This is the third article in our four-part think tank guide (part 1, part 2, part 4).

What is it like working in a think tank? A Quora response to this question puts it well:

In some ways, this is akin to asking, “what is it like to work for a corporation?” You’re going to get a very wide range of answers.

Ultimately, if you’re seriously looking at think tank jobs, you’ll likely have to spend some time testing your fit and doing research on individual programs and people (see part 4). But there are some general questions and pointers that are worth keeping in mind. This section provides some further background on think tank jobs that will hopefully make your individual research easier. 

Assessing your fit for think tank life 

While think tanks vary greatly, there are some commonalities worth noting when considering your fit for think tank work. Think tank jobs tend to be less hectic, with greater potential for work-life balance, and are typically more narrowly focused than other policy jobs such as congressional staffer. Relative to, say, cultures at tech companies, think tanks are often more risk-averse and “old-school” culturally (if you’re starting a think tank job, check with your manager before showing up to work in jeans and a hoodie!). Seniority and credentials, rather than pure performance, can weigh heavily in hiring and promotion decisions.

Consider, also, whether the mission and target audience of think tanks are a good fit for you. In any think tank job, you will be working in an environment oriented around policy. While think tanks are sometimes compared to universities because of their focus on research, the “writing for a specific audience” part of the job is actually closer to journalism, teaching, and similar professions. And, unlike in academia, political agendas loom in the background of most think tank work, even if they don’t directly dictate output. For example, as Dan Drezner writes:

The think tanks I worked with felt like a hybrid between an academic department and a law firm. The substantive discussions were just as serious and analytical as those I would have encountered at the University of Chicago or the Fletcher School. But there were some uneasy moments as well. On at least one occasion, I felt like my think tank boss was trying to reverse-engineer a report I was writing. He knew the conclusions he wanted the report to draw and just wanted to make sure that my analysis was consistent with that conclusion. There were also additional discussions about the presentation and marketing of ideas that simply did not occur in the academy.¹

People who primarily enjoy writing for other academics, or whose favorite part of the research process is getting that fun historical detail in footnote 25 just right, may not enjoy think tank work very much; instead, they may be better-suited to work in more academically-oriented organizations.

On the flip side, others may find think tank research overly academic: if you are eager to get involved directly in the execution of policy, roles within government may be a better fit for you. There are also many advocacy and lobbying jobs available at civil society organizations, companies, trade associations, or lobbying firms. These can provide valuable experience and professional development opportunities.

For many people, however, it’s not possible to resolve the “fit” question in general terms. You may be a good fit for an advocacy role at a think tank but a bad fit for a research role. You may like working at one program, perhaps due to unique features of its culture, but dislike working at another one. You may enjoy yourself more when Congress is active and it feels like your work can materially impact policy, while feeling frustrated during election years when everything seems stuck and politicized.² There isn’t such a thing as a generic “think tank experience.”

Types of teams and jobs at think tanks 

It’s worth exploring the full breadth of possible think tank roles and experiences before deciding whether you might be a good fit for think tanks. To help readers get a more concrete sense of the types of roles that exist and the responsibilities those roles entail, we collected a spreadsheet of think tank job postings. It breaks down the qualifications and responsibilities of ~100 jobs spread across 15 think tanks, as well as links to archived versions of the original postings. The postings are not a random sample; we aimed for a diversity of postings—illustrating the range of jobs that exist—rather than a sample that is representative in terms of frequency. We’ll pull out just a few examples to highlight our main points here, but if you’re seriously considering a think tank job, it’s worth browsing the full dataset.³

Broadly speaking, it can be useful to distinguish between three categories of think tank work (note: our terms/framework, these are not widely used; and there is typically plenty of overlap in these areas, even within a single job):

1. Research jobs involve doing analysis and writing in a research team, typically operating under an umbrella program led by a vice president and/or program director (there may be many such programs in a single “conglomerate” think tank)
2. External affairs jobs focus on communicating with external stakeholders (e.g. the media, policymakers directly, or the public at large), often handled by the “communications” team (though some think tanks use different terms or split these functions into multiple teams)
3. Internal affairs jobs focus on operations (e.g. HR, finances, and other administrative work); at small think tanks these may done by one team, whereas at larger think tanks there may be multiple teams (e.g. Brookings has separate VPs for “institutional affairs,” “development,” and “human resources”)

