Any advice on getting into policy work?

[Keke94LND]

Hi all, so I am wondering if anyone has any advice on getting into policy work? I am 27, I have never known what I want to do, but recently policy work has interested me, except I have zero experience. I work as an executive assistant and office manager, in London, i have a degree in business and management and I am desperate for a change in direction!

Any tips on how I can get a job/get experience in policy?

(I have already looked at civil service and applied for some roles but not heard back yet)

Thank you :)

Volunteer to work with your local MP? Loads of people gain experience that way. You also might want to consider doing a Masters...which type of policy work do you want to get involved in?

Persevere with civil service?

Agree with suggestions above. Try w4mp.org or PubAffairs for entry-level positions and to build relevant experience.

Do a master's in public policy or educational leadership, or get into a post bacc law programme.

Get involved in fundraising policy and business organisation for a charity.

Join the board of governors of a school.

Join the board of a charity.

Stick with the civil service option

Get out of exec assisting as soon as possible.

Does your LA have any citizen advisory boards?

With Business and Management undergrad - would suggest a Masters in Economic Policy...in very big demand at the moment!

Friends dd doing masters in international relations, would this interest you op?

Do you want to become an expert in one particular area? Do you want a campaigning remit- ie policy to change something for the better? If so look for an organisation who work in that area and apply for junior policy and programming roles. I'd suggest trying to land one of these before doing a specialised Masters degree as having a bit of work experience will give you an edge but it's a long time since I did entry level jobhunting so not clear on the market. If you're interested in charities don't discount fundraising roles, they can be a good introduction into a policy area in a very applied way.

Civil service is great, but you will have to work on policy you don't agree with. Lots of CS roles are quite generalist as well, and you may work on an area for a short period of time, although there are opportunities for specialisms.

What kind of CS jobs have you been applying to? If you’ve been applying to policy jobs, you’re probably unlikely to get anywhere. However, you’d be much more likely to get an Exec Assistant type jobs, and once you’ve got your foot in the door, it would be so much easier to move into more policy work.

Firstly, because loads of CS jobs are only advertised internally, and once you’re a civil servant you have a much wider choice of jobs.

Secondly, because once you start, you can say that you’d be keen to get a bit of policy experience, and most good teams would bite your hand off if you were offering to help out on projects. Even taking minutes, helping with a bit of project management etc. And then it’s so much easier to move sideways into what you want to be doing.