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Work experience for politics

Hi there,

Looking at persuing a job in politics - maybe foreign affairs. UN etc.

Anyway, I was wondering what various work experience you would see suitable for such? I hope to apply to do PPE at university.

So far I've thought of working at a ThinkTank for a while, could anybody else give me some ideas or perhaps refer me to internship programs?

Thanks alot,
I would also like to know, but have no answers. :p:
See my posts on:
http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=430403

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=427351

and

http://www.thestudentroom.co.uk/showthread.php?t=420531

...in relation to all things Civil Service.

There's at least two sorts of careers in politics:

1) A career in politics
2) A career in Politics

The first one (which I'm in) is not party political - which is why I never have (and so long as I remain in this field never will) join a political party. (IMO it compromises the impartiality of any advice I give to whoever I'm working for)

The second one is party political. Being successful in the second one is very much about who you know as it is what you know. But I'll assume it's the first career path that people are interested in as with the second one, people tend to already be involved with their local political party from which the links can be made.

As for the first career path:

1) Get some voluntary experience under your belt. This field is extremely competitive at the best of times and chances are employers won't look at you if all you've done is gone through a traditional "school-college-university" route. Many people who apply for the external fast stream who get in have got a lot more strings to their bows than just a degree. Your experience doesn't need to involve travelling to far flung places. Working with disadvantaged people in your home town (as I did) can go a very long way.

2) Get your IT skills and intrapersonal skills up to speed and get yourself along to the employment agencies on Victoria Street, Westminster and submit your CVs to them. They supply the temping workforces to a variety of Government Departments.

3) Read a broadsheet newspaper and some political journals on a regular basis. You'll never know in what situation when annecdotes will come in handy.

4) Start corresponding with people/columnists/academics in the area that you are interested in. Find out when interesting conferences and talks are on and attend them, whether this is local or in London. You'll often find things at the back of magazines such as the New Statesman or Red Pepper that are worth going along to.

Hope this helps.

PR

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