New Video: Answering Questions from a Frustrated Career Switcher

 

Introducing The CampaignSick YouTube Channel

Y'all I'm very excited to announce that CampaignSick now has a YouTube channel! The first two videos are up and while I am still learning I think I can confidently say I improved between the two. If you like this type of content (and you do if you're reading my blog) please like and subscribe...you don't realize how much it helps until you start YouTubing! 

The first topics are "What to Ask on Informational Interviews" and "My Experience Living With Chronic Illness on Campaigns".  What else do you want to see/hear about? Let me know in video comments or by tweeting @CampaignSick! 

Campaign Love and Mine,

Nancy 

Two New Trainings! Campaign Staff Management and Finding and Managing Consultants

You all have already heard me wax poetic about how much I love a good training opportunity and how much I loved working with National Democratic Training Committee so you will be unsurprised to hear how grateful I am to be able to teach on two of the topics about which I am most passionate: managing campaign staff and managing consultants.

Please check them out on NDTC's site!

Campaign Love and Mine,

Nancy 

Campaign Staff Hiring 101- My Training for National Democratic Training Committee

If you know one thing about me it is that I absolutely love training other people to run campaigns well. It is, in fact, the premise of this very blog. So imagine my joy at getting to write the curricula and train for three course with National Democratic Training Committee. 

The first, Campaign Staff Hiring 101 has been posted here.  Note you may have to make a profile/login but it's free and gives you access to tons of wonderful resources, even if I didn't write them!

Enjoy learning from my wisdom and seeing what happens when I misapply my eyebrow makeup.

Campaign Love and Mine,

Nancy

Combating Burnout with Wellness Coach, Lacey Connelly

When my friend Lacey posted that she was starting a new business to help political operatives deal with burnout, I knew I had to bring this to you. Learn more about Lacey's business and an exclusive CampaignSick discount below!

1) Who are you? Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got here.

My name is Lacey Connelly and I have been working on political campaigns for 18 years. 2022 will be my 9th campaign cycle! 

My first experience on campaigns was an internship in college working as the tracker for an Illinois Senate primary. After graduation, I got my first full time campaign job working for John Edwards in Iowa during the 2008 presidential primary (added bonus fact for your readers is that's where we met!). Since then, I have been on a nearly non-stop roller coaster of highs and lows: campaign victories and losses; meaningful employment and unemployment; good physical/mental/emotional health and not-so-good. I have been a field organizer, a direct mail production assistant, a compliance manager, a finance director, a campaign manager, a training director, and a caucus director, so I have a LOT of lived experience.

In 2018, I was the Caucus Director for the WV Democratic House Caucus and within the span of a month, I (1) helped the Caucus see its greatest gains in a decade, (2) graduated with my Yoga Teacher certification, and (3) married my best friend, Adam. I credit the time I gave myself for my yoga practice during that election cycle to being able to manage all of those tasks simultaneously; it was the first time I personally experienced balance during a campaign season and it set this whole business idea into motion. 

2) What inspired you to focus on self care?

I had a major health crisis brought about by the stress of campaigns after the 2010 election cycle. I was a compliance manager in California, working long hours to make sure my clients' financial reports had all the necessary amendments filed. I had moved to California in 2008, after Edwards withdrew from the presidential race, and it had taken me months to land steady work that paid for the cost of living increase. I was struggling and, in response to the stress, my autoimmune disease (which I had been diagnosed with back in 2000) flared up. I ignored the flare and kept pushing until my body literally shut me down. I got so sick that I had to go on disability, move back to WV to live with my parents, and get IVIG treatments to reset my immune system.  

The fact that I had allowed myself to become so stressed out that I lost an entire year was a wake up call. During my treatments, I started reading about stress management and autoimmune recovery. Once the treatments were over, I found a yoga teacher in my area that taught yoga for immune support. I prioritized sleep and started to go to trivia nights with friends so that I had something to look forward to each week. 

Then I moved to North Dakota, worked for Heidi Heitkamp's Senate campaign for two months and came back with a severe Vitamin D deficiency. I knew better, but without someone keeping me accountable, I struggled to do better. Eventually, my commitment to my yoga practice and getting my certification gave me the support and accountability that I needed to have a balanced life during a campaign cycle, which is what I'm offering to others through my coaching program. 

3) What are the services you’re offering?

Right now, I am offering 1:1 coaching services to political operatives, volunteers, and candidates who feel like they are either burned out or on the edge of burning out. There are three different options, all with varying levels of support: (1) a one time session that consists of an hour-long Zoom call; (2) a monthly option that includes 4 hour-long Zoom calls and unlimited text/voice message support via Voxer; or (3) a three month offer that gives you three months of the monthly support at a discounted rate. 

