Political Campaign Jobs and the Skills they Require

Next, to the candidate, the campaign manager is the most important person in a political campaign. The campaign manager controls all aspects of the campaign relieving the candidate to focus on being the face of the campaign. They come up with the strategy along with the other department heads and delegate responsibilities to the other departments. They coordinate the entire campaign as per the campaign plan from fundraising to voter contact. Naturally, this is a top-tier position and requires prior experience inside a campaign.

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The campaign manager oversees all aspects of the campaign including day-to-day operations, the hiring, and management of staff, the coordination and implementation of the fundraising operations, and ongoing coordination with the candidate. They are also responsible for creating and managing the campaign budget. Campaign managers must have excellent organizational skills, be level-headed, have good interpersonal skills, and not be afraid of raising money.

This role is for someone who knows the constituency and can supervise the legal side of fundraising. The fundraising director comes up with a donor list based on contributors to past campaigns or other affluent supporters. Then they send donation requests to the voters using different media like direct mail or emails. They also plan fundraising events where they make personal appeals to meet fundraising goals. This means the fundraising director has to have a good standing among the donors. There are also regulatory bodies and watchdog groups keeping an eye on campaign finances so the fundraising director should be familiar with campaign finance law.

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​The finance director is responsible for raising the money that will allow the campaign to accomplish its goals. The finance director works closely with the candidate, campaign manager, and a finance committee to meet the financial goals of the campaign. They are in charge of keeping the candidate on track with fundraising, preparing for and staffing call time, and overseeing all fundraising events. A good fundraiser must be highly organized, outgoing, and willing to push the candidate and campaign toward meeting their fundraising goals.

The campaign treasurer prepares the finance compliance reports and keeps track of all money flowing in and out of the campaign. They are responsible for maintaining accounts of fundraising activities and budgets of various campaign spendings. Their main goal is to make sure the campaign is on the right track in financial terms and within legal constraints. This role is for someone who is good with numbers and money management.

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The campaign treasurer oversees the financial and accounting aspects of the campaign. They monitor all contributions, maintain financial records and are responsible for compliance with the relevant election board. On smaller campaigns treasurers may have the responsibility to approve expenditures and assist in the preparation and monitoring of the budget. Campaign treasurers are often the only other individual, apart from the candidate, whose name is filed with an election authority, and must have significant experience in accounting or finance.

The success of a campaign relies a lot on how the candidate is presented to the voters. The Press Secretary takes charge of the press coverage and public relations effort of the campaign. The role involves quite a bit of public speaking. On top of that, the Press Secretary sets up interviews with the candidate, creates press releases, and holds press conferences. They also have to keep note of what the press or social media says about the candidate and the opponents.

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​The communications director is in charge of all of the campaign’s interactions with the media. They build relationships with the press, communicate with the media as the key spokesperson, set up interviews, and identify media opportunities for the campaign. They may help write and develop campaign literature, draft speeches for the candidate and create copy for the campaign website. The communications director should have prior experience and contacts with the media, be a good writer and communicator, and be a pro-active thinker and strategist.

From political speeches to anything that the campaign sends out to outside media, the communications coordinator is responsible for the draft. The job covers political and legislative communication, speech writing, campaign and event communication, writing on social media and newsletters. So someone with the writing chops and being able to implement a communication strategy would be a good fit for this role.

This role can be confused with the work of a Press Secretary. In fact, a small campaign for a local election may have one person handling both functions. In a large political campaign, the job of a media strategist is to handle the promotional activities and tackle situations during the course of the campaign. They envision and create print, TV, radio and online ads to present the candidate. This is a job for someone with a media background.

This is yet another important role and we have an entire post covering the different types of political consultants available for hire for different campaigns. Consultants are specialists who craft the campaign message through research on the voter base and demographics. They understand the candidate’s persona and key principles to create a message that would resonate with the voters. They would also advise on how to best use ads to reach out to supporters.

The Chief Information Officer heads the campaign’s political tech requirements. They set up the campaign website and control the information database like the voter file. They also pick the tools for activities like phone banking and online fundraising. In a small-sized campaign, they can even run the social media promotion themselves.

