Comparing Careers

I interned at a lobbying firm before I knew what banking was. There are two broad types of lobbying organizations: 1) advocacy groups, and 2) lobbying firms.

An advocacy group just represents an industry/issue, and are less sexy than lobbying firms. The Private Equity Council is a good example. The advocacy group will have members (you can think of them as clients), and they do a few things: 1) interview political candidates for support (basically, they'll throw money at your campaign if you agree with their stances, and you're a viable candidate); 2) if your membership is large enough, you can use that weight to threaten politicians (hey Rep. Joe Schmo, we have 1000 members in your area, and if you vote X way on Y bill, then they won't support your next election); and 3) persuade politicians and citizens (if you don't have heavy membership, you try to win through education and money; this can be fruitless).

Lobbying firms are more similar to investment banks and law firms, because you have many clients in various industries. Arent Fox is such a firm. Some of these firms are pretty much all lawyers, some are ex-politicians and/or ex-military, some are ex-industry, and some are a combo of all of that. Winning business here really only comes down to your connections in Congress and/or Gov't. bureaucracies.

Besides networking and making connections, the only other thing you really need to learn is the policy process. Of course, policy and economic analysis is important, too.

Getting into this industry is tough. If you're interested, PM me, and I'll recommend a way if you haven't graduated yet.