If someone is interested in working with me, the first step is to sign up for a free 20-minute "Vibe Check" Zoom call where we can chat about what they need, how I can help, and if we hit it off where we'll work well together. Your readers can sign up for one of those calls here: https://bit.ly/20MinVibeCheckCalendar. Make sure they answer the question "How did you learn about my coaching services?" by writing in CampaignSick!

I also have a newsletter that goes out every other week, and I will be using that to announce some exciting new offers soon (including a 4-week course on mindful media consumption). If your readers are interested, they can sign up for that here: https://bit.ly/SustainableMovementsNews.

4) Who would benefit from this work? Who’s your ideal client?

My ideal client is someone who feels passionate about the work that they do and, as a result, have a habit of putting their work before their physical, mental, and emotional well being. It doesn't matter if they're on their first campaign or if they're running an entire organization -- the people who do the kind of work that we do have a tendency to martyr themselves for the "greater good." I feel like my calling in this space is to work with these folx to show them that living in such a prolonged state of stress is actually counter-productive to the results they are trying to achieve and that there are ways that they can be both impactful and happy. 

5) What does a session entail? Give us a sense of what we’d be signing up for.

I start each 1:1 coaching session with a breathing practice and some stretching. It helps my client and me let go of whatever else we've been dealing with in the moments leading up to the call so we can be fully present with each other. I then ask them what's on their mind and the session builds itself from there. My goal is to lead them towards the root of what is making them stressed so that we can address it together. I'm not a therapist, but I would say 90% of the issues my clients have brought up have been issues that I've dealt with personally, which makes addressing the problem much easier. After our session is over, I send them an email with a practice that will help them deal with their unique stress and, for monthly clients, a "homework" assignment so that we can dig even deeper the next week.

6) What general advice do you have for people in the campaign and progressive community to avoid burnout?

It's important to understand that the modern campaign environment is not built for long term sustainability -- and it's less productive as a result! Research shows that taking breaks from work is important for maxing out your job performance. Energy is limited and, just like football players take a halftime break in the middle of the Super Bowl, we need to take breaks in order to do our best work. This could be as big as giving organizers a full day off each week or it could be smaller, like encouraging our colleagues to take a lunch break (and walking the walk with them). 

If we don't address the negative energy exchange between campaigns / organizations and their employees, we will continue to burn through organizers as if they were an easily replaceable resource -- which they aren't! Any time an organizer "retires" from politics due to burnout, we're losing valuable institutional knowledge for whatever fight they were fighting. 

 

7) Why do you think these industries are especially prone to burnout?

I think they were built that way. The cyclical nature of our work allowed managers and leaders early on to ignore the fact that investing in worker's well-being brings about better results. They simply had to push their workers to get to Election Day and then the recovery was out of their purview. Once this culture was set and then glamorized in movies and TV shows (I'm going to date myself with a West Wing shout out here), we didn't stand a chance.

On top of that, the people I have had the pleasure of working with on progressive issues have all been idealists who see injustice in the world and are willing to sacrifice their own wellbeing in order to make the world a better place for others. I've seen plenty of campaigns and political organizations take advantage of that - not always consciously, but not always unconsciously either. 

8) I heard there’s a special deal for CampaignSickles. Tell me about that.

Yes! I am offering your readers 25% off of their first coaching session, whether they choose a one time coaching session (normally $150), the monthly option (normally $500), or the three month program (normally $1200). They simply need to tell me that you sent them when they sign up for their free 20 minute "Vibe Check" call. 

They will also be among the first to know about new programs that I create in response to the work I do with my 1:1 coaching clients. I've found a lot of similarities among the stressors that our folx are struggling with right now in my two months of coaching, so whenever possible, I want to take the practices that I give those folx and make them available to a bigger population.

9) How do we sign up?

The link for the 20 minute "Vibe Check" is https://bit.ly/20MinVibeCheckCalendar.

The link to sign up for the newsletter is https://bit.ly/SustainableMovementsNews. 

You can also follow me on Instagram or Linked In for smaller nuggets and links to the articles and books about stress management that I'm finding to be relevant to campaign folx.

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lacey.a.connelly/   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laceyannconnelly/ 

10) Anything else you’d like us to know?

I appreciate everything that you do, Nancy, as well as the things that your readers are out there doing. Whether they are still working on campaigns or for progressive organizations or they've "retired" to a more stable career, the people who read CampaignSick have spent time doing something to make the world a better place. And that's the only way things will ever change. 

How to Write a Cover Letter, If You Must

Several weeks ago I shared my quest to eliminate cover letters and the reasoning behind it. Having done so, I recognize the reality is that cover letters are likely here for a while. Below is my best cover letter (and a little resume) advice in two parts. Note: Some of this advice can be found in this post from 2012 about writing a campaign resume, but it bears repeating.