The grassroots coordinator oversees all the grassroots efforts of the campaign. This includes voter registration, get out the vote (GOTV), absentee-voter drives and canvassing. They assign responsibilities to field organizers and volunteers on the ground. This position requires someone skilled in organizing and planning.

Field organizers run the local campaign offices. They train the volunteers, distribute campaign literature, plan canvassing efforts and host neighborhood events for promotion. As the campaign gets underway, they are tasked with voter registration drives and GOTV. On election day, the field organizers are sure voters are turning up at the booths.

Researchers lend credibility to the campaign message and speeches. They back up whatever the candidate says with cold data, evidence, and surveys.They also have to be on top of the opponent’s messages and find where the claims made by them could be countered. This is a role for someone who’s knowledgeable on the issues and policies of the election season.

The volunteer coordinator, as the name suggests, recruits, delegates and organizes the volunteers in the campaign. The volunteers would naturally be the most untrained and new to the campaign scene. The coordinator has to get them to work in sync with the duties and among themselves. They can delegate responsibilities to experienced volunteers and create teams for functions like door-to-door campaigning or putting up yard signs. The volunteer coordinator has to be a people person and good in training unskilled staffers.

This is the entry-level role for anyone interested in working in a political campaign. Being a volunteer means you get to explore first-hand the world of campaigning, play a part in activities like calling voters, asking for funds, or setting up events. The work could be in the campaign office or out on the ground. This role has no extra skill requirements, though you could always use your enthusiasm and networking skills to climb up the ladder from here on.

These are not the only jobs in a political campaign. There are several assistant roles like being a communications assistant, a finance assistant, or an operations assistant inside every department. In a small election, you can start off with an assigned role even with less experience. All that matter is how interested you are in the work that is handed to you.

The scheduler is responsible for accepting and acting on all invitations, seeking out potential events, and putting together the candidate’s schedule. The scheduler makes sure that the candidate is briefed about each of the events and is given proper directions, contact information, and collects briefing information from the other team members on each event. The scheduler also ensures that candidate call-time and voter contact time remains the top priority. The scheduler needs to be assertive, meticulous with details, pleasant on the phone, and able to say “no” when necessary

The Office Manager is responsible for maintaining the campaign headquarters and coordinating the administrative aspects of the campaign. They may need to manage staff, infrastructure, supplies, and a myriad of other details. This person needs to have a good overview of the entire campaign and the ability to solve problems as they arise.

This information technology manager coordinates and manages all aspects of the campaign with regard to technology – website, database, computer infrastructure, etc. The IT manager’s responsibilities might range from maintaining the website to developing the database to providing a computer network for the staff. This person needs to have a broad knowledge of technology, computers, and software and be able to work in a rapid-paced environment. In larger campaigns, the website and data responsibilities would likely be split.

The Primary Duties of a Bodyguard

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A bodyguard provides personal protection for a client, keeping them safe from physical threats like assault, theft, kidnapping, or assassination. In this career, you may also protect the client’s belongings and privacy at the client’s request. You can work for any prominent individual, but most often, you work for the presidential candidate. As a bodyguard, you also have to drive your clients from place to place, screen the area for any threats, and conduct the client where they need to go. For larger security teams, you may be responsible for a specific task or area that your client frequents.

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Bodyguards are skilled in assessing threats and implementing strategies to prevent threats from occurring. While they do need the skills to react in the face of danger, the bodyguard’s work really takes place before a threat even occurs. 

In general, a bodyguard will assess potential security issues, develop appropriate security strategies, and competently react to threats as they occur. 

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Specifically, the duties of a bodyguard include:

• Securing public locations before a client attends public events such as award shows, conferences, or other public appearances

• Performing background checks for new employees, staff, or vendors

• Escorting the clients in public settings

• Managing large crowds

• Identifying suspicious behavior or unauthorized people

• Driving the client and safely fleeing the scene of a security threat

• Checking for vulnerabilities at the client’s home and public venues