How to hire a legislative assistant

How to hire a legislative assistant, step by step

Here's a step-by-step legislative assistant hiring guide:

• Step 1: Identify your hiring needs
• Step 2: Create an ideal candidate profile
• Step 3: Make a budget
• Step 4: Write a legislative assistant job description
• Step 5: Post your job
• Step 6: Interview candidates
• Step 7: Send a job offer and onboard your new legislative assistant
• Step 8: Go through the hiring process checklist

What does a legislative assistant do?

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1. Identify your hiring needs

   First, determine the employments status of the legislative assistant you need to hire. Certain legislative assistant roles might require a full-time employee, whereas others can be done by part-time workers or contractors.

   Determine employee vs contractor status

   Is the person you're thinking of hiring a US citizen or green card holder?

   Yes

   No

   A legislative assistant's background is also an important factor in determining whether they'll be a good fit for the position. For example, legislative assistants from different industries or fields will have radically different experiences and will bring different viewpoints to the role. You also need to consider the candidate's previous level of experience to make sure they'll be comfortable with the job's level of seniority.

   The following list breaks down different types of legislative assistants and their corresponding salaries.

   Type of Legislative Assistant	Description	Hourly rate
   Legislative Assistant	A Legislative Assistant develops and plans legislative initiatives and monitors legislative developments. They usually work for elected and appointed officials, advocacy groups, or non-profit organizations.	$11-39
   Legal Administrator	The job of legal administrative assistants is to provide support to lawyers and paralegals. They typically perform legal research, manage schedules, and draft legal-related documents... Show more	$15-31

2. Create an ideal candidate profile

   Common skills:

   • Policy Issues
   • Press Releases
   • Legislative Process
   • Committee Hearings
   • Legislative Issues
   • State Agencies
   • Legislative Session
   • Financial Services
   • Constituent Services
   • Legislative Research
   • Public Policy
   • Constituent Issues
   • Constituent Correspondence
   • Social Security

   Check all skills

   Responsibilities:

   • Manage office social media accounts including facebook, wordpress and twitter.
   • Manage website and social media content (Facebook) and write weekly blog for local media outlets.
   • Track and analyze all outside legislation that impact the Medicaid program.
   • Draft and review legislation focuse on issues impacting women and families, military sexual trauma, veterans, and human rights.
   • Provide operational oversight and legislative analysis of association relate measures.
   • Draft legislation to increase Medicare reimbursements for rural health care providers.

   More legislative assistant duties

3. Make a budget

   Including a salary range in the legislative assistant job description is a good way to get more applicants. A legislative assistant salary can be affected by several factors, such as the location of the job, the level of experience, education, certifications, and the employer's prestige.

   For example, the average salary for a legislative assistant in Georgia may be lower than in Alaska, and an entry-level engineer typically earns less than a senior-level legislative assistant. Additionally, a legislative assistant with lots of experience in the field may command a higher salary as a result.

   Average legislative assistant salary

   $45,614yearly

   $21.93 hourly rate

   ---

   Entry-level legislative assistant salary

   $24,000 yearly salary

   Updated January 31, 2026

   Average legislative assistant salary by state

   Rank	State	Avg. salary	Hourly rate
   1	Alaska	$67,872	$33
   2	District of Columbia	$56,834	$27
   3	New York	$53,401	$26
   4	Washington	$44,027	$21
   5	Wisconsin	$35,684	$17
   6	Kentucky	$34,870	$17
   7	Nebraska	$29,757	$14
   8	Florida	$28,762	$14
   9	Oklahoma	$27,764	$13

   Average legislative assistant salary by company

   Company

   Rank	Company	Average salary	Hourly rate	Job openings
   1	Earthjustice	$117,367	$56.43
   2	Mayor Ethan Berkowitz	$75,269	$36.19
   3	City of Jacksonville	$64,897	$31.20
   4	Washington State University	$58,386	$28.07
   5	Beacon Hill Staffing Group	$54,962	$26.42
   6	Milwaukee County	$46,449	$22.33
   7	MAJORITY	$41,695	$20.05
   8	City of Jacksonville, Florida - Government	$40,348	$19.40

4. Writing a legislative assistant job description

   A job description for a legislative assistant role includes a summary of the job's main responsibilities, required skills, and preferred background experience. Including a salary range can also go a long way in attracting more candidates to apply, and showing the first name of the hiring manager can also make applicants more comfortable. As an example, here's a legislative assistant job description:

   Legislative assistant job description example

   • Associate’s or bachelor's degree is preferred
   • Experience working in an office setting
   • Competent computer skills, including general knowledge of Microsoft Excel and Word, Adobe Reader and Acrobat, and general internet research skills
   • Excellent communication and organizational skills
   • Punctual, reliable, and hardworking
   • Comfortable working in a fast-paced, deadline-driven environment
   • Must be able to lift 25 pounds and be on your feet for long periods of time

   What will you be Responsible for?