Part One

Stuff you should do

1. Don't let the perfect be the enemy of the good. Every time I review applications I make a note to remind myself how little time I spend pouring over cover letters next time I am the one applying. Yes, your cover letter should be coherent, edited, and professional (see below) but it doesn't have to be a great work of literature. The sad truth is that a hiring manager is likely to just skim your cover letter, if they read it at all. So although I have been known to obsess over word choice, I promise you no one is going to notice if you use the word "managed" 3 times or care about the order in which you describe the projects you managed at your last job.

2. Prove that you understand the job. Hiring managers want to see that you are excited about the specific position for which you are applying and not just a) serving up a generic application or b) expecting the job to be something it isn't. Customize your cover letter for each application to show why you are the right fit for that particular role.

3. Use your cover letter to draw the connection between your experience and the job (especially if you think there might be questions.) 

4. Address your cover letter to a real person. If the job description instructs you to send your application to an email address with a name in it, address your cover letter to that person. If the job description has the role you'll be reporting to, google who currently holds that position.  If not, take your best guess based on the department in which the position resides. 

5. Show don't tell. Don't just regurgitate what's in your resume. Use the cover letter to expound on the points of your resume that you believe to be particularly salient. For example rather than simply saying "I managed a $560,000 dollar budget" you might want to talk about how you raised the money, what you spent it on,  how made decisions on where to invest that money and any notable challenges you faced and overcame in the process. If you tell me you are "passionate" about whatever my organization does you better explain how you've demonstrated that passion. 

6. Create a stable of cover letters. Just because you are going to customize doesn't mean you can't be smart about it. After you've written the first couple of cover letters for your job search you'll start to see patterns emerge. Maybe you reference campaign experience for some of the jobs you apply for and legislative experience for others. Maybe you emphasize working with constituents and voters when you apply for certain types of positions and working with candidates and elected officials for others. Pretty soon you'll have a variety of paragraphs you can tweak, mix, and match rather than reinventing the wheel every time.  

Part Two 

Stuff that drives me crazy as a hiring manager and I don't understand why people do it

1. For the love of all that is pizza, proofread your cover letter. The number one reason I look at a cover letter is to see if the author is a coherent, intelligent writer. Even if a resume seems like a too-good-to-be-true match for the position, if the cover letter is sloppy they won't even get an interview. This is not about quality prose, this is fundamental professionalism and respect for your audience. If I feel like you didn't put the time in to give your application a once over edit, that speaks volumes to me about the kind of work ethic and attention to detail you'll have on the job. 

2. Follow directions. If I ask you to include salary requirements in the job description (I wouldn't but someone might), include them. If I ask you to share how you found the listing, do that. Again this isn't just bout the actual information it's about whether you are willing and able to read carefully and follow simple instructions.

3. If I don't ask for salary requirements, don't include them. Unless I specifically ask, it is weird for you to tell me what you would need in order to take the job before it has been offered to you. Would you put "I require 3 weeks paid vacation and employer sponsored healthcare" in your cover letter? No. Don't get me wrong it is 100% okay and good to require those things but this is not the time. 

4. "References available upon request." Don't put this on your resume or in your cover letter. Like yeah no kidding you'll provide references if I ask for them, that's how this process works. If I ask for your references, provide them. Until I do, you don't need to bring them up. This isn't something that will automatically ding your application but it does smack of inexperience.

5. Your resume does not need an objective.  As I have oft heard Biden Campaign Manager/Deputy COS Jen O'Malley Dillon say "your objective is to get a job." Ditto with a "summary" at the top. Your resume is your summary. 

6. There is absolutely no reason your entry-level resume needs to be more than one page. The rule is one page per 10 years of experience. I have been in this business for 15 years and just begrudgingly let it spill on to another page. Spreading things out doesn't make you look more experienced, quite the opposite in fact.

7. Along with that don't list extracurricular activities or GPA if you are 3+ years out of college and never list "hobbies" on your resume. Unless you are applying for the first ever regatta/political campaign I don't care if you were on crew or enjoy standup comedy.  If you have hobbies and a 2-page resume, forget it. If for some reason you believe your personal interests are relevant to this particular job or campaign, that's a great thing to discuss toward the end of your cover letter. 

8. Don't lie. This should be obvious, but experience tells me it is not. The campaign/progressive infrastructure is small. Multiple times I have had a friend call me and say "I saw so and so was your field director, she's applying for a job here" and I have never heard of this person in my life. I even once received a resume for someone who claimed he was the campaign manager on a campaign I managed. This doesn't mean don't put your best foot forward but don't flat out change your job title unless you have had a specific conversation with your former manager. 

Look, job searching sucks and I hope I have made it a little less painful. How else can I help? Tweet me @CampaignSick.

Campaign Love and Mine,

Nancy 

Cover Letters are Bullsh*t and We Should Replace Them

I recently finished a bout of hiring and in my midway through frustration resolved to write a post about common cover letter and resume mistakes that drive me up a wall as a hiring manager. But there is something I felt I needed to address first: cover letters, as a concept, kind of suck. 

