The Republican National Committee has launched a recruitment effort tied to a new digital incubator project.
In addition to an online video, recruiters from the RNC are now on a five-campus tour scouting talent. Georgia Tech is the first stop.
“When it comes to recruiting top talent, our competition isn’t the Democratic Party—it’s the Facebooks, LinkedIns, and Googles of the world,” stated Azarias Reda, the RNC’s chief data officer. “We’re pushing the envelope by building products to win elections while creating a young and engaged image for the Republican Party.”
Reda and Chuck DeFeo, the RNC’s chief digital officer, are the new leaders of Para Bellum Labs, which is being dubbed a “start up” being run out of the committee’s new Digital and Data Department.
“Through Para Bellum Labs we will continue bringing in top talent to inspire innovative products to power campaigns and change the way we do business in the Republican Party,” Chairman Reince Priebus stated.
Everything from the video, which portrays a bright workspace populated by a smiling team, to the name, which means “prepare for war” is drawing snickers. But the project appears to have a long-term design.
“The cool thing about this is the fact that I am literally trying to work to elect the next president,” says Jesse Kamzol, deputy data director, in the video.
There’s no mention of the 2014 midterms.
After Tuesday, the tour stops at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, the University of Maryland, Virginia Tech, the George Washington University and Berkeley.