Research 

Research jobs are those most commonly associated with think tanks. They may involve writing reports, op-eds, and private memos, as well as briefing policymakers on issues. In some research jobs, you can build a portfolio and establish yourself as an expert. But jobs focused solely or even mainly on research are relatively rare, especially at junior levels. Consider, for example, a job description for a junior research (“Research Associate”) role at the Council on Foreign Relations. It lists the following duties, alongside research responsibilities:

• “Providing administrative support to the senior fellow, including scheduling appointments, handling phone calls, making travel arrangements, and drafting correspondence”
• “Assisting in managing budgets, including tracking monthly statements and grant information, drafting reports, and preparing vouchers for reimbursement.”
• “Assisting the fellow with social media outreach, including publishing a blog, website, video and/or using social media applications such as Twitter, Facebook, etc., as needed”
• “Providing support across departmental lines and for other fellows, upon request”
• “Coordinating events, including preparing invitations, corresponding with speakers and presiders, making travel arrangements, preparing background papers and materials for distribution, and providing other logistical support”

You will specialize more as you gain seniority. But even many senior researchers are required to spend a fair bit of their time fundraising (not unlike in academia). Indeed, the constant need to hustle for money permeates work at most think tanks. Successful researchers will also do a fair amount of external affairs/communications, as they will be in demand for events, media, and policy engagement.  As such, to excel as a think tank researcher, it can be essential to get experience and become proficiency with certain non-research skills, including outreach, fundraising, budgeting, management, and basic admin tasks. You may also specialize more at larger think tanks than at smaller ones, though this depends on the specific organization.

External affairs

External affairs teams and staff may (a) help edit researchers’ work for readability; (b) handle social media and media outreach to promote events, research work, etc.; and/or (c) coordinate outreach and advocacy to Congress, the executive branch, and other policy stakeholders. Some well-resourced think tanks are also launching new efforts in the digital realm (see e.g. the CSIS iDeas Lab) that fall somewhere between research and external affairs (somewhat analogous to “product” or “content” roles in industry). A few sample tasks from our database of job descriptions (different jobs): 

• “Assisting team members with direct outreach to members of the U.S. Senate, House, executive branch, and foreign embassies—working to get CFR experts and publications before leading foreign policy decision-makers through briefings, roundtable meetings, and a variety of other fora.”
• “Assist in event planning, outreach, and staffing, as well as preparatory research for media and/or publications”
• “Producing short interview videos responding to breaking news events to more complex explainers that use more animations, graphics, and b-roll…Be part of a podcast production team including sound and audio editing”
• “Help produce analytic reports for social media and websites and applying lessons”
• “Oversees and contributes to editing for all FP blogs, policy briefs, articles, reports, essays, and papers, including performing and/or managing FP staff in editing for clarity and style.”

Internal 

Internal think tank roles include development/fundraising, finance, HR, and other administrative roles. These range widely in their skill demands; for example, many development roles require strong communication skills in order to maintain and improve relations with potential donors, whereas HR roles require more experience with particular software tools. These internal roles may have considerable overlap with roles that might be found in the private sector. A few sample tasks from our database of job descriptions (different jobs):

• “Work closely with the VP of Development and Managing Director on execution of donor and prospect cultivation, solicitation, and stewardship strategies including gathering and synthesizing relevant information from research programs and/or business units…”
• “Support Center leadership with center administration such as budgeting, staffing, and preparation of internal memos”
• “Develop and manage employee recognition, collaboration, mentorship and award programs, and events”

Research teams often get most of the spotlight. But even those in non-research roles can leverage their think tank experience and network for government work (see Part 1). The key goal here would be professional development. For many impactful policy roles, communications and management skills are just as important as (and sometimes more important than) in-depth issue expertise. These include executive / special assistant, spokesperson, communications director, chief of staff, and other office / program management roles.

