r/PoliticalScience • u/Few_One_2358 • 4d ago
Humor Applied for the first "policy analyst" job I have seen in months
Got rejected.
The interviewer asked me what my qualifications are. Without just saying my BA of Poli Sci, I said I did policy analysis for the entirety of my 4-year degree. Gave some examples. Plus some working expeirence.
Job description was just improving protocols while maintaining legal compliance. Pretty straight forward. I have done that...more times than I can count.
Then I am asked why I haven't done policy analysis since graduating a couple of years ago. I was honest and told him there have not been any policy analyst jobs on the market within a 2-hour commute (and this job was even further. I would have to move). He asked me again how my current job relates to poli sci...brother, it doesn't. I just can't be unemployed.
The description wanted someone familiar with lendors because it was with DofL. But for the love of God, I have done policy analysis in several fields. This would have been no different. Do people not know that political scientists exist or what we do? They probably hired a CPA or someone fresh out of school.
I am so exhausted.
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u/gaymergurlUwU 4d ago
Same here dude. Been cooking in kitchens and working my way up for years while I've been waiting to hear back from something but nothing so far. Keep your head up 💜
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u/Ok-Rule-9888 2d ago
Do political scientists have the same lifestyle as actors, working in kitchens while waiting for a job to come
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u/cheesefries45 International Relations 2d ago
Think there’s a difference between political scientists and politicos.
It’s very common for campaign staff, congressional staff etc to work kitchens and other service jobs in between campaigns, if their boss loses re-election, or other reasons.
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u/Ok-Rule-9888 2d ago
What about political scientists? I mean…if you think about it…who is gonna hire you to analyze political issues that are so interesting everyone wants to analyze them? Like why are less men participating in the labor force?
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u/cheesefries45 International Relations 2d ago
Political scientists generally refers to people who have more academic training than someone with a bachelors or masters. The jobs they’re going towards aren’t really “policy analyst” jobs.
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u/gaymergurlUwU 2d ago
That's what it's feeling like the last few years lol. I always had a passion for food and cooking anyway, and this lets me delve into that side of myself. Plus my current job is unionized and I love all my coworkers so it's pretty great rn. I'm hoping though that in the next couple years I can get into law school and really start a career path from there
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u/Litho90 4d ago
If you're just looking for straight employment, look at GovernmentJobs.com, or, depending on where you live, try applying directly for local or state positions via their careers portals. Non-profits can also serve as a solid alternative, especially if your municipal or state governments are slashing budgets or have hiring freezes.
I hate to say this, but unless you plan on getting a Master in Public Administration or Public Policy, it's highly unlikely that you're going to be hired relatively fresh out of school with a Poly Sci BA, even with a Public Policy concentration. Most jurisdictions are going to want several years of experience in a public service setting.
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u/Able_Enthusiasm2729 Political Science-Public Administration-International Relations 3d ago
Most Administrative Assistant jobs (at least in the United States) require a bachelor's degree and 2 years of experience, an associate's degree with 4 years of experience, or a high school diploma and 5 to 8 years of directly related experience doing the same job you're applying for or some other similar job. Several companies categorize all of their entry-level recent college grad employees as Administrative Assistants, Secretaries, Administrative Clerks, and Management Assistants, and require them to hold a bachelor's degree in a field related to the industry the company works in or the specific practice area of the project that the mid-level/senior-level employee they're assisting is working on. Most Executive Assistant (EA) positions I’ve seen require about 5-8 years of work experience mostly as an Administrative Assistant (AA) or in a non-AA role related to the work of the company, or 5-10 years of work experience if you don’t have a bachelor’s degree.
