C ongressional employees are retained to perform public duties that include assisting Members in official responsibilities in personal, committee, leadership, or administrative office settings. The roles, duties, and activities of congressional staff are matters of ongoing interest to Members of Congress, congressional staff, groups, and individuals, including those who raise concerns about congressional operations. Most observers recognize that Congress does not function without staff, but there is little systematic attention to what staff do, or what Members expect of them. In congressional offices, there may be interest in identifying Member expectations of congressional staff duties by position from multiple perspectives, including assessment of staffing needs in Member offices; guidance in setting position expectations, qualifications, and experience when offices choose to hire staff; and informing current and potential congressional employees of position expectations. Members of the House and Senate generally establish their own employment policies and practices for their personal offices. It is arguably the case that within Member offices, a common group of activities is executed for which staff with relevant skillsets and other qualifications are necessary. A body of publicly available job advertisements for staff positions from a number of different offices can shed light on the expectations Members have for position duties, as well as staff skills, characteristics, experience, and other expectations. For 33 commonly used congressional staff position titles, this report describes the most frequently listed job duties, applicant skills, characteristics, prior experiences, and other expectations found in a sample of job advertisements placed by Members of Congress between approximately December 2014 and September 2019 seeking staff in their offices. Table 1 lists the position titles and the frequency with which advertisements for them appeared in the sample. Data used in developing sample position expectations were taken from several publicly available sources, including the following, over the periods specified: The House Employment Bulletin, published weekly by the House Vacancy Announcement and Placement Service (HVAPS) in the Human Resources Office of the House Chief Administrative Officer (CAO). Data were collected from ads published between approximately January 2015 and September 2019. The Employment Bulletin, published online by the Senate "as a service to Senate offices choosing to advertise staff vacancies." Data were collected from ads, which were not dated, appearing from approximately July 2016 to July 2019. The House GOP Job and Resume Bank, which posts ads on behalf of the House Republican Conference on Facebook. Ads were collected between approximately January and June 2017. Other ads were collected from the period between approximately December 2014 and January 2017 from the House GOP Job Bank web page on the website of Representative Virginia Foxx during part of her tenure as the House Republican Conference Secretary. The Job Announcements Board hosted by Representative Steny Hoyer during part of his tenure as House Minority Whip. Data were collected from ads posted between approximately January 2016 and December 2017. More than 1,800 ads were collected from all sources. Duplicate ads resulting from posts to more than one source, and ads that appear to have been frequently reposted, were removed, as were ads for positions in congressional settings other than personal offices, yielding 880 ads for positions in Member personal offices. Substantially similar position titles (e.g., deputy scheduler and state deputy scheduler) for which there were five or more ads were identified and grouped together, as were related job titles (e.g., positions designated as district, field, or regional representative that had essentially similar job duties and expectations) for which there were five or more substantially similar ads, yielding a total of 704 ads. Ads for the 33 identified position titles were further categorized if there were five or more ads that specified the advertised position as "not entry level" or other signifier of presumptive advanced status. The 704 ads were coded against a variety of variables within eight categories, including ad tracking information; ad details; position responsibilities and responsibility areas; expected job skills, qualifications, and credentials; application materials; and office type. The distribution of ads by job title and level is provided in Table 1 . Solicitations of applicants for congressional staff appear to originate in a highly decentralized manner. Means of identifying appropriate candidates might potentially include reassigning staff within offices, placing ads in services that make them available by subscription, word of mouth, and other nonpublic means of identifying potential applicants for congressional staff positions. Consequently, it cannot be determined whether the dataset of ads analyzed in this report is representative of all congressional employment solicitations. In addition, the process by which candidates for some Member office senior staff positions are identified may not be public-facing. Based on information specified within the ads, most position titles were identified by one of the following four primary responsibility areas (some positions were identified by up to three responsibility areas): Legislative, Policy, and Oversight, Media, Messaging, and Speeches, Constituent Communications, Outreach, and Service, and Office Administration and Support. For each position, at least one sample position description was created based on the coded data. Information includes the most frequently occurring of the following: primary responsibility areas; widely expected duties, typically up to six of the most frequently occurring duties specified in all ads for that position; other potential duties, typically up to six other duties mentioned in more than one ad; applicant information, including characteristics, skills, and knowledge and prior experience; and other expectations. Categorizing congressional staff positions by position title relies on an assumption that similarly titled positions in House and Senate personal offices carry out the same tasks under essentially similar circumstances. While personal offices may carry out similar activities, the assumption might be questionable given the differences in staff resources in House and Senate offices, as well as potential differences within offices of each chamber. Generalizations about staff roles and duties may also be limited in some ways due to the broad discretion Members have with regard to running their office activities. Variations from office to office, which might include differences in job duties, work schedules, office emphases, and other factors, may limit the extent to which sample position expectations provided here match operational practices in all congressional offices.
The roles, duties, and activities of congressional staff are matters of ongoing interest to Members of Congress, congressional staff, and observers of Congress. Members of the House and Senate establish their own employment policies and practices for their personal offices. It is arguably the case that within Member offices, a common group of activities is executed for which staff are necessary. Accordingly, a group of job advertisements for those positions from a number of different offices can shed light on the expectations Members have for position duties, as well as staff skills, characteristics, experience, and other expectations. This report provides a set of 39 widely expected job duties, applicant skills, characteristics, prior experiences, and other expectations based on a sample of ads placed by Members of Congress between approximately December 2014 and September 2019 seeking staff in their offices for 33 position titles: Sample position expectations might assist Congress from multiple perspectives, including assessment of staffing needs in Member offices; guidance in setting position expectations, qualifications, and experience when offices need to hire staff; and informing current and potential congressional employees of position expectations. At the same time, categorizing congressional staff positions by position title relies on an assumption that similarly titled positions in House and Senate personal offices carry out the same tasks under essentially similar circumstances. Although personal offices may carry out similar activities, the assumption might be questionable given the differences in staff resources in House and Senate offices, as well as potential differences among offices of each chamber, particularly the Senate. Genera lizations about staff roles and duties may also be limited in some ways due to the broad discretion Members have with regard to running their office activities. Variations from office to office, which might include differences in job duties, work schedules, office emphases, and other factors, may limit the extent to which sample position expectations might match operational practices in all congressional offices. This is one of several CRS products on congressional staff. To access those products, see CRS Report R44688, Congressional Staff: CRS Products on Size, Pay, and Job Tenure .