If so, you should know what this work entails and what type of concerns need policy advisors. It's tempting to believe such professionals only work in the halls of governments. However, businesses, non-governmental organisations (NGOs), and charities need policy advisors, too. Here, you can learn all about this far-reaching career and what you need to make it your own.
What Do Policy Advisors Do?
- They conduct research: they gather and analyse data on policy issues and present possible solutions.
- They conduct risk assessments, advising stakeholders of potential pitfalls and benefits of new programmes.
- They help develop and implement new initiatives in accordance with strategic goals.
- They communicate policy information through media briefings, stakeholder meetings, and partner organisations.
Shaping Your Policy Advisor Career
Every political career guide will tell you that being a political advisor offers the broadest range of career possibilities.
Your politics education trains you to advise the world's movers and shakers, be they politicians or captains of industry. However, the knowledge you need to keep the head of an international NGO informed is different from what you'll need to know to inform, say, a local government.
You can count on your political education to reach across many subjects. Legal, historical and economic perspectives all impact current decision-making, regardless of the stakeholder.
A stakeholder is a party that has an interest in a particular concern. Citizens are stakeholders in their government; employees are stakeholders in their companies.
For political advisors, stakeholders are the parties on both sides of an issue. Citizens and governments are equal stakeholders, with governments being internal stakeholders and citizens being external.
These sometimes conflicting positions make the work of advising more challenging. Among other skills, you need refined negotiation and communication powers to do this work effectively.
What to Study to Become a Policy Advisor?
Obviously, applying for a political science degree plan at university is the logical selection. You must count on pursuing university studies to the graduate level and even beyond to maximise your career potential. You could get by with a bachelor's degree, but doing so limits your career prospects over the long run.
Dual studies boost your knowledge base.
Thus, your chances of working in the field of your choice are greater.
Doubling up on your politics studies hones your skills in one particular area. Many universities combine politics with economics, politics and law, and politics and media. Even studying politics with psychology gives you additional skills and insights, which allow you to direct your career down the paths that interest you.
Still, don't limit yourself to just those fields. Don't forget that international relations and politics are natural partners. Science, medicine, art and computer science are also valid double-degree fields, as this policy advisor explains.
What Skills Do You Need to Become a Policy Advisor?
Much of your work will consist of writing reports and giving briefings, so communication skills are an absolute must. You may build those skills by joining debates on campus and working with your campus newspaper office.
Artificial intelligence is gaining ground in all aspects of political life.
Still, authorities maintain it should be used minimally and carefully.
The Institute for Government think tank recognises the growing prevalence of AI but cautions against it. As a soon-to-graduate job candidate, keep in mind that you'll have access to AI. But you shouldn't rely on it to write your reports or compile research findings for you.
Digital tools notwithstanding, you'll have to develop all the skills needed to do this work well. Besides building communication skills, you'll need to hone your research and analysis abilities. That means filtering what's relevant to your topic out of all the data you collect, arranging it to support your contentions, and reporting on it.
Those are just the concrete skills. You need soft skills, too. Those include
What Does a Policy Advisor Do?
Granted, no university degree plan can teach you how to be a great diplomat; that comes with experience. Still, the right education can set your feet firmly on the path to maximising the necessary diplomatic skills to ensure you can do your job well.
Being newly graduated, it will take you a while and a lot of real-world experience to build those skills. Along your way, you'll master several essential functions, including:
- research into topics of interest to stakeholders
- draft briefings and reports, as well as speech outlines
- provide administrative support for meetings and conferences
- keep up to date on political, social, and economic developments
- inform your superiors of important developments
- deliver presentations and conduct briefings
As your experience and reputation grow, so too will your responsibilities. It will take some time before you brief organisation heads and take the lead on responding to information requests. However, you may participate in those and other activities long before your employers deem you competent enough to take on those roles by yourself.
Where Do Policy Advisors Work?
People often mix up policy advisors with political analysts, the professionals who analyse political trends and events. Analysts tend to take a backwards-looking position while policy advisors look forward to predicting the impacts of proposed political moves. Both have their places across a range of concerns:
In the public sector
- education sector
- healthcare sector
- local and central governments
With charities
- international organisations
- national concerns
- local charities
In the private sector
- NGOs
- policy institutes
- think tanks
- trade unions
- professional associations
This side-by-side comparison shows you have far more opportunities in the public sector. But don't discount public-sector or charity work just yet. You can have as great an impact in these sectors as you would advising a trade union or special interest group.
How to Get Ahead as a Policy Advisor
Entry-level positions come with a measure of excitement, often spurred by finally getting on with your life. However, that glow will fade by degrees; you'll need another goal to aim for. As your reputation for quality work grows, you might follow one of these two tracks.
Job-hopping
- new experiences
- possibly higher wages
- new work environment
Promotion
- increased responsibility
- higher wages
- familiar staff and surroundings
There's lots to be said for diversifying experiences. In fact, today's work culture favours job-hopping over career stability, particularly for policy advisors. Besides, whoever said you must know what you want by graduation and never stray from that path?
On the other hand, if you've long known exactly what you want out of your career, striving for promotion is never a bad idea. Especially if your client treats you well and you find the work satisfying.
How Much Do Policy Advisors Make?
Many people consider a decent salary a crucial part of being treated well at work. Of course, defining 'decent' is subjective.
A decent salary in Leeds would barely cover living expenses in London. Furthermore, individual circumstances decide what 'decent' means. £ 30,000/year might be decent for someone young and single who has minimal financial obligations. However, a family would struggle to get by on that much.
Future policy advisors must consider the range of job prospects, too. Public sector salaries tend to be more regulated, while private sector wage packets vary based on a range of conditions.
Salaries for charity work policy advisors are generally the lowest.
Public-sector policy advisors' pay is the most regulated.
Private sector advisors tend to earn the most.
With all these points to consider, the most accurate and honest way to answer "How much do policy advisors make?" is with a salary range. Or, better yet, a series of them:
Where to Find Policy Advisor Jobs
Often, new graduates turn to job listings for a policy advisor in civil service just to get their careers off the ground. Applying for these jobs through one of Britain's Fast Stream programmes makes the process effortless.
You may choose to make a career out of civil service, or sample what the charity and private sectors have to offer. In all cases, you will have the opportunity to serve overseas if you so desire. However, the likelihood of service abroad is greater if you focus your job search on charities and NGO positions.
If you're that graduate who's passionate about doing good and helping people, finding work with an NGO is your best bet. The pay is generally higher, and the positions are more diverse. You'll have the chance to work abroad if you wish, or keep closer to home. And best of all, the experience you gain will help define your future as a policy advisor.
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