How to Find a Political Internship

Landing your first political internship might feel nebulous, but Arena Careers makes the process straightforward.

Internships are typically part-time roles that allow you to support the work of a specific team in an organization or will have you working with various departments, gaining a wide array of experiences. Internships are valuable resume-building opportunities that can give you an inside look at the work you want to do long-term. Compensation for internships varies. Some are unpaid, some offer a stipend, and some are paid.

Find a Political Internship

How can you find a political internship? With Arena Careers, it’s never been easier.

Go to Arena Careers
Search for “Internship”
Enter your location in the “Location” section (or the location where you want to work)
Click “Create a job alert” so Arena Careers will notify you when any posted jobs match your search criteria.
Don’t forget to check out our full list of political jobs boards.

Among the options on the jobs board, you can typically find internships with:

Campaigns, where you might be supporting the day-to-day operations of the staff;
Democratic Committees, where you might be supporting a specific team like Digital or Fundraising;
Consulting or Specialty Firms, where you may be assigned to support a particular client;
Nonprofits, where you may be assigned to support a specific client.

No matter the employer, applying for an internship should be treated like applying for a job. Make sure you use these Arena Tools to power your search:

Interning in campaign politics is unlike other fields because the work is cycle-based, meaning you can find an upswell of roles when an election occurs. Typically, the cycle alternates between midterm and presidential elections, although there are municipal or local races and states like Virginia where an election happens yearly.

Remember: doing this work is often a numbers game. Landing your first job in politics requires applying to many jobs and having many informational interviews until hard work and luck strike, and you secure a job. But no matter the cycle, there is work to be done. Get started with Arena Careers and start applying for your first role in politics today >>>