From Volunteer to Campaign Manager
Monday
Sep 14, 2009
If you are interested in becoming a campaign manager or campaign consultant, the usual path is to start as a volunteer or a low level staff person, make a good impression and gradually move up to the higher level jobs. This is not the only possible route to a career in politics and I will get into a few alternatives in other posts. However, many political operatives have developed their political skills this way and I want to give you a few ideas that may help you move from volunteer to a campaign management role.
In following this path, you basically spend time in an unpaid or poorly paid apprenticeship and learn how campaigns work. The key factor that will increase your opportunities to learn is your availability to help with any and all projects. The more productive time you can put in, the more key people you will have a chance to meet and the more you will learn about various areas of the campaign. Many times interesting jobs just go to whoever is available to take them on.
While availability is important, you need to be very careful that you aren’t one of those volunteers who hangs around the headquarters wasting everyone’s time chatting about politics or annoying people by trying to play the expert. You probably won’t impress a top level campaign consultant by trying to sound smart about politics. However, you may be able to get some positive attention if you have specific knowledge or skills that are helpful to the campaign.
For example, the political consultant or campaign manager really doesn’t want to have you write their radio or television ads. However, if you can give them some specific input as to events that are happening on your college campus or in your neighborhood that would be appropriate opportunities for the candidate or campaign volunteers to recruit some supporters, you will make a positive impression. If you are able to get other volunteers involved in the campaign that is also a huge plus.
If you have lived in a neighborhood for a long time, you may have very valuable information about who the real leaders of the community are. In many communities, there are leaders who have never held public office who are very effective at persuading people to support a specific candidate. Often, they are more influential than the local elected officials. Most of these people don’t have titles or formal organizations so they are difficult for campaign professionals from outside the area to identify.
If you are a savvy user of social networking sites or someone who can provide tech support for the office computers or just someone who is willing to knock on a lot of doors or answer the phone in a professional-sounding way, you will make a good impression. Even just showing up on time and being reliable is a major plus. There are a lot of flaky people in politics. You don’t want to be mistaken for one of them.
Many volunteers are attracted to major statewide and national campaigns. And, you may be able to make some good contacts in those campaigns. However, most of the more significant jobs on major campaigns will be handled by professionals or very experienced volunteers. On the other hand, local campaigns rarely have as many quality volunteers as they need. On a local campaign instead of working for the campus coordinator, you can be the campaign’s top operative on the campus. You may have the opportunity to work closely with a professional consultant or even take responsibility for some area of the campaign. Depending on your area of expertise, you may have a chance to help with anything from writing press releases to fund raising.
While major state and federal races get the most attention, you may find that it is much easier to break into the inner circle of a less prestigious campaign. State legislative campaigns and city races are great places to get some experience. If you get to know some of the key people on the campaign you can often get into a position where you will have more of an opportunity to observe the development and implementation of the campaign strategy. And, if your candidate is successful, she may move on to higher office.
If you are a student, make every effort to break out of the campus campaign ghetto and work in the community or at the headquarters of the campaign. If you are only involved on campus, the people who might hire you in the future won’t know who you are. Whether you are a student or an older adult, you want to find the people in the campaign who are influential and get yourself into a position where they can see that you are bright and conscientious. You need to find people you can learn from who can help you move into more important positions in the future. Campaign managers, consultants, professional media experts and experienced volunteer organizers can all be great mentors.
