Securing a Job on Capitol Hill

If you’re a recent college graduate who has always dreamed of entering the competitive world of politics, the odds are good that you hold Capitol Hill in high esteem. While Congress continues to enjoy historically low approval ratings, that doesn’t mean that the benefit of working for a member of Congress doesn’t continue to be an excellent career opportunity. However, it’s also no great secret that these jobs can be extremely difficult to attain, usually don’t pay particularly well, and will demand long hours – to say nothing of the stress associated with these high-profile positions. That said, the job experience, never mind life experience, that comes from this career path tends to more than make up for the sacrifices that you’ll be required to make.

The first thing that you need to do when you’re beginning the job hunt on Capitol Hill is to keep your ego and attitude in check. For every job posting you see online, the odds are good that the hiring manager will receive hundreds of applications. Even entry level jobs tend to receive interest from vastly over qualified candidates from across the country. You may have an outstanding resume – you probably do – but so does just about everyone else who is applying. While this may sound discouraging in principal, all is not lost. You just need to know how to get your foot in the door.

Without question, the best way to find a job on the Hill is to land an internship with a member of Congress. These positions are usually readily available and offer a great chance to get meaningful face time with the member of Congress and his or her staff.

That said, it is important to note that just about every internship on the Hill is unpaid. This is obviously a heavy burden for many, but it’s the reality of government employment. If you aren’t willing to work for free, someone else will. Furthermore, a certain attitude adjustment is usually required for interns. Just about every intern on Capitol Hill is bright, talented, and motivated, and they’ll still be required to do office tasks that may seem below their capabilities. Yet, someone needs to brew coffee, answer phones, run errands, make copies, and do the other tasks that keep a congressional office running smoothly. The fact of the matter is that there are few offices in America that are more hectic, busy, and overworked than a congressional office, and it is the responsibility of the intern to try and help wherever they can.

Additionally, there seems to be two schools of thought when it comes to interns. A segment of the population takes the attitude that they aren’t being paid so they may work limited hours, leave early, and do the bare minimum to get the job done. Others recognize that this is a tremendous opportunity and go above and beyond to impress those that they work with because it gets noticed. No one expects the unpaid intern to sacrifice their Thursday night by staying in the office with the staff until midnight before a big vote, but when they do, it makes a difference – even if they aren’t making a significant substantive contribution. However, the more of an effort the intern makes, the better the relationship that develops with the office, which can lead to more fulfilling and exciting assignments.

It is this relationship that is so valuable on Capitol Hill. Staff members in friendly offices communicate all of the time and are usually the first ones to know about job openings. Rather than submitting your resume to an endless supply of job listings, having the chief of staff in the office that you intern in call the chief of staff in the office that has an opening is absolutely invaluable for your job prospects.

With a little luck, you’ll find an office that’ll take a chance on making you a fulltime congressional staff member – usually as a staff assistant – and then your chances for promotion through the ranks grow exponentially. There are very few staff members on Capitol Hill who didn’t start as an unpaid intern and now they run the country. You just have to hang in there, pay your dues, and have the right expectations and attitude.