Political Campaign (read time: 19 min)

Written By Second Day

So you want to work on a Political Campaign?

If you have an interest in government and politics, one of the best ways to get directly involved is on a campaign. When you believe in the candidate(s) and their mission, working on a campaign is incredibly rewarding. A campaign job also allows you to see inside the electoral process. If you are interested in running for office one day or are planning on working within the civic realm, it is quite helpful to understand how campaigns really work. Finally, campaign jobs provide a network of like-minded individuals looking to pursue the same policy goals as you and these connections can lead to further positions in government or policy.

If this career path sounds exciting to you, this guide will take you through everything you need to know about working on a campaign. To inform our work, Second Day has spoken to experts in the field and gathered the best information out there for upcoming and recent graduates. First, the guide will take you through how campaigns work and the types of roles typically available. Then, we’ll provide tips on actually getting those jobs. We’ll finish with our next three steps and some thoughts on how a campaign job can build into a career. Let’s get started!

This guide was written by Rachel Angle (SDIF '20) in partnership with the Second Day team.

Many thanks to experts in the field who supported this work:

  • Will Bliss, Former Deputy Data Director, Missouri Coordinated campaign

  • Emma Roberts, Regional Organizing Director with 2020 New Hampshire Coordinated campaign

  • Will Simons, Former Press Secretary at Sara Gideon for Maine

What jobs exist on a campaign?

Navigating the search for a campaign job can feel overwhelming given the different sizes of campaigns, the range of positions and titles within a campaign, and the lingo that is often assumed and “campaign-speak.” This portion of the career guide will first take you through the different types of campaigns you can work on and their pros and cons. Then we’ll take you through the departments where you can find an entry-level job.

When considering what type of campaign to work on, keep in mind your future aspirations. If you want to rise to a local elected office or get involved in state politics, you can build incredible connections on a local campaign. If you’re more interested in national work and value steadier pay or more structure, you should look to state-wide or presidential campaigns.

Different types of campaigns

LOCAL CAMPAIGNS (MAYORAL, CITY COUNCIL, STATE LEGISLATOR, ETC.)

Given the way that elections are spaced out, there will almost always be a local campaign going on. These can vary in size (a state local race with a just a paid campaign manager v. the NYC Mayoral race, where campaigns have different departments and 10+ paid field organizers).

Pros: On a local campaign, like in a small organization, you can expect more independence and access to each department since you will have varied responsibilities. In addition, a smaller campaign will give you more frequent facetime with the candidate, and you may be able to develop a personal relationship with them. Another positive of local campaigns are the off-cycle opportunities. In other words, you can find a job on a campaign without a major election year approaching since local races happen more frequently than every two years. Lastly, local campaigns rely on and help you build location-based connections. If you’re looking to demonstrate a commitment and investment in your community (for future career opportunities), small campaigns allow you to get to know local actors and set yourself up for success.

Cons: The major drawback of a small campaign is less stability/support. While you may get minor training and support from your state or local party, you will most likely be on your own or in a small group of staffers. Therefore, you may need to seek other means for training or learning on the job. These aspects will carry over into less structure in your hours, pay, and benefits. If you think the chain of command and hierarchies  from a larger campaign would be overbearing, local campaigns may appeal to you.

STATEWIDE (CONGRESSIONAL) CAMPAIGNS

Given that presidential elections only take place every four years, based on timing or preference, you may be interested in working on a statewide (gubernatorial) or congressional (US House/Senate) campaign. In some states, these may be wrapped up in the state’s coordinated campaign effort (see below), but during off years, for congressional primaries or in non-swing states, these will be their own campaign. A lot of the pros and cons will be somewhere in between those of a local and  presidential campaign.

Pros: you will have better access to the candidate and more independence than a presidential campaign, depending on location

Cons: there will be less stability, support, and structure than a presidential campaign (but more than a local campaign)

PRESIDENTIAL (COORDINATED) CAMPAIGNS

In order to maximize resources, many state parties will have a coordinated campaign during midterms and presidential election years. Funded by a combination of state parties, the DNC/RNC, and candidate investment, these campaigns aim to elect candidates from their party up and down the ballot. They are especially robust in swing states where there are multiple competitive races in addition to the presidency. Each specific campaign will still have staff (campaign managers, communications staff, etc.), but the majority of the field operation and staff exist with the coordinated campaign.

Pros: The major perks of working on a large campaign are steadier pay, more concrete training (though less flexible), resources, and technology. These benefits are partially a result of coordinated campaign staff unionizing in recent years.

Cons: The highly structured environment of a campaign can have its drawbacks. You may feel overburdened by the strict chain of command. You will also have less face time with  candidates, particularly at entry-level roles.