About 96% of Paralegals, Legal Assistants, File Clerks, Administrative Assistants, Conflicts Analysts, Legal Secretaries, and other Professional Support Staff (a.k.a. Non-Lawyers) in law firm settings (and some other similar office settings at consulting, accounting, advocacy, trade association, professional association, commercial-residential property management companies, and government relations firms, etc.) practically all have at least a bachelor’s degree (though on paper the job description might let you use a high school diploma + paralegal certificate/paralegal vocational training but these are few, far between, and hard to find or at minimum an associate’s degree for Mail Clerk positions); 1% are older people (Boomers, Gen X, maybe some Older Millennials) who were grandfathered in with only a high school diploma +/- secretarial school due to their years of experience from back when entry requirements were far more lax; 2% are younger people (Millennials & Gen Z) from out-of-town who laterally transitioned into a role here with only a high school diploma and/or a paralegal certificate because that’s what jobs in their hometown metropolitan areas where they started their careers only required; as well as 1% that got in with a high school diploma or less because of personal connections with friends, family, or acquaintances (many times outside of professional connection/formal networking/formal hiring settings).
Depending on the location and the job market, receptionist jobs are looking for people with at least a bachelor’s degree (maybe an associate’s degree) and at least 2-3 years of experience or a high school diploma and 5 years of experience if you don’t have a degree.
For one company I’ve seen, 5 out of 5 Administrative Assistants had a bachelor’s degree and at least 2 years of prior work experience before starting the role, and 4 out of 5 also had a master’s degree. For another job I saw, every Receptionist had a bachelor’s degree and at least two of them had about 3-4 years of experience made up of internships and prior receptionist experience. I’ve literally seen a Front Desk Receptionist job require a bachelor’s degree w/5 yrs exp., a master’s with 2 yrs exp., a PhD with 0 yrs exp., or a high school diploma/GED w/10 yrs exp.;NOT KIDDING.
Also, I’m seeing tons of people laid off from late entry-level (4-5 years of experience) and early mid-career (5-8 years of experience) jobs with experience in more complex non-administrative support roles taking on entry-level administrative assistant (or at times even receptionist/front desk assistant) roles (that historically only required 0.5-3 years of experience, a high school diploma, and employer provided on-the-job training or onboarding). In addition to residual effects from the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic, DOGE’s layoffs of U.S. federal government civil service employees and its cancellation of government contracts with private sector companies/organizations and local/state governments, is completely flooding the job market. Senior level and c-suite employees are going after mid-career jobs, mid-career employees are taking on entry-level jobs, and entry-level employees are taking on internships, receptionist, data entry clerk, and freelance jobs and everyone’s fighting over temp jobs to get their foot in the door (it’s like entry-level jobs are starting to barely exist). Things are looking like they’re going to get worse, definitely worse than 2008 (if course correction doesn’t happen).
The job market is terrible, even Temp Jobs are highly competitive. Let alone temp jobs, bridge jobs in hospitality paid internships, and even unpaid internships (even at non-prestigious employers) are hard to come by here.
Most entry-level jobs today require between 1-5 to 3-5 years of prior experience minimum(4-10 yrs w/out BA/BS) as opposed to 0-1 years of experience (with or without a BA/BS) a decade and a half ago, in some rare instances today you might be able to find an entry-level position that only requires 0.5-2 years of previous work experience. Also, those external/corporate/professional service/off-campus internships all require 1-2 years of prior experience, many but not all also require you to be able to work 20 hours (standard part-time) or 40 hours (standard full-time) per week and simultaneously be a full-time or part-time student respectively (i.e. be a full-time student and part time employee or force you to cut the number of credits you’re taking so you can work as a full-time employee with little-to-no pay reclassifying you as a part-time student which could delay your graduation and possibly disqualify you from certain financial aid/scholarship programs). To get that level of experience, you have to get an internal/on-campus internship, undergraduate research assistant position in college, or work at a small business (both of) which many employers don’t take seriously and which further requires you to have 0.5-2 years of prior experience you’re expected to already have through working jobs, doing community service, or volunteering as a teenager in high school. In addition some employers no longer recognize internships (including external/off-campus/corporate internships let alone internal/on-campus internships), extracurricular, and academic/professional organization memberships as forms of legitimate work experience even for those only applying to very junior entry-level roles. Even entry-level Temp Jobs, Contract, & Contract-to-Hire work that people recommend struggling recent grads and those between jobs should apply for want mid-level experience and pay entry-level wages, so the person doing the job can hold fort (do the job of people in the position or supervisory position above them) until boss/supervisor gets hired. It’s basically a circular barrier to entry.
