing
  • Human-Computer Interaction (HCI)
  • Business Administration with an information systems focus
  • Information Architecture

Experience Requirements

Typical Experience Range:

  • 0 - 1 years. Academic projects, volunteer work, and prior internships are highly valuable and considered relevant experience.

Preferred:

  • Demonstrated interest in knowledge management through coursework, personal projects, or participation in relevant student organizations.
  • Prior experience working with a content management system or contributing to a wiki, blog, or website.
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