PRIMARY CAMPAIGNS

In between each of the aforementioned campaigns, there will be primary races. Given the uncertainty of your candidate moving on to the general election, these races can be a bit of a gamble. However, primaries are also an opportunity to get onto a team early and rise through the ranks between the primary and general election if your candidate advances. There are also places where the district is so partisan that the primary is the determining race. See Second Day’s Government Guide to learn about the relationship between campaign work and jobs in other parts of government, including the White House!

Departments and entry-level positions

Your experience on a campaign will be shaped by the department where you work. The majority of entry-level jobs on campaigns will be in organizing, so this guide will describe the field position in depth and touch upon other departments briefly.

Field/Organizing: As stated above, most people who take a campaign job will enter as a field organizer. The structure of an organizing department is made up of an Organizing Director, a Deputy Organizing/Field Director (DOD), and multiple Regional Organizing/Field Directors (RODs) who manage the Field Organizers (FOs) in your region.

  • Campaigns will split the state, or district, for your candidate into regions with FOs, who are managed by RODs. Within those regions, each FO is usually responsible for a turf, or set of cities and towns.

  • Each FO is responsible for all volunteer activity within their turf, which first and foremost means recruiting, and managing volunteers from one’s set of towns, but other responsibilities can include:

    • Building relationships with local party leaders, including elected officials, prominent community members, and party town committee board members.

    • Holding 1:1 meetings (especially earlier in the campaign) with volunteers and community leaders to share your story, manage relationships, and get to know your turf.

    • Recruiting and training volunteer leaders, interns, and fellows to assist with Direct Voter Contact (DVC) by helping to run phone banking and canvassing operations

  • As a member of the organizing team, and especially on a statewide campaign, you will be responsible for daily volunteer recruitment goals such as calls made, shifts recruited (phone banking/door-knocking), and 1:1s completed. Your day will consist of meeting these goals by making lots of phone calls (recruiting new volunteers and confirming scheduled volunteer shifts), holding 1:1s, and planning/hosting phone banks and door-knocking (canvassing) events.

  • Closer to the election, volunteer leaders (individuals who have spent enough time as volunteers to help run operations themselves and are given the title of phone bank captains, canvass captains, etc.) will be able to manage phone banks and canvass launches themselves, so the paid field organizer might be responsible for making calls and knocking doors themselves.


FINANCE

The finance department is responsible for fundraising and managing money on a campaign. Though much of this work is higher-level, there are entry-level positions like a call time manager, who is responsible for both working with a candidate while they call donors and calling donors themselves.


DIGITAL

The digital department encompasses a number of traditional parts of a digital campaigns. First and foremost, they are responsible for creating graphics and social media content. They both run the campaign’s official social media and monitor the presence of the campaign through other’s accounts. The digital team may also be responsible for working with direct voter contact applications (such as “Text-Team” or “Reach”), though this responsibility may also be assigned to the organizing team.


POLITICAL

Typically a small team consisting of a single or a few staffers, the political team is responsible for managing relationships with local politicians and party leaders. They also help coordinate the candidate’s appearances. This could range from helping to secure endorsements from local community leaders to managing a candidate’s speeches when they attend an event. Local knowledge is very important in politics, and for this reason some people move from organizing into political positions.


DATA

For those who have hard skills or experience using campaign tools and enjoy working with numbers, the data team can be a great place to land. However, most of the data team will have begun, like many other campaign workers, as field organizers. This tends to be a smaller department, without many entry level positions. Working with the data team requires technical skills, so if you are familiar with SQL, Python, another program language or have excellent excel and database skills, make sure to highlight that on your application.


(LOCAL ONLY) CAMPAIGN MANAGERS

Though most entry level positions will be in the field, many local campaigns (state representative and state senate races) are looking for individuals to run their campaigns that are funded by the state party. For example, the New Hampshire Democratic Party hires state senate Campaign Managers every two years to run local races. See a sample Job posting in the appendix for more information.

Additional departments with fewer entry level positions that be available on some campaigns include: Communications, Research, Operations/HR, Fundraising/Development.

Campaign by the numbers (pay and hours)

Your pay and benefits will largely be  dependent on what type of campaign you are on and who is paying your salary. This is where working on a presidential/coordinated campaign has an advantage. A campaign supported by the DNC/RNC, state party, or both, may have more funding and, therefore, better benefits. An average salary for a Field Organizer for a coordinated campaign is between $3,000-4,000 a month, but can vary depending on a campaign. From  campaign to campaign, there is room for salary growth as you work your way up the organizing ladder. RODS make between $4,000-5,000 a month and, once you reach a director position, you can expect pay to increase from there.

