The CQ Press Career Guide for Political Science Students. Wendy N. Whitman Cobb
and I found myself bringing together streams of knowledge from throughout political science. I took classes not only in American politics and policy but also public administration and comparative politics. This broad education has served me well, allowing me to teach multiple areas as I have entered my own career.
After I finished my PhD, I was lucky enough to find a job as an assistant professor at Cameron University in Lawton, Oklahoma. Cameron is a small regional state school, but this has given me the opportunity to work closely with my students and know them on a personal basis. In my position, I teach a wide range of classes, from American government, the class I first got my start in, to research methods, international studies, and even zombies and politics. I continue to pursue research in areas I find interesting, including cancer policy and science and technology policy in general. I coach our Model United Nations team and serve on the board of the Midwest Model United Nations organization. In short, I get to spend my days learning new things and relaying them to some pretty amazing students.
Plan of the Book
As I stated before, this book is partially based on the questions I get from my students and what they want to know to succeed. To that end, the first chapter lays out many career opportunities that can be open to political science majors, both inside and outside of government. Chapter 2 then provides some ideas about the types of classes and extracurricular activities that you may want to consider based on the career path you would like to follow. Chapter 3 provides some of the tricks of the trade that I and many others have picked up for applying to jobs, preparing applications, and successfully interviewing for positions. Finally, Chapter 4 lays out the path to both law school and graduate school, including questions that you will want to consider as you choose your next direction.
Acknowledgments
This book has been deeply influenced by my experiences working with students. I thank all of my students heartily for giving me ideas and suggestions to cover in this short guide. I also wish to thank the editors at SAGE/CQ Press for the opportunity to write this piece. Finally, thank you to my husband and all of my family for continually supporting me as I became the political scientist I am today. As always, any errors or omissions remain solely my own.
Chapter 1 Careers in Political Science
When we think of jobs you can get with a degree in political science, we typically think of things like a politician, lawyer, or maybe a teacher. While this is the case, there are many more professions and career paths available than the ones you’ve probably thought of before. The key reason this is the case is because of the wide variety of skills that you learn as a political science major. Research, writing, teamwork, critical thinking and analysis, critical reading, debate, and argumentation skills can all be parlayed into valuable career fields that will have you living on your own in no time.
The purpose of this chapter is to explore the types of career paths, both public and private, that you can pursue with a degree in political science. While this won’t be a complete guide to everything you can do, we hope to give you some resources and ideas for further education. We’ll start off with the more obvious careers, such as those that will take you to the halls of government, and then move into the private sector, where jobs can be had in everything from business and finance to administration, the media, and nonprofits. Finally, we’ll discuss the academic path that can take you (back) into the classroom.
Government Careers
When talking about careers in government, the typical ones come to mind: a politician, a staff member for an elected official, or some sort of administrative job. But there are so many more opportunities available in the government and not only the federal government. Although the federal government employs over 2.5 million people (not including the military), state and local governments employ almost 16 million more people! In looking just at the federal government, a good way to think about the job opportunities available is from the top down.
Working for Elected Officials
Elected officials can’t do it alone. They rely on a small army of staff members to support their activities and foster relationships with constituents and other politicians. Every member of Congress is allocated a budget with which to build their office and attract personnel, allowing them to decide how many staffers to hire and for what functions. You could be an advisor on specific policy areas or a communications aide, assisting members of Congress with outreach to the public, the media, and their constituents. You will also assist members with researching and creating legislation, negotiating with other members of Congress, and being a liaison with committees and their work.
On the home front, members of Congress create offices in their districts and states to facilitate contact with their voters. Part of the work of these staff members is something called constituent service. Whenever you are having a problem with some area of government, be it Social Security, immigration, or the military, you can contact your member of Congress, and he or she will attempt to intercede on your behalf. This valuable function not only assists voters with their everyday problems but makes it more likely that they will vote for that congressman or woman in future elections. This is just another task you could be hired to do when working for members of Congress.
Outside of members’ offices, Congress requires a multitude of others to get their work done. Staff members are hired for individual committees, and party organizations also hire staff. For example, the Judiciary Committee in either the House or the Senate hires people whose sole job is to work on issues related to that committee. Both the Democratic and Republican caucuses and their respective campaign committees also hire staff to coordinate activities among their members. These types of jobs require good communications skills, the ability to process and understand political issues, and the ability to work together as part of a team. Although many of these jobs come with hard work and long hours, you’ll have the opportunity to see the political and legislative process up close and personal.
Congress also has nonpartisan organizations that assist members in getting their work done. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) are two such agencies. The CBO provides independent, nonpartisan budgetary information to members to help them in the annual budgetary process. It provides estimates of annual revenue and program costs and calculates the official cost of pending legislation. The GAO performs investigations into the performance and activities of executive branch agencies. Members of Congress can request that the GAO investigate certain policies, programs, or organizations and the GAO will report back its findings to the member and the rest of Congress. These organizations provide several job opportunities for political science majors who are interested in the nuts and bolts of budgetary and government policy and can be effective in their ability to communicate.
Job opportunities also abound in the White House, where you can work on domestic policy, communications, outreach and the media, working with the Congress, and so much more. While we normally only see a few select top advisors on TV representing the president, there are hundreds more individuals working in the West Wing organizing everything the White House and the president do. The White House also contains agencies like the Office of Management and Budget, which assists the president in constructing his or her annual budget. Like the Congress, White House staffers are likely to spend long hours at the office, but it doesn’t hurt that the office is the White House.
Don’t forget about the elected officials at the state and local level. Members of state legislative bodies in all fifty states require the help of others to complete the job they were elected for, and many of the same responsibilities that members of Congress give to their staff members are also reflected in state legislatures. This means that by working for a state legislator, you have the opportunity to contribute to issues that are likely to be important to your fellow citizens and have a far more immediate impact. For example, the state of California has an economy