Expand the CPD office to properly support politics majors
Expand the CPD office to properly support politics majors
With inadequate attention, many students simply abandon public service aspirations.
[Capitol Hill. Source: The Noun Project]
W&L’s Career and Professional Development (CPD) office undoubtedly provides excellent support for students pursuing careers in finance, consulting, and marketing.
But the same cannot be said for students hoping to enter politics or public service. Politics majors and those looking to enter a public service career instead must rely on luck, professors, and peers to successfully land jobs with campaigns, on the Hill, in the Administration, in lobbying, with a nonprofit, or with trade organizations.
With at best haphazard support, many interested students unfortunately abandon these paths. I got lucky, and my story is unique. But the fact that someone in a privileged position like mine is struggling and needs help should tell you all you need to know. My experience demonstrates not only how the CPD office has failed, but also how they can reinvigorate and expand their support for politics majors.
Coming to W&L, I knew that I wanted to work in a policy-related role, but I lacked the necessary insider knowledge to do so. My parents are teachers back home in Charlotte, NC, and I had no connections in D.C. I naturally wanted to join the Mock Convention team, so I immediately sought advice from former political department members, who were then juniors and seniors.
That first experience with networking taught me a lot. I then had a small group of mentors who offered advice on my broader career aspirations. But as they began their own job searches, hardly any interacted with the CPD office, and not for a lack of trying.
But I still made my own attempt to engage with the office. To be clear, they did help refine my resume, and they provided funding for two summer opportunities, which I am incredibly thankful for.
But when I asked for advice on how to get a job on the Hill, in D.C., or at least in the policy world, their usefulness came to an end. After multiple meetings, I was given sound advice on applying to law school but was otherwise met with blank stares and inadequate guidance.
They told me to dress nice and “talk right,” which I think I already knew. They told me to expand my network but gave no guidance on how to do so or where to start, other than a nod to Colonnade Connections. They pointed to internship pages on Congressmen’s websites, but nothing more.
So, seeking more tangible opportunities, I applied for the Washington Term program as a freshman. I knew that as a practical matter freshmen typically were not accepted, but I was desperate for help. The director, politics professor Brian Alexander, offered to help anyone interested in the program navigate D.C., whether they were ultimately accepted or not.
So I took him up on his offer. However, he was overloaded, and we were unable to connect until winter break. He was, of course, very helpful.
Professor Alexander walked me through the different jobs available in a Capitol Hill office. He helped me navigate whether I wanted to work in a communications, operations, or a legislative role, gave candid and informed advice on how to pitch myself to Hill offices and policy shops, and showed me how to identify hiring managers. He stressed the importance of getting an application flagged. Finally, he helped me find a first internship which made me a competitive applicant once I got into Washington Term the following year.
Once in the Washington Term program, he put me in touch with well-placed alumni in D.C., allowing me to network and eventually land internships. Critically, he could then use LeadershipConnect, a networking service that provides contact information for employees at law firms, government-relations practices, trade associations, nonprofits, national and local media outlets, and all levels of government. However, he only had access through his now expired login from George Mason University, where he completed his Ph.D.
Professor Alexander is a good man who wants to help all students. But he has limited time and can only do so much. The line is long and his office is never empty. For no fault of his own, not every student can access the necessary resources.
As I’ve gained more experience in D.C., I too have begun guiding my peers as they start their careers. But there are still many students who fall between the cracks, who were not as lucky as I was to have had a Mock Convention role and Washington Term slot to open doors and build expertise.
What about students who are never told the makeup of a congressional office, how to ensure an application is flagged, the different roles available in D.C., where to even start, or who to contact? What about the students who don’t have family strings to pull?
These issues especially have a negative impact on Democrats on campus looking to get started on the Hill. There are good Washington and Lee alumni who want to fill that mentorship gap, but they are overwhelmingly Republican.
If you get lucky and are told to reach out to one of them, as a Republican, that may be your silver bullet to a job placement. But those same people are overused, while a large group of alumni who would be willing to take on that role have never been contacted by the school or students — because we don’t know who they are.
But on the Democratic side, there are so few in a position to help that too many of us bite the bullet and turn to consulting over a career in public service. I desperately want to help young Washington and Lee Democrats like myself, but the lack of CPD support is a major barrier.
The CPD office needs to step up and provide at least the basic resources which students need to foster careers in D.C.
They need to maintain a large network of D.C. contacts, as I have done for myself with the help of Professor Alexander and alumni like Kyle Perel, Jamie Tucker, and Chris Giblin. They need to approach the role like a government relations agent, maintaining Hill connectivity among a constantly rotating cast of alumni.
The CPD office can do so by adding a full-time, politics-specific staffer, someone who could also provide freshmen with a thorough introduction to the politics landscape. This role would help Professor Alexander and the Washington Term program reach even greater heights and alleviate the workload of those who go beyond their jobs to help students.
They also need to provide access to LeadershipConnect, a service which will help journalism majors as well with an extensive alumni and non-alumni database.
Importantly, the framework to improve their support for politics students is already present in their programming for finance, consulting, and marketing.
For these pathways, the CPD office connects students with a carefully maintained network of relevant alumni. They guide students throughout the entire recruiting process for competitive investment banking and management consulting roles. The school even provides expensive services, such as subscriptions to Factset, The Wall Street Journal, and the Bloomberg terminal to help students gain needed knowledge. They are handheld while we are left on our own.
All of that is completely missing in the world of politics. Again, many influential alumni on the Hill or elsewhere in D.C. have never been contacted by the school. Embarrassingly, even a W&L alumni currently serving as a member of Congress told me that they had never been contacted by university representatives.
The people at the CPD office are incredible at their jobs. They are the best in the business. But they don’t at all provide the level of attention which one of the school’s most prominent majors deserves. That is why a new hire focused only on politics and public service is so needed.
W&L aims to develop “engaged citizenship” amongst its students, and if the university truly wants to develop changemakers, then they must further expand support for students interested in politics, policy, and government relations. Otherwise, our school will fail its mission.
I’m asking for help because I need it. The fellow students who I am trying to help need it. And if the school wants to live up to its promise, it needs it too.
[The opinions expressed in this magazine are the author's own and do not reflect the official policy or position of The Spectator, or any students or other contributors associated with the magazine. It is the intention of The Spectator to promote student thought and civil discourse, and it is our hope to maintain that civility in all discussions.]
