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Political internship skills for your resume and career

Updated January 8, 2025

2 min read

Quoted experts

Matthew Costello Ph.D.,

Marty Jordan Ph.D.

Below we've compiled a list of the most critical political internship skills. We ranked the top skills for political interns based on the percentage of resumes they appeared on. For example, 9.6% of political internship resumes contained foreign policy as a skill. Continue reading to find out what skills a political internship needs to be successful in the workplace.

15 political internship skills for your resume and career

1. Foreign Policy

Here's how political interns use foreign policy:

Drafted foreign policy reports and correspondence.
Served as administrative assistant to the management team in selecting current articles and materials on foreign policy issues for courses.

2. Press Releases

Here's how political interns use press releases:

Authored and implemented press releases and articles advocating various politicians and political viewpoints published in city and university media.
Drafted numerous press releases on topics relevant to local constituency requests and Capitol Hill legislation.

3. Administrative Tasks

Here's how political interns use administrative tasks:

Assisted in varying political research projects and several other administrative tasks.
Performed administrative tasks with high levels of pressure and accountability.

4. Background Research

Background research is done to learn more about a general area of interest. This research helps form a more focused opinion on the topic.

Here's how political interns use background research:

Aided the DNC Western Political Director with policy and background research and support tasks.

5. Political Campaigns

Here's how political interns use political campaigns:

Researched and compiled data and information to use in political campaign and advertising.
Produced election analyses by researching political campaigns, voting patterns and outcomes.

6. Event Planning

Here's how political interns use event planning:

Involved with grassroots organizing, recruitment, event planning and execution, networking, and social media.
Assisted in event planning, canvassing, phone banking, and polling data entry.

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7. Policy Research

Policy research can be defined as the process of conducting research or analysing a fundamental social problem to provide policymakers with rational, action-oriented recommendations to resolve the problem. Largely, there are two categories of policy research: Policy Evaluation - determines the impact of specific policies, programs, or procedures. Assessment is also introduced after implementing the policies to evaluate success or course correct, if necessary. Policy Analysis - It incorporates a 'best alternative of comparison' of various procedures, policies, and strategies.

Here's how political interns use policy research:

Conducted opposition research and policy research.
Conducted policy research and wrote reports.

8. Voter Registration

Voter registration is the enrollment of eligible individuals to participate in the electoral system.

Here's how political interns use voter registration:

Coordinated volunteers and voter registration/Outreach.
Assisted with voter registration outreach programs held at the office and worked with volunteers in those same activities.

9. Local Politicians

Here's how political interns use local politicians:

Investigated and categorized information on local politicians and economic figures.

10. Think Tanks

Here's how political interns use think tanks:

Translated documents, attended events held at think tanks, and wrote about the information presented.

11. Community Outreach

Here's how political interns use community outreach:

Assisted in development and implementation of community outreach by establishing and developing relationships with community organizers and leaders.
Led local canvassing campaign as well as revised polling methodology for more effective community outreach.

12. Political Events

Here's how political interns use political events:

Used my strong management skills to organize important political events and maintain a great relationship with essential volunteers and community members.
Collected polling data, coordinated fundraisers and staffed and organized political events.

13. RAN

RAN stands for "revenue anticipation note," which refers to a practice where an organization (often the government) borrows money to support a specific project. When these funds are then repaid, the money given to the lenders comes from the profits generated by the business originally funded.

Here's how political interns use ran:

Scheduled, organized, and ran phone banks.
Managed and implemented a targeted field plan Created and ran daily role-plays, trainings, and briefings.

14. Campaign Events

Here's how political interns use campaign events:

Assisted in organizing political campaign events including front office campaign services for Gabriel.
Worked closely with elected officials and political consultants in organizing campaign events.

15. Facebook

Here's how political interns use facebook:

Maintained social networking campaigns and Facebook ads, calculating viewing statistics by voters for analysis
Elevated company's social media presence through creation of comprehensive social media strategy linking Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn Feeds.

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What skills help Political Interns find jobs?

Tell us what job you are looking for, we’ll show you what skills employers want.

What type of skills will young political internships need?

Matthew Costello Ph.D.

Professor, Saint Xavier University

Problem-solving and communication skills are going to be at the top of everyone's agenda. Expanding remote employment and an increasingly international market will lead companies and public agencies to look for people who can articulate complex problems clearly, work together in teams, and bridge cultural divides. Writing for digital environments including social media will be an important and marketable skill for people seeking work in journalism, politics, and policy areas.
Candidates who are multilingual will be sought after in increasing numbers.
These communication skills will be sought because what needs to be communicated will be complex. Addressing these complex issues will require people who are skilled in problem-solving. The skills of the political scientist, analyzing complex data to identify causal patterns, evaluating competing proposals and building evidence-based recommendations, extrapolating current trends to anticipate emergent issues and concerns, all are uniquely suited to meet this need.
Data skills will be important-particularly working with large data. Training in the use of statistical software programs such as SPSS or Stata will probably stand out.

What technical skills for a political internship stand out to employers?

Marty Jordan Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Michigan State University

To be sure, the skills that employers seek in public administration graduates still include critical and analytical thinking, excellent verbal and written communication skills, an understanding of the interdependencies across institutions and networks, ingenuity and tenacity, a commitment to evidence-based decisionmaking, among others. Nonetheless, employers are demanding more and more that students have experience working with, managing, analyzing, and making inferences from data. The "big data" revolution is here to stay, and employers will rely more and more on making decisions using data. Students should seek to enroll in courses that provide them with opportunities to work with and understand data, to simultaneously recognize the power and pitfalls of data. These quantitative and empirical skills will serve students well regardless of the sector they decide to engage.

What soft skills should all political internships possess?

David Cunningham

Professor, University of Maryland

Graduates should have strong interpersonal communication and time management skills. As more telework options are offered, managers need to be confident that employees can handle their responsibilities with less direct supervision than might have previously occurred for recent graduates.

Do you want to know more?

List of political internship skills to add to your resume

The most important skills for a political internship resume and required skills for a political internship to have include:

Foreign Policy
Press Releases
Administrative Tasks
Background Research
Political Campaigns
Event Planning
Policy Research
Voter Registration
Local Politicians
Think Tanks
Community Outreach
Political Events
RAN
Campaign Events
Facebook
News Articles

Political Action Committee
Government Officials
Congressional Hearings
Blog Posts
Policy Issues
Twitter
Political Research
Political Candidates
Community Events
PowerPoint
Data Analysis
Press Conferences
Donor Research
Political Issues
Social Justice
EU

Campaign Strategies
Foreign Service
Biographies
Presidential Election
Public Events
NGOs
Government Agencies
Human Rights
Sierra
Campaign Materials
Clips
General Assembly
Ministry
NGP

Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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