Political Campaign Management TipsRun for office or become a campaign manager

UPDATED 3-27-10

Most of the posts on this website are tips for people who are running for office or learning to run political campaigns.  However, there are a few posts that contain advice for people who want to prepare to run political campaigns as a career.  There are multiple paths that can lead to a career in politics and different tactics may work well for different people.  The topics that have been covered here are:

• College  training for political campaign managers
• How to use the experience you gain from volunteer work on a campaign to develop a professional political career
• Some shortcuts for those who would like to move quickly from the ranks of campaign volunteers to a position as a campaign manager.

A Career in Politics: Job Security and Job Satisfaction

Some of this information is mentioned in other posts, but just in case you don’t have time to read through everything on this site, I wanted to make a few quick points about the reality of politics as a career choice.  This isn’t to throw cold water on your enthusiasm, but I hope to get you thinking about ways to secure your future if you pursue a political career.

Politics can be a very rewarding career.  You have the opportunity to make positive changes in your community, state and country.  In addition, you meet interesting people, make good contacts  among  leaders in business and government and the things you do at work are actually interesting to a large group of people that goes well beyond your family and co-workers.

However, you need to remember that jobs in politics are typically short term and they can end abruptly if your candidate loses a primary election or has to end an election campaign due to negative publicity or financial problems.   Even if nothing goes wrong, you are likely to be looking for work every year in the best case and two or more times a year in the worst case.

So, it is important to have  a financial safety net.  Regular unemployment is a fact of life for all but the most successful political operatives.  Save your money when you are working or have another profession that you can turn to when there is no political work available.  And, don’t count on getting a job if your candidate is elected.  It may not happen.  Even if he wins there won’t be enough jobs for everyone who helped on the campaign.

With all that said, most of the people I know who have pursued a politics as a way to make a living are glad that they did.  Many move on to other things because they tire of the stress, the travel, the long hours and the inherent instability of the job. However, they don’t regret the time they put into politics.  They may be sorry they lost a few elections, but most think that the job was worth the sacrifices they made to do it.