Pursuing a Job on Capitol Hill with Three Young Kids at Home: Can it Work?

[Anonymous]

I have been working in public policy for 10+ years (in the nonprofit sector) and have always wanted to work on Capitol Hill. Unfortunately, I could never make it work because of finances, having babies, etc. Now that I've had three kids and am done having kids for at least several years, if not forever, and now that my husband is potentially in the position to make more money, I feel like a window of opportunity is opening. I would really like to get experience on the Hill because I think it would be a big boost for me professionally over the long-run, and because I think I might really enjoy the work and want to make a career there.

Question: How crazy is it to seek out a Hill job when you have three kids 5 and under at home? We have live-in child care, which I think would help make it work. For those of you who have worked on the Hill while parenting, what was it like and how much are/were you able to see your kids, both on weekdays and weekends? What were your hours, typically, both in-session and out-of-session? Are there certain kinds of Hill jobs that are better for parents? (e.g., staffing a committee v. a personal office, House v. Senate)

Thank you for any and all insights!

[Anonymous]

My DH worked on Capitol Hill for 10 years (when our 3 kids were born).

I am glad he's moved on to greener pastures because the schedule on the Hill meant a lot of late nights, particularly at the end of a session.

Having said that, he enjoyed his time on the Hill and felt like it was an exciting place to be.

My DH was in his 30's when he worked there, and he felt somewhat "old" because there are so many 20-somethings there. Having said that, there are a fair # of moms and I know a lot of them use the daycare available there.

The salary would have to be top-notch for me to want to work on Capitol Hill with 3 young kids, and even then I don't think I'd want to do it.

[Anonymous]

Where do you live OP? The commute can be killer depending on how far out you have to go to get home/into DC each day.

DH works on Capitol Hill. It's tough, no doubt (3 young kids at home) on both of us - him for the stress, me b/c it makes for a really long day and little face time for the kids. There is a salary cap too and health care is on the DC exchange. There are differences between the Senate and House and also among the offices. Some run their offices tighter than others and if your Senator, for example, is Chair of one of the Committees it gets even more intense.
Every 2 or 6 yrs (House and Senate, respectively) your future is in limbo as the election cycle starts. Not fun, but part of the nature of the beast.

What specific job are you looking for OP? Like an LD or LA position? Committee work?

[Anonymous]

When Congress is out of session, will you have a lot of down time/days off?

[Anonymous]

The Hill is a young person's game (long hours, slave wages, booze, non-stop after hours commitments, drama, the list goes on). I worked as an LA in a member office for three years and then moved to a committee for two. My advice, if you are a professional with niche expertise you should target a committee. You may want to consider a peripheral office such as ethics (https://oce.house.gov) where there is less politicking.

[Anonymous]

it's for young ones op. go in with eyes wide open

[Anonymous]

I think it would be feasible if you worked on a committee. Otherwise, no.

As an aside, I think that there ought to be more fellowship programs on the Hill where DC professionals of any kind can spend 6 months in a member's office. I think it would be useful, and scratch an itch for many of us!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it would be feasible if you worked on a committee. Otherwise, no.

As an aside, I think that there ought to be more fellowship programs on the Hill where DC professionals of any kind can spend 6 months in a member's office. I think it would be useful, and scratch an itch for many of us!

I know that, if you work as an attorney in a federal agency, you can sometimes do a detail of at least 6 months to Capitol Hill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think it would be feasible if you worked on a committee. Otherwise, no.

As an aside, I think that there ought to be more fellowship programs on the Hill where DC professionals of any kind can spend 6 months in a member's office. I think it would be useful, and scratch an itch for many of us!

There are. Sign up for BradTraverse or the Tom Manatos job board. Fellowships are posted relatively frequently. Albeit, unpaid. If you are in the business of knowing people (lobbyist), it's a great opportunity to cycle through and make 'friends' with the current crop of LDs.

[Anonymous]

Very much depends on the job - 10 year Hill vet, had and raised two kids while here. Committee life tends to be better paid and better hours. Personal office staff - depends on how competitive a race your boss has, how junior, how crazy. If you work for a sane, senior, safe Member - the hours are not bad at all. Leadership - forget it. Most insane hours, and hardest jobs to get.

The money for the senior roles isn't that bad - plenty of senior staff, especially on a committee are making low six figures. Salaries are capped at (roughly) $165,000.

I think the hardest part about having young kids is that a lot of the informal socializing, networking, etc. takes place in the evening. You can skip all that stuff, go home after work, and have an ok life. But I think it's hard to advance either yourself or your boss if you are just punching in and out.

