Moving On, But Where? A Snapshot of Ontario Ministerial Staff Career Trajectories

Despite their centrality to the success of government business, we know very little about political staff, including their contributions to the policy process, the ways in which they contribute to government decision-making or their career trajectories. This research note examines the experience that political staff bring to their positions and where they find employment after leaving ministerial offices, using archived staff directories across four governments (NDP, Liberal and two Progressive Conservative administrations) in Ontario, Canada and cross-referencing names using LinkedIn. In total, we explore career progression of 1,153 political staff who have employment information publicly available on LinkedIn. Many take these roles having remarkably diverse backgrounds, including finance, law, academia, business and, even, other roles in the public service. Upon leaving political service, some choose to join the non-partisan ranks of public servants. Many leaving government head towards government relations firms to use their skills and experience to advance their careers. Most of these experiences are consistent across all three political parties that have held office in Ontario.