After studying and working in politics briefly, I am keen to find meaningful employment in this sector - whether it is within or outside the doors of Westminster.
Despite politicians having a bad press right now universally, I believe that everyone who aspires to become an MP does so with good and honest intentions. I feel that I could enter that world but would get frustrated with the system, that nothing could be truly changed on my own.
Instead, I would enjoy working on behalf of politicians, government departments, think tanks or lobbying organisations.
What I love about politics is the ability to make changes happen and make other people's lives better. Having that kind of power is intriguing and I would love to be part of a decision process of some kind.
Working for an organisation that lobbies the government possibly would be the most rewarding role. Particularly for a charity or not-for-profit organisation that really makes a difference to the people or things they focus on. In a role which was about policy decisions for such organisations or campaigning and coordinating is something which I have skills in and am naturally competent in.
I have applied for such roles before and got an interview for a three month internship for a leading charity. While this was one of my earlier interviews and I made some errors on the day, I have learnt from these mistakes and am still keen to carry out such roles.
Having worked in Westminster under my new MP last summer, I got a taste of life as a parliamentary assistant. I spent time in the offices at Portcullis House as well as following my MP on constituency days as well as sitting in on the surgery. I was trusted with important casework and assisted the other staff in administration, organisation and preparation for a number of things including questions to the House, meeting a local organisation and implementing an entirely new filing system.
I feel I got a vast amount of experience from spending time in Westminster, and have applied for similar permanent roles. The difficulty is that I got a response from one such position saying that they had 150 people apply for the one assistant role - so I stood no chance!
Breaking into Westminster (metaphorically) seems harder than breaking up with Tom on Myspace.
In other news: I'm currently doing some part time work to tide me over at my first job, I have had another meeting with the council's archive today about the Historypin project, something that will take a while it seems, and have an assessment centre on Tuesday for a graduate scheme in marketing strategy which is in Oxford (a role you may have read me talking about the application process before, well this should be my first and only trip to Oxford unless I get the job - fingers crossed!)
At least things are moving, of course I'll keep you readers updated with any further progress on anything!
Typed with kindness and gratitude,
Jon
CV: http://goo.gl/NzGU1
LinkedIn: http://goo.gl/jsuyJ
Twitter: @getjonajob
"Healthy citizens are the greatest asset any country can have." Sir Winston Churchill
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