[Anonymous]

For starters, you won't enjoy it. If you're going to work in the House, you'll soon realize how maddening the extremes on both sides of the aisle are and that you'll pass bills week in and week out only to be sent to the Senate to die.

If you're going to the Senate, that is even slower. There are reasons Senators that were once Governors leave after one term. It has its prestige, yes, but little gets accomplished and for those that like making a difference, surprisingly little gets done. In many ways, the things that touch people's lives are handled in district offices.

I would also caution you that it, like many jobs is one that you need to build the relationship with your employer. It's not realistic to think they'd give you family time since you have 3 kids at home. Sure, if you were a CoS who worked for the MoC for several years you'd get some leeway, but I don't think anyone new should expect leniency. You'd probably have a tough time getting hired unless you've got some special skills or knowledge to offer.

Sorry for the brutal truth, I was there for 11 years, from age 23 - 34, even I began to feel old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Very much depends on the job - 10 year Hill vet, had and raised two kids while here. Committee life tends to be better paid and better hours. Personal office staff - depends on how competitive a race your boss has, how junior, how crazy. If you work for a sane, senior, safe Member - the hours are not bad at all. Leadership - forget it. Most insane hours, and hardest jobs to get.

The money for the senior roles isn't that bad - plenty of senior staff, especially on a committee are making low six figures. Salaries are capped at (roughly) $165,000.

I think the hardest part about having young kids is that a lot of the informal socializing, networking, etc. takes place in the evening. You can skip all that stuff, go home after work, and have an ok life. But I think it's hard to advance either yourself or your boss if you are just punching in and out.

+1

[Anonymous]

DH works on the hill as a prof. staffer for a committee on the House side. There are pros and cons.

The pros are that he loves his job (he is a policy nerd for sure), and feels like what he does is important and makes a difference. It also comes with a lot of "nerd perks", like access to the LOC, trips to places only he would be excited to go, access to the smartest people within his field, and of course the connections he is able to make when he is ready to move on in his career. He also gets generous leave and healthcare benefits.

The cons are the less than stellar salary (I make more than he does, even though i work 80%), and I am the default parent for almost everything. During the bill cycle (once a year for house bill and once a year for conference bill) he works insane hours (like coming home at 1-2AM, working weekends, etc). This is about 6-8 weeks about twice a year. He also travels a fair amount, which, while great for him, makes it extra tough for me to fend for the family and deal with all the issues at home. His commute is also long-ish, about an hour each way, so that leaves very little active family time for us during the weeks. The good thing is that the busy times of year are fairly predictable, so we can plan around them, but for instance we have never taken the kids anywhere for spring break ever, because he is always MIA during that time. So it's a mix. I am about ready for it to end (and I think he is too). He is in his early 40s, and he is definitely one of the older guys in his office.

FWIW, his job is not political, so he has been fairly stable through the administration changes (he's been through two so far, plus the flip of the House), but that is a function of working for a committee rather than a member or senate office.

I would make sure that your DH is 100% on board, OP, with a clear understanding of, capability for and commitment to being the default parent. Live-in help is a big plus (we didn't have any, nor any family in the area), but it is still going to take a toll on the family logistics.

[Anonymous]

I worked on the hill for more than 10 years, including part of that time with 3 young kids. It completely burned me out, in large part because my spouse wasn't able to help me out much.

I was able to leave the office most nights by the time the Senate Day Care closed as Committee staff. When the kids got older, I also had an au pair and daycare/school, which gave me some breathing room. What nearly killed me though was working again late at night after I put everyone to bed, and constantly being in touch with the office when I was at home on Tuesday/Wednesday/Thursday evenings. Multitasking with 3 kids isn't pretty.

There were a few nice things about working on the Hill. I had lots of vacation time (4 weeks plus sometimes the office closed for a few extra days) and the Congressional breaks coincided with the holidays and the times the kids were off school. I did have lots of down time during Congressional recesses. Also, I may be rare, but I loved my job.

[Anonymous]

It really is a young person's game. I was up there for years with small children. For me it was easier since I had been there for years before I had kids with my same boss. He was/is great and I was able to basically be in the office during session and work from home or very limited IN office when out of session. Weekend were open, just had to be available since boss is usually back home. Questions could come up but rarely something that needed a quick turn around.

I can't imagine trying to get into the game now. Where do you want to work? With your background it sounds like Committee would be a fit. Those jobs are hard to get though. If you try to get into a Member's office you would typically have to start at the bottom. A lot of the Hill is based on how long you have been there rather than what you actually know about an issue since issues are easy to learn but the art of actually legislating on the Hill comes with time spent up there. It is pretty typical to find lawyers answering phones since everyone starts pretty low level.