Job Description - Matt Jacobs for Congress Draft

 Matt Jacobs for Congress Internship

Although it wasn't my first choice or within the industry I want to work in, my past summer internship provided me with many new skills. I spent my summer as an intern for Matt Jacobs for Congress who ran under the Republican Party in California's 26th Congressional District. My job primarily consisted of:

• sorting through voter data
• cold calling
• door knocking

Going into it, I really didn't know much about the congressional election process, but I quickly learned that voter outreach is the most vital part of running a successful campaign. 

Voter Data

In order to reach the right audience, I sifted through many, many names and other bits of information that my manager thought could potentially turn into a lead for donations. Some of the main criteria that I was instructed to note was to separate the voters by city, amount donated, and whether they were already in support of the campaign. Campaigns gather the majority of data through a website called OpenSecrets which offers information about the transparency of money in politics. There is shockingly a lot of personal information that can be found through OpenSecrets like how much a voter donated to a specific campaign. 

Cold Calling

Another important, but dreaded, responsibility for interns is to perform a set amount of cold calls each day. I say dreaded because I don't think there was a single intern or employee who actually enjoyed cold calling. Constantly on the phone, the odds of someone picking up the phone is usually 1 in 100. Not only is the odds of getting an answer low, most voters don't like to be bothered with unsolicited calls about congressional campaigns and will hang up. If I get an answer, I typically inform voters about the upcoming election date and then ask if they would like to be involved with Matt Jacob's campaign. I remember one particular day when everyone in the office had to collectively reach a goal of five thousand calls. Cold calling is a hard, brutal skill to attain, but once a person has mastered it, it can translate into many other industries. 

Door Knocking 

The last of my responsibilities as an intern consisted of door knocking about 60 houses a day in neighborhoods within the district to raise awareness about Matt Jacobs. This part of the job is just as you would imagine: many doors being shut in your face and lots of interactions through Rings cameras. Each intern is paired with a walking partner which provided a nice social break from the office work. Keep in mind that this internship took place during the summer in the middle of southern California. To say it was hot would be an understatement. Although door knocking did have its cons, I would say that it was actually my favorite part of the job. I connected with many other college students that were in very similar positions to me, and we were able to endure the heat together.