In the theory, cover letters are a way to make your application stand out. They should be a way to draw a connection between your experience and the job for which you are applying.  In reality, the only thing cover letters really do is judge your ability to write cover letters. If your parents are professionals and/or if you went to college you've probably received coaching or advice on how to apply to jobs. If not, well then not. 

As I've said, as a frequent reviewer of cover letters I can easily get frustrated with their authors. The rules of writing them feel so basic to me (edit for grammar and spelling!) that I often wind up penalizing applicants who write bad ones but very, very rarely move an applicant forward based their cover letter alone. As an applicant myself I've often found cover letters to be a stumbling block, obsessing over creative ways to rephrase information that I feel should be obvious from my resume and googling synonyms for "oversaw" and "managed." 

And please don't even start me on campaigns that refuse to divulge their candidate or district but still ask for cover letters in a job description. 

For all these reasons many organizations in the progressive jobosphere have been moving away from cover letters in favor of short answer questions usually around 250 words each. These questions provide three distinct advantages:

           1) Short answer questions cut out the superfluous window dressing that a cover letter entails ( "I was so excited when I saw your listing for....as a 15 year veteran of campaigns and non-profits...I look forward to the opportunity to further discuss how my skills can match your needs.) You don't want to write it, and I don't want to read it. 

           

          2) Short answer questions cut out the guesswork for less experienced applicants. A hiring manager can pose questions that ask for the information they would expect to learn in a cover letter but diminish bias against candidates who don't have that particular knowledge and skill. Some examples might be "How do your skills and experience make you a good fit for this position?" or "What excites you about working at our organization?" 

        3) Short answer questions also allow a hiring manager to request more specific and technical information than they'd normally glean from a cover letter. For example, "What advice would you give a candidate who is reluctant to ask friends and family for money?" or "A host's name is misspelled on an invitation for a fundraiser you sent out. How do you rectify the problem?" These type of questions can elicit insight into an applicant's thought process that a hiring manager normally wouldn't have until an interview stage. 

I hope you will seriously consider joining me in the cover letter revolution. But until then, I do have some tips. Part 2 coming soon!

Campaign Love and Mine,

Nancy

There's a CampaignSick JobServe Now!

Ever since my Tumblr took off I've resisted suggestions to create a jobs listserve because there are so many good ones that already exist. The goal of CampaignSick has always been to add value to our community not to recreate the wheel. However recently I've gotten some renewed interest in doing so, particularly because Twitter followers have rightly identified the need for a jobserve that is free to both job seekers and posters. 

I want to be super clear: I'm trying to fill a need, not create competition. I don't fault any organization or individual for charging for their time. All this is to say...

The CampaignSick Jobserve is here!

To sign up: Follow this link and when you get there click "Ask to Join Group." I will approve you next time I check my email which, let's be real, is like every 5 minutes.

To post a job: Use this short and easy form.

Some rules and expectation setting:

1) I am going to do my best to keep up with this. As I alluded to, time is money, money is pizza and since I am doing this in my "free time" (a thing I have now that I work at a non-profit) you get what you pay for and I ask for your patience as I work out the kinks.

2) To that end, it is and always will be free to post and consume but if you find a job or new employee using CampaignSick jobserve or just find it useful please consider becoming a Patron or making a one-time donation via PayPal using the email address CampaignSick@gmail.com.

3) I reserve the right to post or not post jobs at my discretion. Reasons that something might be rejected include not being germane to our industry, not including salary ranges etc. (Sadly some of the heavy hitters in our industry still don't post salaries so this rule may not always stand but I want to set that as an expectation.) It goes without saying no unpaid internships. I may also pass along opportunities I find elsewhere that seem particularly exciting. 

This is still a work in progress so thank you for subscribing and passing along! 

Campaign Love and Mine,

Nancy

The 2006 Minnesota DFL Coordinated Campaign: Where are they now?

(The 2006 Minnesota DFL Coordinated Field Staff)

I don't like to mention specific jobs or projects I'm working on on the blog but in this case I will make an exception. As many of you know, during the 2020 cycle I had the extremely fortunate, rewarding. and exciting opportunity to be the Director and Senior Advisor to very campaign on which my career began, the Minnesota DFL Coordinated. While there were many differences between my first campaign and my most recent (please see, global pandemic) there were a lot of similarities including that they both ended with the question, "What now?"  

As I navigated and continue to navigate my own answers to that question I realized how helpful it would be for someone to help me draw a line between where I am now and where I might want to go. I thought that the brilliant, hard-working and fun to be around 2020 Minnesota Coordinated team might like the same thing. Using social media, a well-preserved t-shirt that just happened to have the 2006 Coordinated staff list on the back, and the 2006 DFL Coordinated Alumni Google group (probably like the year google groups were invented) I reached out to my former colleagues to ask them where they'd been.

