Post-Undergrad Job Ideas? [Pre-Public Policy]

[Raawx]

I'm looking to get some work experience before applying to some Public Policy Master's programs and I was looking for ideas on organizations/jobs to pursue. I've just graduated UC Berkeley with a degree in Political Science and I've wanted to take a few months off to relax/enjoy my summer. Now that the summer is slowly ending, I've begun looking around for job opportunities and such.

I've always enjoyed the more quantitative aspects of policy decision, but I have relatively little experience with policy itself. I was a transfer to UC Berkeley and had difficulties pursuing public policy classes, as I often had very little room in my schedule for much of anything. I enjoy working with statistical packages, conceptualizing research projects, organizing and cleaning data, producing visualizations, and the like. As a result, I've pursued (rather unaggressively) jobs that would help me develop those skills; political consulting jobs in DC. I've not applied to many organizations, but I've had relative success in application process.

I guess what I'm asking is--what jobs help show a commitment and interest in public policy? I know, it sounds like I want to get into a reputable Public Policy MA program because it looks good. And that's partially true, but I'd rather use these next two years to build my quantitative and analytical skills to be a competent applicant. So, I'm not sure--should I pursue a job developing my substantive understanding of my interests (Arab American/Education Policy)? Or should I work to hone my quantitative and analytical skills like I've already planned? If so, do you have any suggestions what kinds of jobs or opportunities to pursue? Or what organizations have positions that prepare individuals to be competent applicants? 

[Ben414]

Whichever jobs that sound interesting to you. It's a good idea to find a job where you can develop and apply your technical skills, but there are a lot of jobs that broadly do that and I'd recommend trying to find a substantive area broadly defined that you find interesting. Just as, if not more, important as developing those skills, though, is allowing yourself to explore other substantive areas and other types of work experience. Take good opportunities that come your way regardless of whether they fit into a narrow idea of the work experience you wanted to attain. You may decide you love research and want to get a PhD, or you may decide you love working with external stakeholders to guide and manage large-scale projects and want to get a MPA. You may even decide you don't want to get a Masters. My point can be summed up to this: there are a lot of different jobs and organizations that can prepare you for a MPP and the differences in preparation between them generally aren't significant, so don't worry too much about the specific organization or role and use this time to explore your interests.

[hopeful88]

I agree with the above. I would also advise you to look into Research Assistant positions at policy think tanks that dabble in your areas of interest (think Brookings, Center for American Progress). The pay probably won't be great but this would allow you to develop your quant skills and gain more experience in public policy. This type of position was a common pathway into my grad program.

[Mr. Government]

Agree with hopeful88. I worked for several years outside of DC at a think-tank/research firm as an RA that allowed me to get involved in a number of public policy projects that significantly boosted my application. The position allowed me to work as a client for CMS, the DOJ, and BLS, get involved in ACA policy, and even co-author a study that ended up being presented at a number of policy conferences. If you can get involved in your area of interest right away, you may even be able to get your employer to assist in funding your education if you agree to return after graduating and your degree concentration is relevant to the type of work they do. 

[coasts]

sent you a PM! 

[chocolatecheesecake]

There's also nothing like direct service experience to whet your appetite for working in policy. For example, tutoring or teaching to get in to education policy, Peace Corps for international development policy, union organizing to get into labor policy, Americorps for a lot of different things, etc. etc. It really depends on what you're interested in, and if you're thinking about pursuing a public policy related degree, be aware that it will be much harder/ seem unintuitive to go into the field after you get your degree. If you do it before grad school, it will be a clarifying experience, and bring a lot of depth to what you learn in the classroom afterwards. 

[Raawx]

Thank you for all for the responses! Sorry for the delayed response, aha. 

Reading over, I think I've got a clearer idea of what I likely should do; all of you are essentially saying that it doesn't quite matter what I do, so long as I care about it and it moves me toward my interests. At the same time, I feel like I'm the type of person that would be better served caring about certain specific issues, but having the experience to solve or attack a broad amount of policy problems with data analytics and such. Are any of you aware of good companies aside from big think tanks that tackle such problems in a more corporate setting? I'm guessing I'm thinking consulting, but more with a social good focus?

I'm also interested in working at democratic political consulting firms, but I'm not sure all of the firms out there. I'm already aware of Clarity Campaign Labs, BlueLabs, 270 Strategies and 538 Labs and was wondering if you guys knew of any more?

I'm immensely thankful for all of your help!