The Great Job Debate

Every college student dreams of the day they graduate into their dream job. For me, that's managing political campaigns. Unlike many who long for the spotlight, ready to change the world, I dream of the late nights, early mornings, and poor dining that comes with campaigns. Any of you political minded people are definitely wondering, what the heck is wrong with me. Campaigns are notoriously grueling, testing, and trying. Generally people hate campaigning. Except me. I'm one of the very few political nerds who lives for it.

Regardless of field, we all know that in order to get a job, one must spend a lot of time in college interning, networking, and connecting with the 'real world.' As a future campaign manager, it can get to be a little difficult to make those connections, but this is a lucky year. With plenty of campaigns going, it's a great time for me to make those connections.

Seems great right? Well not quite. 99% of these connections are through unpaid internships. And as someone carrying a pretty hefty student debt already, I'm not a big fan of working for free when I've got about $56 to pay to the state every month. Plus. I occasionally like to eat, so buying some food would be a plus too.

So here's the TL/DR:
I need to network and make connections within campaign management by interning on a campaign, but I'm poor.

Now onto my current dilemma.

I was offered a chance to interview with a campaign manager last night. A local Congressional campaign, nothing too fancy. The candidate is apparently very nice, taking on a lot of interns from my University. Office is a few metro stops down. Busy office often with the candidates dog around too. Interns are required to work 3 shifts per week, about 15 hours, with really flexible shift schedules. AND Interns are paid $13 an hour. Which is pretty substantial for DC! With 15 hours at $13/hour, I'm making net about $115 per week! Of course with taxes it's less, but it'll be enough for me to pay for my loans every month, buy some food, AND maybe even splurge to help refill my closet with clothes that actually fit.

Sounds great, right? Connections, networking, campaigning, politics, AND paid?? It's perfect! Too perfect...

What's the catch? Well it's a pretty big one. The candidate is a Democrat.

(Dun, Dun, DUN!)

Cue the horror movie scream, this is my worst nightmare. I figured I would have this issue eventually, but not yet! I thought I thought I had a few years to decide whether I would cave to a Dem for the sake of a paycheck. But no. The issue is in the now. My connection is passing my cell phone number to the campaign today, giving me a few hours to decide whether or not to take this or not.

I've decided to think seriously about it. Though I am a registered Republican, I'm not so proud that I won't work for a paycheck. Working on a campaign will be much better than working as a nanny or dog sitter like I was prepared to do. It'll look great on my resume to have real campaign experience, and in an interview I can easily spin working for a democrat into a positive.

It's a dog eat dog world out there, and I've got to get my dog into the ring. The phone interview should be within the next few days, so I need to decide by then.

Until next time, writing to you from M, Personally