I. The Hill
A number of people come to DC to work for Congress. Working
on the Hill provides exposure to a wide variety of subjects and organizations,
an opportunity to meet a number of young people and other networking contacts,
an overview of how things work in
The House and Senate function differently. A Senator usually has far more staff than a Congressman. A typical Congressional office has about 10 staffers. A Senate office usually has more than 20. In addition, Congressmen or Senators who have leadership positions, such as a committee chair or ranking member position, can usually hire committee staff.
Many a college graduate has come to DC with the mantra that he or she is anxious to work on issues that matter, regardless of the party affiliation of the member of Congress. That’s great, but you need to be aware that party affiliation does matter in this city and you are making a statement when you sign up to work for a member of either party. The typical rule is that you can switch parties once, but after that the prospective employers become very skeptical because (1) they will question whether you have sincere beliefs and principles (contrary to public portrayals, beliefs and principles are important on the Hill), or (2) they will question your loyalty. There are always exceptions and special circumstances, particularly for more centrist or “moderate” members of Congress, but that’s just the way it works most of the time. You just need to be aware that future employers will form opinions about you based on the political affiliation of any Member of Congress (or advocacy group, law firm, or other politically-involved entity) that you work for.
B. Working for the House of
Representatives
A typical Representative’s office will include the following positions:
(1) Intern: generally college students or people in first two years after undergrad. Some offices pay interns, but most do not. If you volunteer as an intern, only volunteer for 3 days a week. You will need the other days to earn income. Three days gives the impression that you’re around the office most of the week, and you are more likely to get more meaningful assignments. Generally interns serve one to three months. If you are lucky, a paid position might opens in your office, but in most cases interns gain experience and then move to a paid position in a different office, and everyone understands that you can’t keep working for free for more than a couple of months.
(2) Staff assistant (entry level position): reception duties (answering phone), filing, sorting mail, handling requests for flags, handling tickets for tours of White House and other attractions, sometimes handling website -- $15,000 - $30,000 per year.
(3) Scheduler (sometimes entry level position): sets Congressman’s schedule, handle Congressman’s travel arrangements, assist with phone duties - - $20,000 - $30,000 per year.
(4) Legislative Aide (“LA”) (occasionally entry level position; usually attainable after about 1 year’s experience): usually 4-5 per office; advise Congressman on 5-10 general issue areas; handle constituent correspondence within issue areas - - $30,000 - $40,000 per year; generally the House positions are LA’s, but sometimes offices will have Legislative Correspondents (LCs). LCs are almost entirely focused on constituent correspondence.
(5) Legislative Director (“LD”) (at least several years of Hill experience): advise Congressman on legislative policies - - $40,000 - $80,000 per year.
(6) Press Secretary/Communications Director (several years experience) – Develop and implement press strategy for Congressman; some Press Secretaries handle web page issues, while others don’t. - - $25,000 to $50,000 per year.
(7) Staff Director: Oversee administrative duties of office; sometimes the Staff Director is above the LD in the office hierarchy, but other times the Staff Director is higher. - - $50,000 - $100,000.
C. Working for
the Senate
**Note: in order to be considered for Senate employment, you must apply with the Senate employment office on the ground floor of the Hart building. The House has a similar service, but it’s not required and few people use it. You will be required to take a typing test and leave a resume on file. The notable exception is applying for a job with an incoming Senator, whom you should contact directly (you may need to go through the Senate employment office procedures later if they want to hire you).
Most Senate offices are three or four times the size of a House office. The offices are structured much in the same way, with a few notable exceptions:
(1) The pay is generally higher
(2) Senate offices often have both LAs and LCs, with the LAs handling more of the substantive issue development and the LCs focusing on correspondence. An LA job is harder to get in the Senate, and the more typical entry level position is an LC.
(3) Senate offices often have more staff devoted to communications, such as a Deputy Press Secretary or a Webmaster.
www.rollcall.com – Roll Call
www.thehill.com – The Hill
Roll Call and The Hill are the two major twice-weekly newspapers devoted to coverage of the Hill and politics. If you are interested in any Hill jobs, you must read these regularly before going on any Hill-related job interviews. Roll Call is generally more centrist, while The Hill is more conservative.