   • Monitor legislative meetings and record action for our digital legislative services
   • Attend daily legislative floor sessions to gather legislative documents and information
   • Generate and format various legislative reports
   • Assist with various research projects and additional duties as assigned

   What does BridgeTower Media offer?

   • A competitive benefits package that includes health, vision, dental, life, short- and long-term disability coverages
   • Free 24-hour TeleMedicine and TeleCounseling Services
   • Generous vacation and holiday plan
   • Tuition Assistance Program
   • Weekly Pay
   • 401K with a company match
   • Summer weekend jumpstart hours-off at 2PM on Fridays
   • Growth opportunities to build your career

   Who is BridgeTower Media?

   BridgeTower Media is one of the country’s leading business-to-business media companies with 44 print and digital publications in more than 20 U.S. markets. BridgeTower Media empowers communities with insights and connections to ignite growth in the business, legal, and construction industries. Through a collection of authoritative media properties and publications across the United States, we have deep relationships in the communities we serve, enabling us to provide unparalleled access to industry leaders and expert information.

   BridgeTower Media and all subsidiaries are Equal Opportunity Employers and value diversity in our workplace.

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5. Post your job

   To find the right legislative assistant for your business, consider trying out a few different recruiting strategies:

   • Consider internal talent. One of the most important sources of talent for any company is its existing workforce.
   • Ask for referrals. Reach out to friends, family members, and current employees and ask if they know or have worked with legislative assistants they would recommend.
   • Recruit at local colleges. Attend job fairs at local colleges to recruit legislative assistants who meet your education requirements.
   • Social media platforms. LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter now have more than 3.5 billion users, and you can use social media to reach potential job candidates.

   Post your job online:

   • Post your legislative assistant job on Zippia to find and recruit legislative assistant candidates who meet your exact specifications.
   • Use field-specific websites.
   • Post a job on free websites.

6. Interview candidates

   Recruiting legislative assistants requires you to bring your A-game to the interview process. The first interview should introduce the company and the role to the candidate as much as they present their background experience and reasons for applying for the job. During later interviews, you can go into more detail about the technical details of the job and ask behavioral questions to gauge how they'd fit into your current company culture.

   You should also ask about candidates' unique skills and talents to see if they match the ideal candidate profile you developed earlier. Candidates good enough for the next step can complete the technical interview.

   The right interview questions can help you assess a candidate's hard skills, behavioral intelligence, and soft skills.

7. Send a job offer and onboard your new legislative assistant

   Once you've decided on a perfect legislative assistant candidate, it's time to write an offer letter. In addition to salary, it should include benefits and perks available to the employee. Qualified candidates may be considered for other positions, so make sure your offer is competitive. Candidates may wish to negotiate. Once you've settled on the details, formalize your agreement with a contract.

   It's also important to follow up with applicants who do not get the job with an email letting them know that the position is filled.

   To prepare for the new legislative assistant first day, you should share an onboarding schedule with them that covers their first period on the job. You should also quickly complete any necessary paperwork, such as employee action forms and onboarding documents like I-9, benefits enrollment, and federal and state tax forms. Finally, Human Resources must ensure a new employee file is created for internal record keeping.

8. Go through the hiring process checklist

   • Determine employee type (full-time, part-time, contractor, etc.)
   • Submit a job requisition form to the HR department
   • Define job responsibilities and requirements
   • Establish budget and timeline
   • Determine hiring decision makers for the role
   • Write job description
   • Post job on job boards, company website, etc.
   • Promote the job internally
   • Process applications through applicant tracking system
   • Review resumes and cover letters
   • Shortlist candidates for screening
   • Hold phone/virtual interview screening with first round of candidates
   • Conduct in-person interviews with top candidates from first round
   • Score candidates based on weighted criteria (e.g., experience, education, background, cultural fit, skill set, etc.)
   • Conduct background checks on top candidates
   • Check references of top candidates
   • Consult with HR and hiring decision makers on job offer specifics
   • Extend offer to top candidate(s)
   • Receive formal job offer acceptance and signed employment contract
   • Inform other candidates that the position has been filled
   • Set and communicate onboarding schedule to new hire(s)
   • Complete new hire paperwork (i9, benefits enrollment, tax forms, etc.)

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How much does it cost to hire a legislative assistant?