Below are the results. 

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What was your position on the 2006 Minnesota DFL Coordinated Campaign?

Regional Field Director, CD-6

What is your current or most recent position?

Political Consultant/Campaign Manager for Rep. Dean Phillips 

Please briefly tell us about your career path. What have you been up to since the 2006 election cycle?

RFD -> Pol Director for Rep. Tim Walz -> CM for Tim Walz (2010) -> Marriage Equality campaign (MN) -> starting my own consulting firm (and working for Rep. Dean Phillips)

What skills/lessons did you learn on the 2006 Coordinated Campaign that prepared you for your current or most recent position?

Working and managing a team of people. Volunteer recruitment and identifying volunteers who can lead recruiting others makes it all so much easier.

What advice do you have for someone coming off their first or second campaign who would like to follow your career path?

Showing up is so important - even when at first they don't pay you. Also, treat others the way you want to be treated.

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What was your position on the 2006 Minnesota DFL Coordinated Campaign? Regional Field Director, CD-1 (aka CampaignSick's first boss)

What is your current or most recent position? 

Chief of Staff to Congressman Jim Himes 

Please briefly tell us about your career path. What have you been up to since the 2006 election cycle?After a brief stint in DC helping set up Tim Walz's mail operation, went on a bunch of other campaigns around the country until I hit the campaigner's magic trifecta: liked the candidate, won, and there was a job afterward. After twoish years as Jim's district director, I moved down to DC.

What skills/lessons did you learn on the 2006 Coordinated Campaign that prepared you for your current or most recent position?

Navigating difficult political situations and trying to unite diverse interests around common goals, and mitigating obstacles that can't be brought into the fold. Also first time as paid manager, learned a lot about how to support and develop talent.

What advice do you have for someone coming off their first or second campaign who would like to follow your career path?

Don't immediately hop at the next opportunity you see without checking in with mentors first. Conversely, don't agonize over making sure the next move is 'perfect.' If you're staying in politics, you have a long way to go, and there are a lot of different paths to get to your goal.

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What was your position on the 2006 Minnesota DFL Coordinated Campaign? 

Field Organizer, CD-2

What is your current or most recent position?

Field and Data Director, Environmental Voter Project

Please briefly tell us about your career path. What have you been up to since the 2006 election cycle?

I continue to work MN elections and, briefly, was with the DCCC in IN08. I worked with the Saint Paul Regional Labor Federation for three years and then went to get an MPP from the Humphrey School of Public Affairs at University of Minnesota. I joined my current organization in its infancy in 2016 and helped with it's expansion to a multi-state organization.

What skills/lessons did you learn on the 2006 Coordinated Campaign that prepared you for your current or most recent position?

Nuts and bolts of organizing and elections, volunteer management, how to better work with supervisors, how to manage an intern program.

What advice do you have for someone coming off their first or second campaign who would like to follow your career path?

Think big - organizers can frequently be surprised at how quickly they can move into leadership positions. And don't be afraid to join the underdog campaign.

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What was your position on the 2006 Minnesota DFL Coordinated Campaign? 

Field Organizer, CD-3

What is your current or most recent position?

Director of Data & Communications Strategy for Eastman Music Company

Please briefly tell us about your career path. What have you been up to since the 2006 election cycle?

After 2006, I worked for Obama in 2007 and 2008 moving all over the country. I then did various contract gigs for non-profits, the DNC, and other campaigns before moving into consulting, which brought me to Ohio and Michigan for wind energy advocacy for Axelrod's old public affairs company and then the wildest ride of my life consulting and living in Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia in 2012. After coming back to America, I worked back home in Minneapolis for a couple years before being recruited to a startup in Los Angeles, got laid off there after 1 year, and then luckily got picked up by a client I brought on prior to being laid off. That's my current job at Eastman, which is my longest-standing job, and I love it.

What skills/lessons did you learn on the 2006 Coordinated Campaign that prepared you for your current or most recent position?

There are so many small things you learn that translate to the working world: never fearing a phone conversation or a doorknock or in-person convo at an event, the importance of and various tactics to maximize signup data, the ability to operate inside an established database, persuasion and messaging techniques, telling your story, and so much more I'm not remembering right now.

What advice do you have for someone coming off their first or second campaign who would like to follow your career path?

It wasn't until I found my current job at Eastman that I finally was able to live my life for me. After working at Eastman for a year, I discovered that this is ultimately what I wanted, and maybe it's something you'll come to realize if it's right for you. I was married to the campaigns and contracts and adventures, and while I wouldn't take back the experience for anything, I am so fucking happy I found a job I love that only requires 40ish hours per week from me. It allowed me to learn more about myself other than what I offer as an employee. With the job security and free time I was able to get healthy, save money, start a family, become a badass cook, experience all this amazing city (Los Angeles) has to offer, and so much more. It took over a decade for me to get here, and not every job any of us have is going to be our dream job (even this job that I love isn't my "dream job"), but it'll help us figure out what we want and what we don't want in our life. Good luck out there.