Make sure to focus on Al Kamen’s “In the Loop”
** When Congress is in session, the major committee hearings and congressional schedules are publishes on this page.
www.cq.com - Congressional Quarterly. Despite its name, CQ provides a number of news publications on a daily or weekly basis. This is a great source for information about legislative initiatives and specific bills and individual Members of Congress, but you have to subscribe (there is a free trial available). Check your library.
There are two types of agencies: cabinet level departments and independent agencies. Independent agencies, such as the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Government Accounting Office (GAO), and the Federal Election Commission (FEC), are run by people who serve a fixed term and are not subject to removal by the President. The managers serve at the pleasure of the Commissioners who run these agencies. Lower-level employees are generally part of the Civil Service system, meaning that they are hired at a certain level of the fixed government pay scale and receive pay raises at a pre-determined level based on the satisfaction of set performance criteria. Most of the agencies are unionized, and most non-management employees are eligible to participate in a labor union.
Most other agencies are not independent, meaning that they are subject to the direct control of the President and are run, at least at some level, by members of the President’s Cabinet. Examples of these agencies include the Department of Labor (DOL), the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), the Department of Defense (DOD), and the State Department. The heads of these latter agencies and most mid-high level managers of these agencies are political appointees, meaning that they serve at the pleasure of the President, are usually of the same party as the President, and take their orders from the President. The lower level employees are part of the same Civil Service system as the lower level employees in the independent agencies. They are often referred to as “career employees” because their jobs do not depend on who is in control of the White House, so their jobs usually carry over from Administration to Administration. Most of the higher ranking political appointees, however, are replaced when there is a change in power in the White House.
Unless you are politically connected, most Federal jobs that you can apply for are considered civil service jobs and are subject to protections against political manipulation. The idea is that civil service employees will work for the government regardless of who has political power at the moment, and by law all civil service jobs must be awarded on merit. Political appointees, however, can be appointed regardless of merit and serve at the will of the political leaders who appointed them. Unlike civil service employees, political appointees usually are replaced when there is a change in political power.
The primary method that most government agencies use when assessing applicants by merit is a required Knowledge, Skill and Ability (“KSA”) application supplement in which an applicant must list his or her specific skills and experience that are directly relevant to criteria listed for that job. These KSAs are then scored, and the agency is supposed to award the job to the person with the highest combination of KSA score and scores from other criteria (there are Federally mandated preferences in hiring for many positions, such as preferences for veterans or current Federal employees, that can affect scores). Not all agencies require KSA supplements, and some only require it for certain positions (lawyers, for example, generally don’t have to fill out KSAs). For most people, KSAs are a giant pain, and there are companies that have developed that offer assistance in filling out KSAs.
You should be aware that applying for a Federal job is often a lengthy process, generally taking from a few months to a year. It is not uncommon for agencies to post a job announcement and then not contact anyone for several months.
Given the complexity and length of the Federal hiring process, and the many difficulties involved in firing an unwanted employee, many agencies are increasingly turning to contracting companies to fill their positions. A contracting company supplies the workers, who often are given offices within the Federal agency building and are treated as agency employees for most purposes. The tradeoff between working for a contractor vs. working directly for a Federal agency usually boils down to this: contractors generally offer higher wages in the short term, a faster hiring process, and sometimes more flexibility in worksite and telecommuting, whereas Federal jobs generally provide better benefits and long term job security.
III. General job search resources
www.idealist.org – independent organization founded to connect people searching for ways to create social change
http://www.rcjobs.com/ - Roll Call jobs listings (free, but must register)
http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/Classifieds/Employment/index.html - The Hill jobs listings (free)
http://www.cq.com/corp/show.do?page=corp_hilljobs – Congressional Quarterly jobs listings (must subscribe)
http://www.brubach.com/ - Opportunities in Public Affairs is a twice-monthly publication that carries a number of Hill and non-profit job ads. Also publishes Opportunities in Environmental Affairs, which is also twice-monthly. Both are relatively expensive to subscribe, but are usually available in most large libraries.
http://www.washingtoncitypaper.com/employment/ - Washington City Paper jobs listing (free). Eclectic mix of job ads. Some non-profits and advocacy jobs, but usually no legislative or agency jobs.
http://washingtondc.craigslist.org/jjj/
- Craigslist jobs page. Lots of different types of
jobs. Some alumni have had
success finding jobs through this page.
©