Working a career in politics is a career unlike any other, where no matter what part of the field you end up in you will without a doubt be at the very forefront of conversations about how our community and society is run, and will be involved either directly or indirectly, depending on which of the many varied politics jobs you choose to pursue, in the lives of a great many people.
Political jobs can be greatly fulfilling, if you are able to find the right pathway through the complex political sphere, with many political jobs UK-wide being extremely varied and nuanced, meaning that no matter what grabs your interest in the political world there is likely a job for you out there somewhere.
This article will show you some of the potential paths of work politics in the United Kingdom can offer you, detailing how you can go about getting into politics, what level of education you might need for some jobs in politics, and some of the best ways you can kick-start a fulfilling and exciting career in politics.
Is a politics degree worth it?
Is a politics degree worth it? After all, committing to spending years of your life studying a degree at great expense and delaying joining the workforce can sound like a somewhat daunting idea on paper, and studying politics at university is anything but the easy choice when it comes to choosing a higher education pursuit. It’s a hard degree, and certainly not a choice to be taken lightly.
Is a politics degree useless, then? Quite the opposite, it turns out. A degree in politics is not only an extremely well-respected qualification across many fields outside of the political sphere that can help you in any and all walks of life that you might choose, but is also quite fundamentally the most obvious common factor between any and all successful careers in politics.
Studying politics at university will, pretty much without exception, place you in extremely high regard with any potential employer in the field. Part of what a degree shows to potential employers is quite simply the level of commitment and hard work required to complete the degree, with a masters in politics being held in similarly high regard to other high-calibre degrees such as medicine or engineering.
Indeed, rather than asking if it's useless, or asking what can you do with a politics degree, it would be shorter to list the fields of work that you can’t find your way into with a politics degree.
With that being said, having addressed the question of is politics a good degree, the logical next question becomes how should you go about turning the thought of politics study into a reality. For those who already study politics at A level (or equivalent!), there are a huge array of courses across the country at as many universities as you can think of that will get you out the other end with a respectable political science degree.
UK universities also tend to offer various combined study courses with one of the most common types of politics degree UK universities allow students to take being a combined law and politics degree. This degree is a natural pairing, as the two tend to go hand-in-hand and come with a lot of overlap in the professional world. Politics degrees aren’t just limited to being combined with subjects such as law though, as thanks to the rise of modern media and the information age history and politics degree jobs now come in all forms as well, from political analysts and commentators to social media managers.
This is even just the tiniest of windows into political science degree jobs that are becoming more and more prevalent in an ever-evolving world of increasingly complex and fascinating jobs, all of which your either focused or combined politics degree could lead you into.
How do I go about getting a political job?
So, you’ve got your politics degree, now what? One of the most common steps from here to becoming a fully-fledged career politician is to look at politics graduate schemes. When it comes to the graduate schemes politics can offer to those wanting to break into the field, there are a huge range of options, all of which will likely be unique, and almost certainly highly competitive.
However, since they will provide you with good generalist training around the specific field you move into (crucially different to many of the graduate jobs politics will provide to newcomers, most of which will be far more specific and results oriented) they do often prove to be the perfect stepping stone into the world of politics.
Of course, if none of the graduate schemes politics has to offer are for you, or indeed if you already know more or less what you want to do, there is always the option to look at the various graduate politics jobs that are out there. With political jobs, having some kind of relevant politics work experience can be your golden ticket into whatever career pathway you want to follow, and what better time to start than as soon as possible?
After all, there’s no better way to learn politics than to experience it live on the job. Politics entry level jobs can range from outward facing things such as a public relations assistant or social media intern to more internal roles such as a political researcher or legislative assistant. They may not seem like it initially, but all of these positions and many more like them provide invaluable political work experience that is certain to not only make you a more appealing potential employee wherever else your career takes you, but also make you a more experienced member of the political working world.
Of course, this isn’t to say that becoming a UK politician is just as easy as working a year as a social media intern. Political careers are not easy to get off the ground even with work experience in politics, and will require a lot of hard work even beyond that you will find at your average entry level politics jobs. They can be very rewarding, though, and certainly worth the effort, if you are willing to commit the time and energy.
Politics is as much about what you know as whom you know, and for this reason alone the politics graduate jobs London has to offer are some of the most sought after, as well as some of the most successful. It’s a self-fulfilling prophecy, that the best companies come to London because that’s where the best people are, and the best people tend to come to London because that’s where the best companies are.
That isn’t to say there aren’t a great many successful companies wherever you look in the country, but thanks to it being the capital city and centre of the country when it comes to such matters as politics, the political jobs London has to offer are certainly the greatest in combined quality and quantity. It’s a difficult and sometimes thankless path to tread, but for those who are serious about pursuing a career in the highest level of politics, there is no doubt that London is the place to be.
Where could my career in politics go from here?
As with all entry level jobs, the work experience gained there is supposed to be used to further your career into a flourishing and fulfilling one, and the work experience politics will give you is no different. As much as you may enjoy your time working as a social media manager or legislative assistant, both of these are really stepping stones onto far greater and more exciting things.
The most obvious of these for those pursuing a political career is to go into elected office in some capacity, which for the most part here in the UK would look like becoming a local area member of parliament, or some other member of the district or city council. This is perhaps what most people imagine when they visualise a career in politics, and while it is certainly a well respected and great option for someone interested in the field, it is far from the only option.
Another type of popular job for those who are passionate about politics but for whatever reason don’t find themselves pursuing an active political office position is that of a political journalist. There are two main types of political journalist, the first of which is a political reporter. This is the kind of job that as well as requiring an intimate familiarity with politics will also regularly test your people skills, since as the mediator between politicians and the general public, a political journalist must be able to accurately and informatively convey the views of one to the other, and vice versa.
The other side of political journalism is as a political commentator, a role that focuses less so on the extraction of information, instead focusing on providing insights and opinions on the machinations of the political world to the general public. It requires a keen mind and an even keener understanding of the interwoven nuances of politics, but for the more contemplative and reflective type, this can work excellently.
Aside from these jobs (and many more!) in the sphere directly affecting the political running of the country on the state level, there are also plenty of career pathways outside of this that can be hugely fulfilling and interesting. For instance, one extremely common career choice is moving into public service, either with a government agency or a non-profit organisation.
These are some of the best ways to take a career path more focused on using your political talents accrued across your career and training to directly contribute to society, with some of the most popular examples being fields such as education, healthcare, and the environment. These fields may not come with the same prestige as perhaps is associated with being a member of parliament, but they are no less important, and to many people would be far more fulfilling and genuine.
All in all, a career in politics can be a hugely rewarding thing for those willing to commit to it, with the entire process from choosing your university degree to eventually settling into a career path that is right for you being a challenging but ultimately extremely satisfying one. After all, as long as there is a society to hold together, political jobs will always exist, and there will always be a demand for those willing to step up to the plate to take them. So, what do you think, is a career in politics for you?
Summarise with AI:
Enjoyed this article? Leave a rating!
Loading...
