A Letter to the District Office Staffers

To the staff of the Gilbert office of the 5th Congressional District:

I want to express a brief but heartfelt 'thank you' to all of you for the time that I've been able to spend here as an intern. Getting to know the district and its constituents, and how you do your best to serve them, has been a good and motivating experience for me. It's helped me to understand that the federal government really can have a positive and noticeable impact at the local level, which is something that I didn't completely understand before.

A lot of interns come through this office, and it must be difficult not only keeping track of who's who, but having to be more-or-less constantly training them on the same things all the time. You've all been very accommodating and patient with these circumstances, and I really appreciate it. I'm sure you've been in our position one way or another - in college, preparing for a career, trying to get real-world experience - and I thank you for your understanding and support. Working here has been a great experience, and I hope I've helped you as much as you've helped me.

Best regards,

Adam Hill

Reflections

My internship is only somewhat more than half over, so I'm sure there will be more to learn before the end. Even so, there are some things that I have learned. It's tough to identify one thing that's the most important, but it might be that I've learned how better to deal with people who are seeking help in a crisis. That's pretty much what constituent services are all about.

Often, by the time people contact our office for help, they are at the end of their rope after a long struggle with the VA, or Social Security, or the IRS, or whatever it may be. Many of them count serious physical or mental health problems among their struggles. In any case,  they are seldom their best selves when they contact or visit us, and learning and practicing how to interact with these people has been valuable. The second of my three goals at the beginning of this internship was "gain an appreciation and understanding for how district offices interact with constituents", so I'd say I've definitely met that one.

My other two goals were:

• make contacts in the office that could be beneficial to my future career
• decide of the world of federal politics is a place I could ever see myself. I've always figured that if I ended up working in government, it would be a local administrative role, rather than a federal one, so this will be a chance to explore that assumption a little.

I've gotten to know, and will continue to get to know, the staffers in the office, and if I end up seeking a career in the public sector, I'm confident that their advice and association will prove valuable to me.

When it comes to federal politics, I suppose I haven't reached that goal, because it might have been a bit misinformed when I made it. I can't say that I've had much contact with the political side of things. Legislation, campaigning, and other things like that are handled by other offices, so it's been out of my view. Even so, working where I do has opened a window on a usually quiet side of government that you don't hear about on the evening news.

Career Services Post #2

It's time to focus on the career searching side of things once again. I found some interesting tutorials and workshops about using LinkedIn and other social media to find a job and to further one's career development, done by a company called Top Dog Social Media. I chose two in particular to study: one about what they call Social Selling, and another about marketing oneself on LinkedIn.

The one about Social Selling interested me because I've always had a slight entrepreneurial side, and a big part of building any business is selling in one form or another. Selling using social media, according to the stats quoted in the workshop, can put a business significantly ahead of its competitors, both in the quantity of sales, and in the size of the contracts that are negotiated, as time goes on. One of the points from this lecture stood out to me as being particularly important is that prospecting for clients can be done in two ways. The first is the most obvious - searching them out individually. The second is equally important though, and that is to make it easier for potential clients to find you.

Speaking of being found, and particularly on LinkedIn, I also found some simple, actionable steps for marketing one's profile and being found by business prospects. Most of it seemed fairly common-sense, but the one that surprised me the most was the suggestion to put a video on your LinkedIn profile. A study by Forbes found that about two thirds of prospects clicked through to a vendor's website after watching their video. So, something like this can have a huge impact. These strategies that I've talked about are mainly used by business owners rather than those looking for employment, but they are certainly relevant in the event that my future career includes any entrepreneurial or business marketing aspects to it.

A Close Call

I'm not sure if this has happened to anyone else, but after being in school for so long, I sometimes forget that it's actually ending soon. This happened to me last night, or rather it happened pretty constantly up until last night. Some time in the evening, it occurred to me that I better apply for graduation. This is something that is best done early, of course. But, I have spent so much time in the mindset that I was in a never-ending sequence of semesters that in some practical ways, I had forgotten about graduation.

This is my last semester, so I'll be officially graduating in August. You can probably imagine my shock and dismay when I saw that the deadline to apply for graduation had passed 4 days earlier. This was one of those heart-stopping moments we all have from time to time. Did I totally screw this one up? Would I have to wait until December to graduate??? That would have a huge impact on my life, academically and otherwise. Thankfully, I most likely won't have to wait. I had to pay a significant late fee, but I was still able to apply to graduate in the Summer 2014 semester. So, let that be a lesson to me to better anticipate and prepare for deadlines.

Analysis: Strengths and Opportunities for Change

One of the strengths of my organization is that the people who work here really believe in what they are doing. It's not the type of job that you would get just to pay the bills - it really has to be a part of you. People here sincerely want to help people and represent the congressman well. In addition, most of them have a lot of patience with the interns, which I'm sure is difficult due to the rapid turnover, and the fact that this leads to always having people around who are relatively inexperienced.