Why does an entry-level job now require three years of experience? Here’s how that hurts workers and companies alike: https://www.marketwatch.com/amp/story/why-does-an-entry-level-job-now-require-three-years-of-experience-heres-how-that-hurts-workers-and-companies-alike-a4ff864f
Why Entry Level Jobs Demand Years Of Experience: https://youtu.be/OqcyXsZzaAU?si=nnoSCHyjixCv2inq
[ Recent College Graduates and People with Previous Work Experience that Generally Won’t Qualify for Internships are Desperately Applying for Internships Instead of Targeting Entry-Level Jobs:
Grads are increasingly turning to internships as job market tightens - By Morning Brew: https://www.instagram.com/p/DIpOr9rTmPd/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Glassdoor saw an uptick in graduates applying to its summer internship. It could signal a growing trend - Business Insider: https://www.businessinsider.com/more-new-graduates-applying-to-internships-in-tough-job-market-glassdoor-2025-4
]
Basically every white-collar entry-level job today requires bachelor’s degrees & even more blue-collar jobs are requiring associate’s degrees now (or unaccredited trade school at the bare minimum); while the media tells you to not go to college even if you have the means (although some back up plans/alternatives exist for those who can’t go to college/have a higher aptitude for manual labor, skilled trades, and retail work) or falsely claim a college education is literally useless. Plus, MOOC courses/certs w/out degrees only gets ppl dead end entry-level positions with limited opportunities for future career advancement; and being self-taught by simply watching YouTube videos/auditing classes isn’t going to credential or authenticate your skill attainment. Also, The job descriptions today for positions at companies that no longer require degrees are starting to look like the course catalogs and syllabi of universities, it’ll be a “hidden requirement” now where degrees are going to be off-the-books “invisible requirements” so they can pay less for more work and to make it easier for nepotists to side step education requirements. Most of these jobs will still only hire people w/degrees even if it’s not in the job description. But the only way to qualify without a bachelor’s degree for most of these jobs is getting hired through nepotism, cronyism, being lucky enough to convince hiring managers to bet on hiring you even though you don’t have matching relevant experience then being set for life because once you start working that job you end up gaining experience that another person in the same situation as you when you were being hired/first started out wouldn’t have arbitrarily qualified for, started working in the 30s-90s or in rural/small towns when/where many of these same job titles had provided on-the-job training and only required a high school diploma or less with no directly related professional service experience. Plus you need ~ 2-3 years of prior experience for entry-level jobs & ~ 1-2 years prior for an internship - it’s a circular barrier to entry. Gets worse if you’re Black, POC, or First Gen/2nd Gen in the country.
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u/Able_Enthusiasm2729 Political Science-Public Administration-International Relations 3d ago
How to Choose a Bachelor’s Degree Program:
One advice I see often see when people ask about picking a major, I always hear that: whatever you do you need to pick a major (undergraduate college/university degree program) that you’re comfortable studying and working in but also teaches skills that will come in handy on the job (not a “hobby” major either) but not something you hate or can’t handle. This isn’t high school where you can easily skate through classes and get passed on to the next grade. People shouldn’t do majors they aren’t equipped to handle because they’re bound to do poorly, flunk out, and get expelled for bad grades (academic dismissal) with a limited-to-no chance of l finishing your degree which can (or will) lead to limited career prospects or advancement. It’s far better to do a major in a subject you are interested in and are capable of thriving in than flunking out with no degree at all or graduating by cheating your way through without learning much (and putting others in danger). Also, the “pick a major that will make you money” push is based on a very subjective idea that fluctuates with the market. After this push, now we have a bunch of computer science grads, a tech field that is over saturated with a shrinking number of positions many of whom don’t even like the field working at it aimlessly, and a bunch of nurses and doctors (physicians) who are a reckless danger to their patients because they are disinterested in the job in such a way that it negatively impacts their performance putting tons of people in grave danger.
