So as I'm getting closer to graduation I've been thinking about career paths outside of finance and lobbying came to mind as one that *seems* like it could be very lucrative and have a great work life balance.
Is that perception correct? Does anyone here have any experience working in Lobbying at the national level? Is it a career you can climb to the top without other political experience? What is compensation and the work actually like?
A friend of mine works for a state level lobbying agency and his work life balance and compensation are pretty good for someone in a non major city and in their early 20's. I imagine his boss is doing pretty well running an agency at the state level and once you hit the national stage I would assume it gets even better.
Any opinions?
GREAT JOB, but ridiculously hard to crack into. Usually, when you are lobbying, you are representing a certain idea or group. You have to be knowledgeable about that industry and be a strong speaker. If you want to break into lobbying, then you need to build up connects. I met the lobbying group for my bank and they talked about what the work is like. Its mainly meeting people, politicians, lawyers, economists, and trying to do the best to make sure regulation is in favor of your clients. So yes its fun, but like I said you need connects, strong industry knowledge, and a whole lot of luck.
My Govt. professor this past semester used to be a lobbyist. She was always talking about it, "back when I was a lobbyist ...." ect.
What she said was you travel a lot, to D.C. mostly, unless you only do state-wide lobbying, then I suppose you only travel to your state capital.
Also, she said you have to like kissing ass, and a lot of it. Always sucking up to congressmen/women, making them like you, ect.
For salary, she said she was in the range of 120-150k. So, not bad I suppose.
My school puts up some internship/job postings for a few firms in DC but I'm not sure how to identify which lobbying groups are the top notch ones.
Is lobbying something you can be brought on in an entry level research type role and work your way up? Or is it usually former government employees (white house staffers, senate aids ect) who lateral over to lobbying?
My friend works at a state level lobbying firm with a 55k base and what usually amounts to a 10-15k bonus each year. He mentioned that his bonus is determined by the new business that gets brought it that year. For example if one of the firms employees brings in an account worth 100k he gets rewarded part of that directly as a finders fee but it is perpetual. So for every dollar in business someone brings in they get X percent of that account each year, another part of that gets split between all the non partners during year 1 only and the rest goes to the partners.
Is it typical for firms to award bonuses like that?
Not sure about the salary/bonuses. But, my professor did say that she went straight into lobbying, but it was more common for ex-congressmen and those people you mentioned. It makes sense: you are going to try to make relations with people in congress, so if you used to sit right next to them for 4-6 years, you already have a pretty good relationship.
Although, my Professor went straight into it, and she was not the brightest, so I'm sure you could go straight into it if that's what you wanted. Just make sure you're a 'fast' talker, and can persuade people and are half-smart, you should be fine.
Lobbyist (Originally Posted: 02/07/2007)
In my perpetual search for the perfect career, I've been intersted in political science/politics, and I was wondering, how does one break into the lobbying, I've researched it a bit, but it's rather unclear as to how to break into the industry, any info would be appreciated.
I'm sure there are a number of routes that can get you to a lobby shop, but the two I know of are interning at a lobbyist firm during college/grad school and getting offered a position or working your way up on the Hill. It takes a few years and you may need a masters/law/or business degree (to get to a position like LA), but you can generally make the necessary contacts to jump to the private sector.
That being said, I'm sure there are other ways to do it. But when I worked on the Hill before becoming an ibanking monkey, that's what I had been told from some pretty reliable sources.
Thanks man. Do you thinking getting experience in the whole legislation process would be beneficial, i.e like a state internship with some legislative body. Also what skills learned in lobbying, and on the Hill are applicable to the private sector?
Lobby clients are buying your book of contacts. They want to make sure that you are putting their issues in front of the decision makers, both on the legislative and administrative sides. To this end, you have to have experience in one/both of those pieces of government.
Best advice is to work your contacts to get on the Hill, staffing for a senior Senator/Representative. You won't get in anywhere on K Street if you don't have relationships with a key decision maker.
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