Government, Law, and Policy

Department of Justice. Federal Reserve. Federal Trade Commission. These are a few of more than 120 federal departments and agencies (and that doesn’t include the U.S. Postal Service) where roughly 2 million civilians have government jobs, the largest employer in the US. These jobs are also available in all 50 states, not just DC, and all U.S. territories and in more than 140 foreign countries.

This could be in a Governors’ office or other state-wide entities or in the Mayor’s office of a big city or small town. What level of impact do you want to have?

In this fast-paced, challenging environment your title could be legislative assistant, scheduler, or campaign worker in the office of your favorite Congressman or Senator. There are opportunities in 535 Congressional offices (100 in the Senate, 435 in the House), plus in over a hundred committees and subcommittees. If you want to serve in the world where politics and policy meet, this could be for you.

Are you attracted to the alphabet soup of CIA, NSA, DoD, FBI, and more? There are 18 federal agencies working together to protect the USA by collecting, analyzing, and distributing information used for national security decision making.

A career in the Armed Forces is a great way to serve in one of five active duty military branches – Army, Air Force, Navy, Marines, or Coast Guard. In school you might explore ROTC or after graduation consider attending an Officer Candidate School (OCS).

Think tanks are public-policy research analysis and engagement organizations that generate advice on domestic and international issues. Whether on a topical interest like international affairs, environment or education, or a regional issue in Asia, Africa, or Europe, there is a group of scholars out there studying the situation where you can apply your research skills and dive deep into the issues. There are over 6,000 think tanks around the world, from well-known names like the Brookings Institution and American Enterprise Institute to the Energy and Resources Institute in India and Istituto Bruno Leoni (IBL) in Italy.

Political risk refers to the possibility that investors will lose money or make less money due to political decisions or events occurring in a country or emerging market in which they have invested. Opportunities in this work exist in large consulting firms and insurance companies like Eurasia Group and Kroll Associates and also smaller financial companies, rating services, and energy firms. Political consulting or communications groups advise campaigns on virtually all of their activities, from opposition research and voter polling to field strategy and get-out-the-vote efforts. Some examples are KSE Partners, Glover Park Group, VH Strategies, and Lake Research Partners.

Maybe you’re thinking about law school at some point. Are you ready to engage in the criminal justice system and advocate for clients? Perhaps you want to be in front of a judge in a courtroom or use your influence to persuade people with your written and oral communication skills behind the scenes. Maybe you envision yourself on the public interest side of law, or at a large corporate law firm. Are you more interested in civil or criminal, prosecution or defense? Before law school, and even as a permanent career, some grads take on paralegal or legal assistant roles to see what the field is like. These could be at any size law firm focusing on a certain issue, and also at public defender offices or district attorney offices.