There are a few things I would change if I could. It seems as though the workload could be a little more evenly spread between the staffers. One in particular is overloaded, and it appears to me that he's starting to burn out, and that it's apparent in his attitude toward visits and calls by constituents.

Perhaps this is a personal note, but I've often wished that it were possible to have received a more comprehensive training. I know this is unrealistic, since probably a couple dozen interns cycle through the place every year, but I received next to no training, and something more substantial would have been helpful, both to me and the staffers.

The Artist Is Present

Maybe it's this way in every district office, but we have some constituents who see us as more than just their advocates with the federal government. They want to be our friends, and they stop by with small gifts or call periodically for nothing more than conversation.

One of these friends of the office is an elderly gentleman named Jim. He comes in every now and then to talk with the staffers, and on more than one occasion, to sing a selection of old songs to anyone who would like to listen. They tend to be songs that were popular back when he would have been young. When I first met him and he said he wanted to "sing some music" for us, it was pretty awkward I didn't know who this self-styled vocalist was, but it soon became clear that the staffers did.

If he had a good singing voice when he was young, it's aged along with him, but in his mind it still must sound amazing. I can't fault him for his sincerity though. It clearly makes him happy, and his unscheduled performances in the front lobby of the office certainly add plenty of variety to a busy (or a slow) day.

He has expanded his repertoire to include visual art. When he heard that the staffer he wanted to sing for was on a conference call and not available, he brought out his sketchbook and said "I''m going to sketch her from memory, okay?" He then did so, and in many ways, his pencil drawings are like his singing. It's completely sincere, and he even titles and signs his work. Eventually he either leaves or his wife comes to retrieve him, but he always makes us smile.

Public Service

My organization demonstrates public service in the sense that, quite simply, that's the only reason that it exists. Most of the time, when the average person thinks about Congress, or about their representative, they think about legislation (or more accurately, legislative gridlock). In reality, the work that goes on behind the scenes in district offices like mine is more productive and has more noticeable and immediate effects on the individual lives of constituents.

This is because district offices (as opposed to the Congressional offices in Washington) are focused on what's called constituent services. They aren't there to prepare legislation or to campaign. So what are constituent services? Basically, if you or I have a problem or any type of issue relating to a federal agency like the IRS, the VA, or the Social Security Administration, we would need the help of a constituent services representative from our district office.

These staffers act as constituents' advocates with the federal agencies. As it says on the Congressman's website, "If you can't get an answer from a federal agency in a timely fashion, or if you feel you have been treated unfairly, my office may be able to help resolve a problem or get you the information you need."

There are many other ways in which public service takes place as well, though most are (unsurprisingly) connected with the federal government. If you want to purchase a flag that has been flown over the Capitol, that can be done through your district office. If you need a recommendation for an application to a military academy, or need to expedite your passport application due to an emergency, or just want information regarding tours of the Capitol, the district office is there to serve you.

Red Flag

Right now, I'm in the middle of doing something I've never done before - selling a car. I've only ever owned three cars, and I still have all of them, and one of them needs to go. I've decided on the one that's the oldest. There's somewhat of a collector's market out there for it.

At least I thought there was. It seems that there is a much larger market of scam artists than there is of people who like old cars. I suppose I should have expected this, but keep in mind that I've never sold a car before, so I'll claim that my naivete is excusable.

The first scammer to contact me was within just a few minutes of the craigslist post going live. There were so many red flags that it was hilarious. "oh, I live offshore (red flag), and I'm buying the car for my son (red flag), and I really want your car even though I've never seen it (red flag), and I can only pay through PayPal (red flag), and then I'll have my shipper (red flag) come pick up the car from you," was basically the gist of it. I texted back and said, "yeah, that doesn't sound suspicious at all...".

Another scammer texted me on Sunday. Reproduced here for your amusement is their message: "Hi, aboout ur ardvertizmennt onnlinne. Pls meessagee at (email address) to cconffirrm ppriicce and aavailaabilitii of the Auu2moobil." Because that sounds legit. And real.

On the bright side, I got my first real text from an actual human person who was interested in the car last night. He wanted to trade me for a Buick Roadmaster, which would be awesome, except that it's in rough shape, and lowered and customized like crazy. So that's a no-go, but he wants to trade for something else, since he "loves" the car. We'll see. Anyway, it can only get better from here.

Anyone know somebody who would like a 4WD station wagon from the 80's? If not, I might end up selling my other car instead.

Some Thoughts on Leadership

Leadership plays, if anything, a merely incidental or supporting role in my internship. In the sense that the Congressman is a leader and representative of the area, and my work supports that leadership, there is some connection there. The most significant opportunity that I've had to personally demonstrate leadership here was in training a new intern not long ago.

As a front desk intern, I can sometimes act as the "face" of the office for constituents who walk in. Mostly, however, my role is a supporting and facilitating one for the office in general. My coworkers, the staffers who provide constituent services, often demonstrate 1-on-1 leadership in their handling of (often very difficult) cases with expertise and professionalism.