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What was your position on the 2006 Minnesota DFL Coordinated Campaign? 

Field Organizer

What is your current or most recent position?

Director, Sustainable Finance, S&P Global

Please briefly tell us about your career path. What have you been up to since the 2006 election cycle?

I worked briefly for the DFL in the Comms office then as FD for Terri Bonoff’s Congressional Campaign. Then I got my MPA at the LBJ School at University of Texas, and worked part-time at Texas Impact, an interfaith social justice organization. After Austin, I moved to Washington DC, and worked for the Executive Office of the President at OMB, overseeing Federal credit programs and the Army Corps of Engineers budget for six and a half years. In 2016, I moved to the private sector but stayed in the area of infrastructure finance and environmental and social issues, first as a credit ratings analyst in the US Public Finance practice working on utilities, and now as a Director in our Sustainable Finance group.

What skills/lessons did you learn on the 2006 Coordinated Campaign that prepared you for your current or most recent position?

Managing people and volunteers, crisis management, patience and perseverance, and I have been a stalwart defender of work-life balance since I left campaigns.

What advice do you have for someone coming off their first or second campaign who would like to follow your career path?

Be open to new ideas of fulfillment, but know that your skills are transferable and valuable wherever you are.

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What was your position on the 2006 Minnesota DFL Coordinated Campaign? 

Field Organizer

What is your current or most recent position? 

Controller, Colorado's Office of the Governor

Please briefly tell us about your career path. What have you been up to since the 2006 election cycle?I kept on the campaign trail, working Senate races and a presidential. In 2012, I managed a Congressional race in S. Florida, won, and went to Capitol Hill. I left the Hill in 2015 and managed a US Senate Race. Since then I've been in Colorado on campaigns and currently in the Governor's Office.

What skills/lessons did you learn on the 2006 Coordinated Campaign that prepared you for your current or most recent position?

Like many first time organizers, I was fresh out of college and excited to be on the campaign trail. What I didn't expect was to be in a rural area by myself for much of the campaign. That meant figuring things out on my own; from how to fix downed VOIP phones to the best way to cut rural turf using giant maps picked up from the county courthouses. The most important thing I learned was how to listen and empathize with my volunteers and their community. These were citizens desperate to make positive change in their community after 6 years of George W. Bush, but they didn't need to spend 10 hours a week in the field office. Empathy is a totally underrated skill and not taught in poli sci classes, but is what good politics should really be about. It really helped me connect and understand the needs of my vols and the turf. It helped me make solid canvass plans, recruit volunteers, and build lasting relationships. Trying to be emotionally smarter has helped me ever since.

What advice do you have for someone coming off their first or second campaign who would like to follow your career path? 

Build relationships and don't stop learning.

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What was your position on the 2006 Minnesota DFL Coordinated Campaign? 

Regional Field Director, CD-7

What is your current or most recent position? 

COO, Rise

Please briefly tell us about your career path. What have you been up to since the 2006 election cycle? 

Obama primary and general election campaigns 07-08, USDA appointee 09-16, briefly jumped back into electoral politics in 2017, advocating for sexual assault survivors ever since

What skills/lessons did you learn on the 2006 Coordinated Campaign that prepared you for your current or most recent position?

Relationships matter and organizing works

What advice do you have for someone coming off their first or second campaign who would like to follow your career path?

If you love campaigns, do it until you can't any more. If you don't, there are plenty of ways to work in politics without working in politics. Keep up with every positive connection you have; everyone you work with, everyone you made an impact on, everyone that made an impact on you

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What was your position on the 2006 Minnesota DFL Coordinated Campaign? 

Field Organizer, CD-1

What is your current or most recent position?

I'm a litigator in private practice at a law firm in New York.

Please briefly tell us about your career path. What have you been up to since the 2006 election cycle? After the 2006 election, I moved to DC to work on the Hill for several years before heading to law school in California. I then clerked for two judges and moved to New York to practice law.

What skills/lessons did you learn on the 2006 Coordinated Campaign that prepared you for your current or most recent position?

Being a field organizer taught me grit. It was a freeing realization when dialing for volunteers to learn firsthand that inevitably, after receiving 99 not-homes, wrong numbers, and rejections, I was bound to eventually find that person who desperately wanted to join our cause. The same is true in life -- stay strong through the not-homes and wrong numbers, and big goals are possible.

What advice do you have for someone coming off their first or second campaign who would like to follow your career path?

Be patient. Work hard. Never give up.

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What was your position on the 2006 Minnesota DFL Coordinated Campaign? 

Field Organizer, CD-4

What is your current or most recent position?