All else equal, external-facing roles may be easier to pivot into policy-oriented government jobs than internal-facing roles given how these roles contribute to your professional development (e.g. the knowledge, skills, and professional contacts you develop). But operations work could still be the better choice for specific individuals, especially those primarily interested in implementing government programs.

Consider think tank “jobs,” not think tank “careers”

One unfortunate aspect of think tank work is that there is often little room for growth for entry-level or early-career researchers. In theory, the research career ladder at think tanks would look something as follows: 

1. Entry-level researchers can get their feet wet by working as assistants to established researchers, helping compile data, reviewing scientific literature, and so forth.
2. Having acquired sufficient research and project management experience, a junior researcher eventually gets to lead their own projects and supervise their own assistants. 
3. Eventually, researchers can become program directors, shifting from doing research themselves to managing research teams and determining a program’s strategic direction.

In practice, however, it’s rare to climb this ladder at a single institution. The hardest step (especially at large think tanks) is moving from the first rung to the second—from an entry-level role to a research job with more responsibility and autonomy. This is because those “middle rung” jobs are relatively rare, a consequence of think tanks’ project-based funding model and small-scale programs, which often can’t reliably support mid-level researchers. And leadership roles almost always require significant government or policy experience.

This means that junior researchers typically leave their think tank job after 2-3 years, either for junior roles in government, (further⁴) graduate training, or other policy-related jobs (if they decide to stay in policy at all). If you are considering junior think tank jobs, it is safer to assume that this will be your trajectory, too, though internal promotion (for those who want it) does happen occasionally.

The career ladder for non-research roles is typically better, with a relatively well-defined internal promotion path. However, as with those on the research track, it’s common for junior staff to leave after 2-3 years to go to graduate school or a non-think tank job. More senior non-research staff also often have extensive experience outside of the think tank world.

The upshot is that it’s probably better to think of think tank work not as entering a “think tank career,” but as one part of (exploring your fit for) a “policy career.” Your broader policy career could involve later work in government, business, or nonprofits. As discussed in Part 1, we think that think tank work is especially attractive for being able to get a broad view of the policy ecosystem, for building transferable skills, and for testing whether you like particular types of policy work.

“Non-resident” or “adjunct” fellow roles

If you’ve ever browsed think tank program or staff pages, you may have noticed the large number of people with terms such as “non-resident” or “adjunct” in their title. Such affiliations are typically not paid, or perhaps involve ad hoc contract-based work up to 0.1 or 0.2 FTE. These kinds of roles are mainstays of the think tank world, but are often (and justifiably) confusing to outsiders. What purpose do they serve, and could/should you try to get one?

For the fellow, it’s a nice line on the CV, a convenient by-line to publish under, and an extra perch from which to network. For the think tank, non-resident fellows can boost the number of qualified experts associated with their programs. It’s not uncommon for a program with no more than two paid staff to have more than a dozen people listed on its website.

This is not to say that non-resident fellows never do useful or interesting work. Sometimes programs do bring them on with specific projects or goals in mind, drawing on their expertise and networks. But in many cases, it is safe to assume that non-residents fellows won’t really know what is going on in, or be actively involved with, the programs that they are nominally affiliated with (and the more senior the non-resident fellow, the safer this assumption).

If the option is open to you, it can be useful to shoot for a non-resident role. But that’s a fairly big “if”—most non-resident roles go to mid-career professionals in one of the following categories (though some think tanks also give affiliations to a small number of more junior people): 

1. Professors with relevant research portfolios 
2. Relevant industry experts 
3. Former policymakers or government staff

Moreover, virtually no think tanks advertise for non-resident roles. Instead, think tank leadership typically brings on people they know (or are referred to) on a somewhat ad hoc basis. If you’re interested in getting a taste of the think tank world through a non-resident affiliation, your best bet is to network with think tank staff and program directors and see if you have something to offer them. Because these roles are not full-time or advertised, we won’t discuss them in Part 4.

Footnotes