Campaign pay is on the rise as staff organize and demand higher standards, especially on larger, well-funded campaigns. One important distinction is whether or not you will be a salaried employee or hourly employee. Though being a salaried employee in some places may seem desirable, there are benefits to being an hourly employee; in particular, overtime pay. Starting off on a campaign, you will most likely be working over 40 hours a week, and therefore receiving 1.5x pay for anything above a 40 hour work week creates both an incentive for campaigns to not massively overwork employees and naturally provides more pay. Benefits and pay will also depend on whether or not your campaign staff (or part of the staff) decides to go through the process of unionizing. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) has worked with a number of campaigns to increase benefits.

As mentioned above, campaign work is not a 9-5 job. To begin, you’ll likely be on a 6 day/week schedule, including Saturdays. As the campaign moves into Get Out The Vote (“GOTV,” the last month of the campaign), your hours will increase, and you can expect to work 7 days a week. Thankfully, this is only temporary, but it can still be exhausting. It’s best to go in with your eyes wide open, and understand your boundaries.

How to get a job on a campaign

If you have decided you want to work on a campaign, finding and getting one of these positions can seem daunting. However, this guide can help take you through timelines, networking, and opportunities to gain experience. We will mainly focus on Field Organizer positions, as those are the primary entry points on a campaign.

Pathways to get your foot in the door

HIRING TIMELINES

A campaign may start taking on organizers and other staff about 6-9 months out from the general election. Depending on if there is a competitive primary, a campaign may hire much earlier and take on a new ground of organizers after advancing to the general.  Throughout the campaign, teams will hire multiple rounds of organizers. (For example, hiring 8-10 organizers late May, early June, mid-July, and early August). Depending on how long you would like to work on the campaign (given the high demands of the job), you can aim to apply right away or wait a couple of months.

Campaign hiring turnaround time is incredibly quick. The entire process from a first interview to start date can happen in a week, and will most likely happen within two weeks. This means (1) don’t apply unless you are prepared to start right away, and (2) if you are a senior in college looking to work on a campaign after you graduate, don’t stress about applying in March/April. The jobs will be there!


VOLUNTEER, VOLUNTEER, VOLUNTEER

Since as a field organizer, you will be working to recruit and manage volunteers, the best, and easiest way to get a job on a campaign is by being a volunteer yourself. Volunteering will introduce you to a campaign and their staff, provide you with opportunities to become a volunteer leader, and is simply the best experience you can have to then pursue a job as an organizer yourself.


START WITH AN INTERNSHIP

Most campaigns have internship and fellowship programs. Take advantage of these, and build relationships during these programs. Almost any campaign has an unpaid internship or fellowship program, and sometimes a paid internship program. For paid internship programs, look to statewide coordinated campaigns. (In 2020, the New Hampshire Coordinated campaign paid interns $15/hour. These are certifiable pipelines into working directly on a campaign, sometimes within a cycle. Multiple unpaid fellows during the summer became paid fall interns, and interns became organizers. These rolls look great on your resume when looking for other campaign jobs and often don’t require a ton of time.


STAY LOCAL IF YOU CAN

Look for positions in a state or on a campaign that you believe in or have an investment in. If you live in a state with competitive elections, look for organizing opportunities close to home. Campaigns love to hire locals, so work that angle if possible. However, if you don’t live in a swing state, don’t worry! If you went to college or spent lots of time in a given state, emphasize your connection to the place.

If applying outside your home or otherwise-connected location, make sure to learn about the location before you interview. There are hundreds of people who have organized in each swing state and would be happy to talk about all the reasons that state in particular is the best. For example: New Hampshire is small but mighty! As a result of the first in the nation's primary and massive House of Representatives, the political energy is constantly at a high. Seek out this sort of insight and advice as you look for where to get involved. Insider knowledge is key!

What to demonstrate in your application

COMMUNICATION SKILLS

The number one skill that an organizer can have is the ability to communicate effectively. This is essential to both developing relationships with existing volunteers and recruiting new volunteers. “Communicating” may seem vague, but at the end of the day, being a field organizer is all about talking and listening to people. This involves:

  1. How you talk to people on the phone when you’re trying to recruit a new volunteer- (being both sympathetic to the ways life gets in the way but forceful enough to press your point)

  2. Listening to your current volunteers and getting a sense of their boundaries, (technologically, time-wise etc.

  3. Patience and cheerfulness in the face of frustration


ORGANIZATIONAL SKILLS

Sure to the name, organizing requires staying on top of multiple tasks at once. In an interview, you may be asked the question; “how do you stay organized?” There is no one right answer, but the point of the question is to make sure that organization is something you think about. You can’t just say “um.. I have lots of sticky notes.” Especially on a campaign where you have large swaths of unstructured time and daily/weekly recruitment goals, staying organized can be the difference between meeting your goals and letting some fall through the cracks. This skill is particularly crucial in an entirely virtual environment.