Assistant Attorney General for the State of Minnesota

Please briefly tell us about your career path. What have you been up to since the 2006 election cycle?

After 06, I moved to Washington DC and worked for Amy Klobuchar and Jeff Merkley in the US Senate for about 5 years. Then returned to Minnesota and received my law degree from the University of Minnesota.

What skills/lessons did you learn on the 2006 Coordinated Campaign that prepared you for your current or most recent position?

There is no substitute for work. Field work is hard work but working together as a team helps lighten the load.

What advice do you have for someone coming off their first or second campaign who would like to follow your career path?

If you like politics, go to DC. It's awesome when you're young. If you think you might want to be a lawyer, don't wait too long. It's way harder the longer you wait.

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What was your position on the 2006 Minnesota DFL Coordinated Campaign? 

Regional Field Director, CD-5

What is your current or most recent position?

CEO, VoteRiders

Please briefly tell us about your career path. What have you been up to since the 2006 election cycle?

Finished law school, 08 and 10 cycles in MN, 7+ years at DLCC, 3+ Years at VoteRiders

What skills/lessons did you learn on the 2006 Coordinated Campaign that prepared you for your current or most recent position?

Middle management is hard. Learned to a) be on time to everything, b) tell the truth always, c) advocate for the path that makes clearly drives reality toward your goals, d) implement the plan as written, e) stay in your lane, f) be kind to others

What advice do you have for someone coming off their first or second campaign who would like to follow your career path?

1) see above, 2) talk w everyone - learn how this all fits together, 3) follow your passion and be open to possibilities you may not have considered

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What was your position on the 2006 Minnesota DFL Coordinated Campaign? 

Field Organizer

What is your current or most recent position?

Nurse practitioner

Please briefly tell us about your career path. What have you been up to since the 2006 election cycle?

Worked in education nonprofits for a couple of years then went to nursing school in 2010. Became an NP in 2013. Now work as a pediatric NP.

What skills/lessons did you learn on the 2006 Coordinated Campaign that prepared you for your current or most recent position?

Long hours and hard work

What advice do you have for someone coming off their first or second campaign who would like to follow your career path?

Time management skills and multitasking are key on campaigns as well as in medicine. Also teamwork.

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What was your position on the 2006 Minnesota DFL Coordinated Campaign? 

Field Director

What is your current or most recent position?

Climate and energy policy professional

Please briefly tell us about your career path. What have you been up to since the 2006 election cycle?

After '06, I helped launch a labor/environmental coalition called the BlueGreen Alliance, focused on clean energy job advocacy. I then got my MBA at the University of Minnesota and began working on environmental and corporate sustainability at a Fortune 500 company. However, I was lured back to the politics and spent five years as a senior advisor on environmental policy issues for Minneapolis Mayor Betsy Hodges and Minnesota Governor Mark Dayton, respectively.

What skills/lessons did you learn on the 2006 Coordinated Campaign that prepared you for your current or most recent position?

Working on the '06 campaign was especially helpful when I worked in the Governor's office. Understanding the tensions that can happen within the DFL based on regional/local politics and how that can affect a statewide legislative agenda was critical to that role.

What advice do you have for someone coming off their first or second campaign who would like to follow your career path?

Try things! It may not lead you to that perfect career path, but you should not think of that path as linear. You will at times pick the wrong job - it will be OK. Being willing to try new things, take some reasonable risks, and being willing to move on when things aren't the right fit will help prevent looking back and feeling regret.

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What was your position on the 2006 Minnesota DFL Coordinated Campaign? 

Intern, CD-1 

What is your current or most recent position?

Analytics director for advertising agency

Please briefly tell us about your career path. What have you been up to since the 2006 election cycle?

Stayed active with politics through College Dems at American University in DC. Then worked as a pollster for 8 years, working on ballot initiatives, IEs, lobbying campaigns, and commercial clients. For example, spent five years doing reseach/ad testing for 2020 Census ad campaign on a federal contract. Currently working on an ad campaign for HHS to encourage COVID-19 vaccines. Jeez... sounds like a lot when I put it that way...

What skills/lessons did you learn on the 2006 Coordinated Campaign that prepared you for your current or most recent position?

Initiative-- it takes courage to just start a conversation with someone and trust that you'll be able to come through alright. Also, i learned that you have to LOOK for tasks that need doing rather than waiting for someone to task you. One more-- Election night 2006, I was GOTV by flashlight in Austin MN with a partnee. It was cold and windy. Every voter we'd talked to for the last hour had already voted. Polls closed in 15 minutes. My canvas partner (who had the car) wanted to go. I decided to knock one last door-- an elderly woman answered. She had called our campaign office to setup a ride for herself and her daughter, but the driver never came.... !!! We had them jump in the car and they got into line to vote with 5 minutes to spare. That extra door made all the tramping around in the dark worth it.