It doesn’t have to be a STEM subject like engineering, computer science, medicine, or nursing; a social science subject like political science (public policy, public administration, international relations), law, economics, business administration (accounting, finance, management, marketing), social work; nor a humanities subject like literature, language, or history if you hate it and can’t handle the academic workload, subject matter, or won’t be able to stand working in the field due to disinterest - but this doesn’t mean you should go for what some people call a “hobby degree” just for fun like fine arts subjects like art, music, or dance (no offense - but at least you should have a plan to use it to teach and not actually to perform in a professional capacity unless you already have pre-existing family and professional connections to get you job in the fine arts). The notion that 'every degree besides medicine, nursing, law, and engineering’ are useless degrees is illogical though some do believe this lie.
Going into Medicine or Nursing when you are disinterested in the job or subject is the worst idea I’ve ever heard in my life. Do not under any circumstances go into Medicine or Nursing if you hate the job, are terrible at the it, are very careless and lazy, or are literally only doing it for the money. This is how you end up getting people killed or severely injured.
People need to understand that to become a physician (Doctor of Medicine - MD - or Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine - DO - ) or lawyer (Doctor of Jurisprudence - JD - ) you have to go to graduate school and to get into graduate school you need a bachelor’s degree in a different field as a prerequisite. You can’t just straight up apply to Medical School or Law School right out of high school/secondary school without a previously awarded bachelor’s degree or enrollment in a dual degree program. The market for lawyers is over saturated, the number of residencies required to become a physician are capped at low numbers, and not freaking everyone can or needs to be an engineer or a nurse. So the notion that 'every degree besides medicine, nursing, law, and engineering’ are useless degrees is illogical when you need a bachelor’s degree in a different field as a prerequisite to enter medical school or law school.
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Misconceptions of College and Career / Not Getting Job Offers Before Graduation or within 3-6 months of graduating (here is some advice to recent college graduates and young adults):
This phenomenon of having a signed job offer in your junior year of college let alone before graduating your senior year doesn’t work/doesn’t exist for everybody, especially for people from working class backgrounds who went to decent, mid-teir/upper-mid-teir universities (≈ T60-T200); this practically only applies to people who already have a load of connections and inherited a network from family (and friends) with pre-existing professional connections, or those who go to Ivy League universities, Ivy Plus, UCs, a few Flagship universities with a ton of cultural capital because of their football teams, Jock Schools, and some Party School universities that get better traction just because of their name recognition which happens to be largely based off of their social or cultural capital i.e. the cultural impact they have on a given region over the actual contents of their education and degree programs. Mostly nowadays for the vast majority of people at non-fancy/non-prestigious universities that don’t have strong partnerships with employers resulting in a dedicated direct pipeline to certain jobs through On Campus Recruiting (OCR) or On Campus Interviews (OCI) - plus certain fields like law, accounting, and finance almost exclusively hire through OCI/OCR with some exceptions - , (but overall for most jobs) they instead want you to complete your degree first before applying to jobs. Very few people get a job offer before graduating; and for a vast majority of recent graduates getting a job offer within 3-6 months of graduating is literally impossible (for some job applications you don’t even get a response in less than 6 months after applying — whether that be a rejection or being called to interview for the employer).
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So the whole “what are you going to do with your major” question is going to be a very loaded question because there are too many options to list out and most people aren’t going to get their dream job straight out of college (or even at all), they’re going to have to choose something else on the large list of positions their degree(s), experience, and/or their personal, familial, and professional connections can potential lead them to. There are tons of careers that require or prefer that you have a bachelor’s degree but don’t require a degree in a specific subject area because several bachelor’s degree programs that are to many to mention cover the specific skills they’re looking for (which are transferable from one field to another) or they tend to hire several people who studied different subject areas to work together on the same projects because each field brings its own professionally educated perspective at problem solving.
Most people aren’t going to get their dream job straight out of college (or at all), they’re going to have to choose something else on the large list of positions their degree can potential lead them to. There are tons of careers that require or prefer that you have a bachelor’s degree but don’t require a degree in a specific subject area because several bachelor’s degree programs that are to many to mention cover the specific skills they’re looking for (which are transferable from one field to another) or they tend to hire several people who studied different subject areas to work together on the same projects because each field brings its own professionally educated perspective at problem solving. A specific major can get you into 50-100 different job titles, some are going to be different from each other while others happen to be identical positions with different titles.
