Even though many of our graduates will have progressed in their careers since completing a case study, they are still of interest to students who wish to gain an understanding of the world of work.

Working in the Parliamentary office involves providing research assistance; helping with speeches; working with relevant charities, think tanks and businesses; organising the MP’s diary, attending meetings, organising the logistics of site visits, liaising with civil servants etc.

As cliche as it is, every day is different. I usually try to arrive around 9:15am, collect a copy of the Hansard and an Order Paper and go through them both. I check my emails and listen to any voicemails. I usually print off all of the emails that require some sort of action and spend a while going through them into relevant piles. The constituency office sends through relevant non-casework letters too, many of which are on Defence policy and invites to functions.

Once a month on a Monday there are Defence Questions so the morning is taken up with team meetings, working on a speech with the Political Advisor, getting stats/reports etc.

Another aspect of the job involves the media, sometimes if there is a big defence story my office will be called upon to make a comment. This is the bit I find most exciting as we often get to go to 4 Millbank which is where a lot of the news is filmed. I've been able to get an insight into Sky, BBC, ITV etc and how the recording works.

I usually leave the office somewhere between 6-8pm, but this varies quite a bit. There are usually functions in the evening that aren't compulsory but are quite good to go to and I enjoy meeting new people so a couple of nights I week I am usually ‘working’ at those too. It’s a really useful way to meet people that work in Parliament, public affair/lobbying etc.

I think a lot of people think the job is a lot more glamorous that it is, I spend a lot of time dealing with policy enquiries and giving people dates for meetings, I wouldn't trade it though, I enjoy being amongst it all, it’s a great working environment with really fab people. I have accepted that some aspects aren't overly thrilling but the benefits of being in a place like Parliament and gaining the insight into the inner workings far outweigh some of the more mundane tasks.

I really enjoy that every day is different depending upon what happens in the news and how quickly things can change. There’s never a moment where I think "is it only such and such time", the day always flies by and I’m usually thinking ‘oh no, is that the time already’ because we've been so busy.

I sometimes doubt whether I’m political savvy enough or follow the media closely enough. Often I’ll be a bit slow on the uptake when a news story unfolds and I think it’s a constant battle to keep up to date with it all, especially at the weekends etc. It’s one thing to read a paper and know a bit about current affairs, but in Parliament it seems like that isn't always enough; you have to follow the news from the moment you get up until you go to bed, read the papers, watch Sky, follow key commentators etc.

I wanted to work in this area because I’m a keen Labour Party member and enjoyed studying politics. I wanted to be involved in the policy making process and working for an MP seemed like something i’d enjoy.

I think the main skills are organisation, time management, being personable, ‘networking’ and developing working relationships with stakeholders, analytical, strong written skills.

Parliament is known for its poor HR. Each MP's office is kind of run on its own, so a lot of career things are up to the individual. The political parties organise their own things and inform staff of their party’s MP's which is useful. The Parliamentary Labour Party often runs digital media course, speech writing and casework courses which I have found useful. Other than that, a lot of it is learn on the job, make friends, ask questions, and watching others. Everyone has been really friendly so it’s quite easier to get help and quite quickly you can suss out key people who are somehow experts on something niche within the running of Parliament.

Whilst in my final year of university I worked 4 days a week for David Blunkett. I went to uni on Mondays (I tried to get all my classes together) and work Tues- Fri in London. He was a great employer and really encouraged me. After the internship finished and university had ended I started working at PLMR, a public affairs company in Westminster. I worked there for a few months but missed Parliament and being able to be outwardly party political so when i saw a job come up with Vernon Coaker I couldn't resist applying.

Since I really enjoy the media aspect of working in Parliament i would like to work as an Adviser or potentially move into political journalism.

I think the most important thing is meet people and stay in contact, especially in politics. A lot of jobs aren't advertised and it’s word of mouth, it’s really important that you make the effort to talk to new people and build on those relationships. The other thing would be to take any opportunity you hear about. And finally, really get to understand the environment/interest you have, Google it as much as possible, find a route in, contact key organisations with your CV and asking for advice, see if it’s possible to pop in for a coffee for an informal chat etc.

Good luck!