COMMITMENT

Are you willing to put in the effort? Campaigns are exhausting, both mentally and physically. Presidential races can last up to 18+ months, and 7-days a week, 80+ hour weeks are regular for the months leading up to the election. Hiring managers will gauge this and will only hire you if they are sure you are dedicated.

Common Interview Questions:

  • Why are you interested in working in organizing/what is your experience in organizing?

  • Why this state/this campaign/this candidate?

  • How do you stay organized?

  • What’s a time that you worked with someone who had a different working style as you?

  • Tell me about a time that you used/developed your communication skills.

  • What do you do for self care during stressful periods of the campaign?

  • Pitch me! Literally just pitch the interviewer on something.

Exit opportunities

Since working on a campaign is a short-term employment opportunity, campaign workers are constantly looking for jobs. That means that campaign workers support each other in finding work. Most often, after election day, organizers choose to take some time off given the grueling schedule of the campaign. Then, there are a couple of other paths to take:


CONTINUE WITH CAMPAIGN ORGANIZING

There is almost always another campaign on the horizon, and some choose to take that path, with a schedule of  “on” for 3-6 months, “off” for 1-3 months. If someone is organizing a primary campaign that then becomes the general election, the break may be far shorter. If you continue with campaign work, there are a couple options within this sphere:

  • One can pursue moving up the organizing ladder, to try and become a ROD, DOD, and then Organizing Director. Usually someone needs 2 campaign cycles as a FO to become a ROD, but there are exceptions. The path on local campaigns vary more, and you may be able to move into more senior roles quicker.

  • Work on a campaign in a different role. As mentioned above, almost everyone starts out as an FO because there are the most entry level positions available. However, if you are more interested in other departments like political, digital, data, operations, etc, you can leverage campaign connections to find these opportunities.


ORGANIZE WITH ISSUE-BASED CAMPAIGNS, TENANT ASSOCIATIONS, OR UNIONS

Community Organizing (read time: 15 min)

Despite the impression that most organizing happens on campaigns, issue-based organizations are constantly working outside of political timelines. For example, a local tenant or doctors association may want to hire a paid organizer to mobilize members. Or, an organization like Planned Parenthood, League of Conservation Voters, or the Sunrise Movement may hire organizers to recruit phone bankers to lobby congress on a particular bill. Issue based organizing has the benefit that it does not exist on a campaign timeline. Therefore, the hours may be more manageable, and you may avoid the non-stop work of the last month of the campaign, “Get Out The Vote” or GOTV.


WORK AT A DIGITAL FUNDRAISING ORGANIZATION

Many of the skills and experiences you build in the digital team of a campaign translate to external digital fundraising companies that are intertwined with the campaign world. These firms help campaigns, PACs and non-political organizations with digital fundraising strategy. Jobs at these firms can be a great way to stay involved in the political/campaign world while having a more stable job.


WORK IN LOCAL POLITICS (LOCAL CAUCUS, IN THE OFFICE OF LOCAL ELECTED OFFICIALS, ETC.)

Since political work is often rooted within a particular community, whether that be a district, town/city, or state it is advantageous to develop a career in a particular place. Working in a non-campaign capacity in government can be an excellent complement to working on a campaign. That may mean working for a political party or in the office of an elected official (see later career guide on finding one of those jobs). This is another place where leveraging campaign connections can be very helpful. Check out our Local Government Guide for more information.

The upside

For people who are willing to put in the time and energy, these jobs can be incredibly rewarding. Campaign “families” often stay and work together race-to-race. You’ll travel to new communities and learn the ins and outs of the places you work. If you prove yourself on a campaign you will be able to continue to work on them and advance very quickly. Working on a campaign can also be helpful later in your career if you want to work in government or politics. A huge number of elected officials and other political figures have worked on a campaign, and particularly as a field organizer, at some point in their careers. As a result, they value this experience in a similar vein as “paying your dues.”

Next three steps

  1. Figure out your timeline. Depending on when you want to start, different local, congressional, and coordinated campaign opportunities may be available for you. Think over what type of campaign you are interested in, and which department you may be a best fit. Think about if the field is the best fit for you!

  2. Decide where you are interested in working, and find a current race where you can start to volunteer. A couple hours per week is a great start.

  3. Start looking for an open position by networking with the campaign you’re volunteering for. Job boards include the Jobs that are Left Google Group, Gain Power Career center, and Progressive Data Jobs (For Data)

Last updated: July 2021

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