Popular Political Science Jobs and Salary
Political science is an exciting career that many people dream of having. The reason is that political science is one of the few careers that you could have the chance to work for the US government. There are many political science jobs that provide opportunities to interact with government officers and derive policies to change the way how things should get better for the people. With political science jobs, you could be part of the system that helps to change the world to a better place.
The following is a list of political science jobs and their respective salaries. These are the most common political science jobs that not only pay a fairly good salary but also come with exciting job nature that most people will find it cool to pursue.
Foreign Service Officers
Foreign service officer is one of the most exciting jobs in political science. Also referred as political officer, foreign service officer normally works in the capital of United States, Washington, D.C. But some of them also work in foreign countries in the embassy as a diplomat or representative to their own country. In a foreign country, these officers will work closely with the local government and monitor the political stability of the particular country.
In general, the job responsibility of a political officer is to communicate and develop contact with foreign government. Besides, political officers also study and analyze government policies, world events and general issues affecting our society. In return, these officers will make recommendations to the government based on the study done on the information collected.
According to the U.S. Department of Sate, the starting salary of a foreign service officer is $48,000 per year in 2011. The senior position could make up to $60,000 per year, excluding all the perks and benefits that usually come with the jobs.
Political Campaign Managers
If you have seen the way how election of the local or federal government is performed, then you will know that the election campaign is mostly run by a political campaign manager. In short, a campaign manager designs a political campaign and executes the plan to help the candidate to win an election.
Before creating the campaign, the political campaign manager will usually study public opinion and feedback from the local society about the chance the candidate will win the election. The campaign manager will create a plan based on the feedback to maximize the effect of the political campaign before the actual election takes place.
The task of a campaign manager is difficult and tiring especially during the time near the election. Working over time and in the weekend is not unusual for a political campaign manager. The salary of a political campaign manager starts at around $50,000 per year and can go up to $70,000 per year for an experience political campaign manager.
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Officer
The CIA officer is a well known figure in the US because of movies featuring these agents busting crimes and catching terrorists, thanks to Hollywood. In fact, CIA agent is the only political science job that receives the most applications. Due to the increasing instability of world politics and the risk of wars, there is increasing demand for CIA officers in the US. The CIA officer will work not only in Washington D.C but also in foreign countries.
The job nature of CIA officer is to study all areas of our societies including how certain decision by the government affects the people. When a CIA agent is posted to a foreign land, the main task of the officer is to study the foreign government policy and how it affects the interest of the United States. The information gathered will be transmitted back to the US government and the government will make necessary adjustment in terms of diplomatic relationship based on the information collected.
The starting salary of a CIA officer is $50,000 and a senior position can make up to $100,000 per year. The salary of the job based mainly on the level of education and job experience.
Political Lobbyists
The highest paid job in political science is the political lobbyist. A political lobbyist can earn as much as $100,000 per year in average with the highest paid position making around $150,000 per year. The lobbyist is a challenging job in the sense that the person must be knowledgeable in all aspect of the society including issues affecting the society, voters’ positions and current government policies.
Getting the votes of legislators on certain issues so that the bills affecting these issues will be passed or suppressed in congress is the main responsibility of the lobbyists. There are several places in which the lobbyists can be employed. For example, the government, non profit associations, environmental groups or even private companies are the biggest employers of political lobbyists.
These lobbyists who represent these organizations will work hard to get the bill passed in order to safeguard the interest of their employers. The way how it works is that the lobbyists will analyze the particular issues and try to convince the legislators to vote to pass certain bills in congress. Unfortunately, the bills may be skewed towards the interest of certain groups and it’s not always the case that policy passed will benefit the society as a whole.