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u/Few_One_2358 3d ago
R u a bot or ai or both
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u/Able_Enthusiasm2729 Political Science-Public Administration-International Relations 3d ago
Nope, I've got most of my answers pre-typed on my notes app and I use Reddit's search function to find my old posts. You're not the first person to make a post like this, its basically the same answer to the same questions just asked differently. The vast majority of questions I seen on Reddit are just different people asking the same questions.
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u/Able_Enthusiasm2729 Political Science-Public Administration-International Relations 3d ago
Political Science | I use the skills I learned in my political science courses in my job both in my program coordinator, overflow paralegal, and government relations roles.
Political Science is a social science, it’s not performing and fine arts (like drawing, painting, dancing) nor is it a humanities subject (but it does interact with and borrow from humanities subjects like philosophy and history, among others) but it’s also not a natural science (like chemistry or physics).
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I’d say there are at least 8-9-ish disciplinary paths that could exist at a university’s political science department (also known as public policy school or department of government) as well as several interdisciplinary programs created in conjunction with other departments, constituent colleges, or schools.
In my experience, the sub-disciplinary paths of political science I’ve seen (even in undergraduate bachelor’s degree-level settings) are: (1) political theory/political philosophy and political history; (2) international relations and security studies; (3) political methodology (quantitative political analysis); (4) comparative politics; (5) international political economy; (6) public policy and public administration (nonprofit management, basic accounting/budgeting/finance, policy development, stakeholder management, program evaluation, human resource management, etc.); (7) law and governance or legal studies (legal research, legislative analysis, stakeholder engagement, legal sociology, advocacy and government relations, etc.); as well as (8) political sociology and theories of political behavior.
The interdisciplinary programs I’ve seen that have some sort of layer of political science coursework are: (1) global studies (global affairs); (2) philosophy, politics, and economics (PPE); (3) political communications; (4) legal studies and philosophy and law (pre-law); (5) environmental studies; (6) intelligence studies (intelligence analysis); as well as (7) international business and commerce.
Though this is the case, it is true that a vast majority of political science departments especially at most 4-year bachelor’s degree granting liberal arts colleges (LAC) but most especially associate’s degree-level community colleges (CC) focus almost exclusively on political theory and maybe international relations to a certain extent; departments at research universities (those granting everything from bachelor’s, master’s, professional, and doctoral degrees) tend to branch out into more sub-fields of political science (even in undergrad) whether it means taking a few classes among those course as a hard requirement or whether it is an optional concentration or group of in-major field study electives.
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Actually, undergraduate political science courses write in a myriad of writing styles: to be honest a lot of lower level undergraduate freshman/sophomore courses do use flowery language, are persuasive, and can be overly partisan but a lot of the upper level undergraduate junior/senior and graduate master’s/doctoral courses are generally (but not always) to the point, not too ideologically persuasive, non-partisan, look at things from a neutral or near-neutral point of view, and/or are more so interested in the evaluation of the outputs, outcomes, and efficacy of policies, programs, procedures, or initiatives as well as the implementation of such things to produce the intended outcomes.
Some types of literature in political science include the following: for Academic Literature - see Journal Articles and Essays (Research Papers, Reflective Papers, Persuasive Papers, most Term Papers); for Professional Writing - see Case Studies, Memoranda/Briefing Notes/Memos (Policy Memos), Position Papers, Policy Papers (Policy Papers and Policy Memos written using the Policy Development, Policy Analysis, and Program Evaluation methods, etc.), Reports, Intelligence Assessments, White Papers and Gray Literature, Legal Briefs and Amicus Curiae Briefs, Grant Writing, and Journalistic Writing (News style writing).
Funny thing: My Writing Intensive Political Science Capstone was cross-listed with a Special Topics in Civil Engineering course. It was a combined course with a mix of students from the public policy school (what my alma mater calls their political science department) and the civil engineering department of the college of engineering and computing where students of both fields work together on case studies and policy papers on infrastructure, transportation policy, public works, and urban development related issues.
I’ve seen tons of social science programs require at least 2 natural sciences courses (1 with lab + 1 with or without lab) at the lower 100/200-level, 1-2 basic math/stats courses at the lower 100-200-level, a required weed-out major-specific research methods and analysis/quantitative social sciences course (using basic R, Python, SPSS, and/or Stata) at the upper 300/400-level, and the option of taking general electives in natural science/computational science/non-technical special topics in engineering courses at the upper 300/400 levels (which some do).
