Overview

This guide is intended to assist you as you seek your first professional job. It is sometimes said that an undergraduate degree in a liberal arts discipline prepares you for your ultimate job rather than for your first job. While there is a kernel of truth in this statement, it is also true that the skills you develop in an undergraduate Political Science major are skills that are valued in the workplace, including an understanding of government and politics, the ability to write clearly and well, the capacity to think logically, and the ability to locate and evaluate information. But in this era of so-called "downsizing", finding your first professional job in which you can demonstrate those skills can be quite difficult. In other words, your skills will allow you to do a job well and to progress in your career, but first you must locate a position in which you can demonstrate the value of your skills. It is also widely assumed that you need a law degree to work in government or a government-related field; this is decidedly not true. A law degree is essential for the practice of law but is not essential for most of the enormous range of jobs which involve government, politics and public policy. It is true that your first professional job will very likely be the hardest job to obtain, so you need to treat getting that job as a job in itself. That is, you need to begin early, think and plan carefully, make choices, have a strategy but be flexible, stay organized, follow through on your plans and commitments, and generally pursue your first job with all the energy, discipline and hard work that you will put into the job when you obtain it.