Hello! Welcome! Did you want to grab a cup of coffee? Oh yeah no worries feel free to put your stuff down. I'll wait. That's better. Have a seat. I'm super flattered that you want my advice. If we were in the real world I'd be asking you about you and what you want to do next, but as it is this conversation is a little one-sided. I've already gotten a bunch of 1:1 requests and am happy to fulfill as many as I can but since I tend to give a lot of the same advice I thought I would put it down on paper for those readers who I don't know. Here are 6 pieces of advice I give at nearly every informational interview.
1) DO NOT feel bad for asking for these meetings. As of the end of this year I will be unemployed as well. It's the circle of life in this industry. We've all asked people who've been doing it longer than us for their help and advice. Just remember to be respectful and appreciative. For more on informational interview etiquette...click here!
2) It really doesn't matter that much what you do next so take the job that feels fun. This is really hard work to do if you're not enjoying yourself so the number one piece of advice I have for what's next career-wise is do something that feels fun. We've all spent a ton of time hemming and hawing over what looks good on a resume, what will open more doors etc only to have that job not turn out to be what we wanted or that decision feel inconsequential in retrospect. Especially early on in your career there really is no wrong move as long as you are learning and growing and continuing to make connections so worry less about what you think you should be doing and instead do a killer job at the thing you want to be doing and that will help you advance your career.
3) Get a variety of experiences. Moving around the country I've noticed that people tend to get stuck in their ways if they don't broaden their horizons. Even the best operative who has only worked in California has only worked in California and if even she wants to stay in California there's a lot to be learned from how we do things in other states. Same goes for people who have only ever worked for one boss, only worked on large or on small campaigns etc. Getting exposed to as many different experiences in our industry as possible makes you a more prepared, more well-rounded operative. Jobs in our industry often last less than a year so there's little risk to putting yourself out there and trying something different. It also grows your network to interact with new and different types of people. The further you get in your career the harder it is to keep from getting pigeon-holed so push yourself to have a broad base of adventures now.
4) Keep going out on the campaign trail. This was difficult advice to hear in my mid-twenties when I just wanted stability (which basically meant an apartment and a boyfriend) and was feeling exhausted and deflated. More on how that worked out for me here. But if I had not tried so desperately to find a means to backdoor my way into the DC jobs I really wanted instead of just going out and managing more races, I'd be in a much different, and much further along place in my career. As I said above every campaign you do gets you new experiences and new connections and better prepares you for whatever is next. If you want to wind up as a consultant, at a PAC or a committee the best way to get there is to keep doing campaigns for as long as you are able. (Obviously if you don't want to keep working on campaigns/in campaign life, don't keep working on campaigns but if you want to have a job as an expert in the field, you gotta put in the time.)
5) Get comfortable with imposter syndrome. It doesn't matter how far you get in your career, you will still have moments when you ask yourself "am I really qualified to be doing this?" I guarantee you Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for all their competence and confidence have moments where they're like, "Oh wow. I'm about in charge of this mother******." (Granted the bar for that office has been significantly lowered and they are exceptionally qualified but still.) If you see a job you want, but it feels like a stretch for you, apply for it. If a friend or mentor suggests you are qualified to lead a team, or manage, or put your resume forward for something, believe them. The person who believes they have nothing new to learn entering a new job is the wrong one. It may be there are more qualified applicants than you in which case the worst thing that happens is you don't get an interview and no one thinks about it again. As someone who has done a lot of hiring over the past couple cycles I can tell you the only times I have scoffed at an application was when someone was clearly under-qualified and smugly ignorant of their lack of qualifications. I'm talking about the one-time field organizer who applied for a senior management position on our African American outreach team with "I know what it's like to be a minority because I grew up as a liberal in a mostly Republican town." Barring that level of oblivious no one is going to fault you for shooting your shot and as they say, you miss 100% of the shots you don't take.
6) Be kind, to yourself and other people. We are coming off a cycle where you could make the argument that empathy was the biggest issue at play. And the good news is that broadly speaking, we won. I've heard this expressed a variety of different ways..."self care", "assuming best intentions", "radical hospitality" and I'm a big believer in all of the above. In a lot of ways I think this starts with not taking yourself too seriously. Because these jobs can become part of our identity when we don't feel respected professionally; because we are not getting the jobs we want, because other people are moving up more quickly than we are or because we don't feel like we're being heard and empowered at work it can be emotionally devastating. And sometimes that can result in us lashing out at ourselves or others. It's important to remember that there's a whole world at play that has nothing to do with you. Maybe that job wasn't for you. Maybe you're not getting the resources you want in your position because your boss has less leeway in making decisions than you think she does. I regret the times when I let my pride keep me from seeing the best in my coworkers and even more I regret the times when I let my pride keep me from believing in myself.
So what other questions do you have? Happy to answer anything I am able to, especially here on the blog where it might help other people. For now, I hope this helped.
Campaign Love and Mine,
Nancy
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