How to forge a winning career in the political arena

With this year’s upcoming election heating up, you may be feeling compelled to become politically active.

Whether it’s the public or private sector or nonprofits, there’s no shortage of roles to pursue and make an impact without running for office yourself.

These jobs can “give you the opportunity to change the world — in your community, in your state, in your country,” said Patricia Russo, executive director of the Campaign School at Yale University, a nonpartisan leadership program. “You can move up quickly. You can jump. If you have a skill set, a gung-ho attitude and quality work, you can rise up pretty quickly in politics.”

Here are several paths to consider.

Campaign manager

Campaigns work very long days with no downtime. “Seven days a week, 24/7. It’s exhausting and exhilarating. It’s wonderful work, but you really need to understand and appreciate what you’re getting yourself into eyes wide open,” said Russo.

Mandatory skills include being organized and able to delegate. “Do more listening than talking,” said Russo. “If you love traveling, meeting new people and living out of a suitcase — you’re not staying at the Ritz-Carlton.”

Russo recommends working on a local campaign to get your foot in the door; part-time jobs are low paying.

“You can build your way up,” said Russo. Staff can earn around $1,500 each week, but that can represent 100 hours a week; wages for national races can command around $200,000, according to Russo.

Policy analyst

Corporations and DC-based think tanks typically hire these specialists.

Carolyn Dudek, chair and professor of political science at Hofstra University, said, “There is always a need to understand the political/economic stability of a country if you are going to invest or travel there. There is a need for analysis of specific policies for groups to advocate for certain initiatives. Think tanks exist to support such research which can be used to advocate for certain policies.”

Analytical skills are key to scoring these roles and a degree in math, economics or political science may open doors.

According to Salary.com, the average annual income is $65,300.

Public affairs consultant

Consultants help clients such as advocacy groups, labor unions, businesses and other organizations advocate to change policy.

“It’s like running political campaigns for clients rather than elected officials,” said Loren Amor, vice president at strategic communications firm BerlinRosen downtown.

For instance, Amor’s working with Seneca Lake Guardian, an advocacy group near Seneca Falls, NY, to make sure the landfill in their backyard doesn’t get a license to expand and that it shuts down when it’s scheduled to close. His team put together a rally in Albany to bring attention to the environmental issue for a better waste-management policy.

Amor, a former campaign manager, said the field welcomes people from a variety of backgrounds with strong verbal and written communication skills such as campaign workers, journalists and public policy experts.

For large Manhattan p.r. firms, Amor said the entry-level annual pay may be between $50,000 to $70,000. “People who have had a lot of other experiences can come in at a higher level and make closer to six figures or north of six figures,” said Amor.

Pollster

“There’s a variety of polling firms, but anyone with a basic knowledge of statistics and a telephone or emails can set up their own polling system,” said Matthew Hale, associate professor in the department of political science and public affairs at Seton Hall University.

You should possess technical skills to understand statistics and methodology, along with the art of asking questions and interpreting results.

“This is what the numbers are saying and what they mean,” said Hale. “Pollsters at the top make a lot of money and everyone below is OK.”

According to Salary.com, the average annual pollster job pays $52,500.

Speech writer

Sure, the primary skill is how to write well, but the key to success involves writing in someone else’s voice.
Usually, the speech writer works in a campaign’s media department that elevates into becoming a speech writer to the candidate or elected official.

“They’re like the catcher on the baseball team,” said Hale. “Everyone runs stuff through the catcher. If the economic development department wants something in the speech, they go to the speech writer. The speech writer juggles all these priorities.”

According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics’ “Occupational Outlook Handbook,” the median pay for technical writers was $79,900 in 2022.

Chief of staff

“The world’s most important traffic cop,” said Hale. “The most important resource that a candidate or an elected official has is time. They cannot know everything that is going on, so a chief of staff is the traffic cop saying this is important and it should go to the governor, and this is not important.”

According to Hale, this job is earned by building trust of the elected official and working your way up in a campaign and typically pays “well into the six figures.”

The most prized skill is calmness. “Your job is to prioritize, slow down and make decisions that are not reactive,” said Hale.

It’s also challenging. “A chief of staff looks the governor in the eye and says, ‘You’re wrong — you can’t do this,’ ” said Hale.

According to Salary.com, the average annual pay is $105,000.

Lobbyist

Lobbyists build relationships with elected officials. Corporations often hire lobbyists on retainer through consulting firms to advocate for legislation that’s favorable to a particular interest.

“Often, someone will start at the bottom of a campaign and work themselves up to midrange of a government entity and then jump to lobbyist since you know the ins and outs of decision makers,” said Hale.

As per Salary.com, you can expect to earn about $124,700.

Fund-raising director

“It’s a skill set that not everybody has — you’re asking total strangers to give money, because you asked,” said Hale.

Top candidates have a sales background with the same core skill of developing relationships. These roles typically work for campaigns or nonprofits and, according to Hale, they tend to make bank because “money is so central to what they do for campaigns.”

Salary.com’s estimated range for a deputy online fund-raising director is $126,600 to $181,000.