Congressional Staff: Duties, Qualifications, and Skills Identified by Members of Congress for Selected Positions

"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:

Caseworker, Communications Director, Constituent Services Representative,Coordinator Correspondence Manager, Deputy Press Secretary, Deputy Scheduler, Deputy Scheduler/Assistant to Chief of Staff, Digital Director/Press Assistant, Digital Media Director,
District Director, District, Field, or Regional Representative, Executive Assistant, Executive Assistant/Scheduler, Field Representative/Caseworker, Legislative Aide, Legislative Assistant, Legislative Correspondent, Legislative Correspondent/Press Assistant, Legislative Correspondent/Staff Assistant, Legislative Counsel, Legislative Director,
Military Legislative Assistant, Press Assistant, Press Secretary, Regional Coordinator,  Scheduler, Scheduler/Office Manager, Senior Legislative Assistant,  Speechwriter,  Staff Assistant, Staff Assistant/Driver, Staff Assistant/Press Assistant, Systems Administrator.."
Congressional staff