What advice do you have for someone coming off their first or second campaign who would like to follow your career path?

Be willing to do the little & boring things the right way. Everyone has a role to play and you want to gain a reputation as reliable. This is a people business, job titles don't matter long term. Watch people you admire (see Nancy on making every volunteer feel appriciated) and try to figure out their magic. Remember to say thank you as many times as possible.

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What was your position on the 2006 Minnesota DFL Coordinated Campaign? 

Intern, CD-1

What is your current or most recent position?

Deputy Director for Research, The White House

Please briefly tell us about your career path. What have you been up to since the 2006 election cycle?

I’ve worked in a variety of campaign and consulting jobs since moving to DC in 2011, interning and then working full time at two polling firms in the 2012 cycle, working at an opposition research consultant in the 14 and 16 cycles, Deputy Research Director / Research Director for the Independent Expenditure at the Democratic Governors Association in 2018. Biden for President Deputy Research Director 2019-2020, followed by the same position on the Biden-Harris transition and the White House.

What skills/lessons did you learn on the 2006 Coordinated Campaign that prepared you for your current or most recent position?

Keep working hard for strong candidates you believe in and (eventually) things will work out. Always ask questions if you’re not sure what you’re doing on a campaign — your supervisor would rather spend five minutes showing you how to do something than an hour fixing your mistake.

What advice do you have for someone coming off their first or second campaign who would like to follow your career path?

Never be afraid to ask your precious bosses for help applying to new jobs — they want to help you. Keep in touch with old bosses, committee (dccc dscc dnc dfl etc) staff and consultants. Never get despondent about [what you think is] your dream job not working out. Go out of your way to help people you manage with future endeavors. Build a diverse team. Try to absorb as much knowledge as possible about your boss’s record and positions so you/coworkers never contradict them. Never work late for the sake of looking like working late or you’ll burn yourself out. Take post election vacations and turn off twitter (and always remember it isn’t real life!).

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I know this is a hard time for a like of campaigners who are job searching or aware that they will be again soon. What advice/answers would be helpful to you as you reach for your goals? Tweet me @CampaignSick and let me knoe!

Campaign Love and Mine,

Nancy 

Why Didn't I Get That Job?

Is there anything to get you in your head more than a job search? A job search during an pandemic perhaps? After several cycles I have become far too acquainted with the frustration and self-doubt that accompany the intervening months between election and new adventure. I had promised myself when I was a hiring manager last cycle that I would take note of the more precarious and ridiculous aspects of a job search and remind myself of them when I searched again. And yet I find myself tempted to give in to the familiar angst and ennui. 

It feels particularly cruel to be ghosted by a job for you which you were eminently qualified. If that is the case for you in this moment allow me to do my best to provide some reassurance that the reasons for your rejection (or lack of their even deigning to reject you, a practice we must abolish at once in our industry) might have been entirely out of your control. Below are 5 reasons you may have been passed over for an offer or even an interview at job at which it seemed you should be a shoe-in. 

1) You were overqualified. Sure ,I know this sounds like something you might tell yourself to feel better but it is also sometimes true. While some bosses embrace the possibility of a subordinate who could be a thought partner, others are intimidated by the prospect of managing someone who has similar qualifications to their own. In other cases, the resume screener might have gotten your resume and identified you as someone who will likely want to make more money, have more responsibility or generally not be happy in the role as it exists which leads to...

2) They are bad at writing a job description. Maybe that job only sounded perfect because the organization didn't describe it well, or didn't realize what they were looking for until they started getting back resumes. They may have requested someone with "3 to 5 years campaign experience" but specifically want that experience to be on an issue campaign while your experience is electoral. They may want someone with experience organizing a specific community but neglected to mention that. The job you were a "perfect fit" for might not be as good fit as you thought.

3) Other people were more qualified than you. This seems like such an obvious reason not to get an interview or a position that it is scarcely worth mentioning. But remember that just because someone else was more experienced than you are does not mean you would not have been great and well qualified at that job. Several times in my last job search I had great interviews where I was excited about the work and totally vibing with my interviewer and was very disappointed not to be called back only to see who eventually got the job and think "oh, good call."

4) They had an internal candidate. Ughhhh. Sometimes it seems that the entire application process is a farce. In many instances an organization's internal hr procedure requires that they post a job even if the hiring manager already has someone in mind. This sucks and I wish there were a way to signal that but alas, at least you've gotten more cover-letter writing practice.

5) Their funding situation changed. If you have been applying to a non-profit organization it may be that that position is no longer funded or that the funding is being delayed. A donor or organization's priorities can change and it's better to discover that before being brought on than after. 

I hope you find my list somewhat comforting, Campaignsickles. How else can I be supportive to you during this time? Tweet at me @CampaignSick for fastest replied.  We're in this together!

Campaign Love and Mine,

Nancy