As I described in a previous post about the immigration activists, sometimes the staffers have to use leadership skills to deal with unexpected and challenging situations. As I think about it more, perhaps diplomacy is the dimension of leadership that is exercised the most, both by myself, and by the staffers of the office.

Supervisor Interview

For this assignment, I interviewed my supervisor, who is the Director of Constituent Services at the district office. Below is a summary of what I learned in our conversation.

She directs and oversees the constituent services staff, as well as managing the office in general, including the interns. When I asked her how she had chosen her career, she laughed at first and said "I didn't!" On a more serious note, she told me that when it came to her current position, she was approached by the Congressman and asked if she would accept the position. She wasn't immediately sure whether she wanted to take it, but after long and thoughtful consideration, she decided to take the position.

Before that time, she had long been active in local political organizations, and involved in government, to the point where she knew Congressman Salmon personally. As to the question of how someone would prepare for a career in politics, in terms of education or otherwise, her input was that it was mainly a question of keeping informed about current affairs and government. It's more than a job that ends when you leave the office. In many ways, it's a way of life, and it's necessary to carry an interest in such things in your normal life, if you're going to find a career in politics to be rewarding.

There have been noticeable changes in politics in recent years. She sees that people are more involved and paying more attention than at any time in the recent past. Some of this is due to the fact that the political arena has become dramatically more polarized, but she sees the new involvement as a positive development.

A Decidedly Atypical Day At The Office

Until now, work at the district office has been pretty calm, with a few slow days that were downright boring. Wednesday was not one of those days.

It started when, after an uneventful couple of hours, a couple of guys came in and started asking if this was where the immigration protest was supposed to take place. Myself and the other morning intern, Danyell, were sure that they had just gotten some misinformation or were confused about where they were supposed to be, for an event that we had no knowledge of.

After all, what kind of protester would waltz into a Congressman's office and calmly and innocently ask if they were in the right place for a protest? It made no sense.  

After a while, it came to our attention that there was a group gathering in the parking lot, many wearing shirts displaying the logo of an immigration activist organization. Not only that, but the media had arrived as well, including a reporter and camera crew from the local NBC affiliate, Channel 12. They all gradually made their way up the stairs to the office. The constituent services representative from the office met them and had a very pleasant and cordial exchange, where mutual respect was expressed. They told us they'd be back a little later, however. In the meantime, a fairly ticked-off tenant from elsewhere in the building came in to express his anger at there being a camera crew around, apparently thinking that we had invited them.

A slightly different group came in about half an hour later, wanting to speak about the same subject - immigration reform. There was another cordial exchange, with a little tenser mood to it, and the group again left peacefully. A short interval passed, and here came another group, wearing the same shirts, holding the same signs, and led by the same person. I dialed the immigration rep's extension and apologized for sounding like a broken record, and let him know he was needed out front again.

This third group consisted of a large proportion of children, and the leader said that one of them, named Omar, would like to read something to us. It was a story about his family's immigration situation and a plea for the government to institute immigration reform. The staffer who had been dealing with these groups all along was, again, very cordial, and complimented the boy on having written it all by himself. The group's leader then said that they all had stories they wanted to share. The staffer invited them to either step into the conference room, or outside of the office into the common area, since it was such a large group.

This was when things took an unfortunate turn. The leader refused both of these options, and directed everybody to sit down, citing their frustration with the current state of immigration in the country. Our staffer became stern and warned the leader of the group again that they needed to either step outside or into the conference room to be heard, but as he told them, "a sit-in is not a good strategy, I promise you." He tried at length to reason with them, but When the group's leader still refused, the staffer said, "We'll have to escalate this, then," and added, "I'm very disappointed."

Some minutes passed, which the group occupied by sharing their immigration-related challenges with each other. Once again, the same staffer came out, this time with the District Director. He warned them again that they needed to leave, or comply with his earlier request, and that the police had been called to remove them if they did not comply. They still refused.

At some point around this time, the constituent services director, who is my supervisor, was speaking with me about the unfolding drama. To provide some context, over 100 immigration groups have met with staffers from our office - some of them more than 10 times. The issue of immigration, and the act of engaging immigration activist groups are not new concepts to the office. My supervisor said something like, "we've met with them before - we meet with them all the time - but they've really blown it now. They've really blown it now."

Officers from Gilbert P.D. arrived shortly with bulletproof vests labeled "Criminal Apprehension Unit", and secured the front of the office before calmly and professionally escorting them out, starting with the leader. It ended peacefully as it began, but was way out of character for that group, who are well-known to the office. As the names of the group of activists were being taken (they will be charged with tresspassing), the lady who acted as sort of a deputy leader for the group was heard to say, "We should have just gone in the conference room." There was also strong reason to suspect that SEIU, the Service Employees International Union, was involved and had likely organized the protest (which is typical for them) and put the leaders up to the counterproductive behavior they exhibited at the office.

This is already pretty long, so I'll just end here by saying that the moral of the story is that even if you believe that your cause is just, and you're frustrated that nothing is happening, don't resort to antagonizing the very people who you need on your side, and who want to do what they can to help. Good advice for government and for the rest of life as well.