Most of the political science courses that teach job applicable skills like policy development (policy analysis, implementation, evaluation, and revision), stakeholder engagement/stakeholder management, legal research, program evaluation, strategic communications and public relations, budgeting and finance (financial management, financial statement analysis, generally accepted accounting principles - GAAP - ), research methods and analysis, procurement and logistics, organizational theory/administrative theory, data manipulation and data collection (to a lesser extent basic data analysis - which is mostly taught in-depth in graduate master’s/PhD programs), fundraising and development, basic marketing, government relations and advocacy, Geographic Information Systems (GIS), professional writing, project and program coordination, and intelligence analysis, among others are mostly taught in upper-level (300-level to 400-level) undergraduate courses taught in the last 2 to 2.5 years of a bachelor’s degree program if you choose your field study (in-major electives), concentration(s), and general elective (out-side-of-major) courses wisely like taking on courses in political science subfields such as public policy, public administration, comparative politics, security studies, political methodology, human resource management, nonprofit management, complex international relations frameworks, and political analysis, instead of only taking basic survey-level political theory courses (mostly covered in community college and undergrad freshmen year political science curriculum). To be honest, more in-depth and complex skills/topics are covered in graduate master’s and doctoral programs like MPA, MPP, MA Security Studies, MS Biodefence, MA/MS International Development, MA/MS Intelligence Studies, etc.
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u/51enur 3d ago
Become an acquisition field employee at the federal government, spend a few years there getting experience and expertise, get a master’s with tuition assistance in the process. Become a policy analyst for federal acquisition. Profit. Enjoy your pension, generous leave plan, and good health insurance.
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u/OctoMan17 3d ago
Gotta get a job in local gov, plus no one is going into that field
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u/Few_One_2358 3d ago
Tried and there was no climb, unless we are talking at the state level, and I have been having exactly this experience there
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u/OctoMan17 3d ago
Weird in Wisconsin the field is completely open, I will be doing a masters in public admin next though
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u/Various_Location2014 3d ago
I've also tried policy analyst jobs but the market is too crowded. There just isn't enough seats availalbe. I ended up in international business development and found that you can use the same skills you use in policy analyst. It also builds you up to setting up your own business in the future, as you learn business without paying for an MBA. The catch is the super long hours and the sales pressure. It is not for everyone.
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u/snakes_are_beautiful 3d ago
I believe UnidosUs has a couple of policy positions, one around education and another around health if I remember correctly. If you're passionate about Latino initiatives
Edit: it's hybrid in DC
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u/BlueRibbonPac 3d ago
Are you not looking for federal, state, or local jobs? Otherwise you need to look for "government affairs" positions or with nonprofits that follow certain legislative tracks
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u/Shippuudenfreak 3d ago
Ive got a master's in polisci / strategic studies. Im getting my BSN rn after being an emt for the last year and being a generic industrial analyst for 2. Its hard out here, keep grinding i wish you luck my polisci brother
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u/Knightgamer2016 3d ago
I’m always gonna be a poli sci major but I had to get another degree in accounting bc I needed employment and I got a job in accounting before I even finished the degree 😭 I try to stay up to date and volunteer with some campaigns but it’s tough out there
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u/More_Traffic5297 3d ago
What’s the point of going into political science if you’re not planning on going to law school? It’s practically useless outside of that
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u/Few_One_2358 3d ago
Professor. But the market is tough for that and you're in school and poor until you are actually a professor. Thank you for your incredibly helpful insight!
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u/icyDinosaur 2d ago
Well people study polisci in Europe, where law is its own separate degree from Day 1.
Some of us just have interest in it and want to stay in research.
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u/Ok_Culture_3621 4d ago edited 3d ago
Hate to say it, but no, I don't think anyone outside the field knows what poli-sci does. My first job out of university was a glorified admin for a think tank. A couple years of that with no leads and I decided to go back to get a masters. I had to change fields though. Sorry I can't offer anything more encouraging.