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

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[quote=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. [/quote]

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