My Work Experience

I did my work experience from the 21^st to the 27^th June at the Richmond Park Conservative Association which also serves as Zac Goldsmith MPs’ offices.

I found the work experience useful because I worked in an office environment. In an office, you work more as a team as I worked alongside other volunteers to enter database into their MERLIN database storage. This team work skill would be useful to me because it shows I can work as part of a team and am able to communicate with others.

I also used IT a lot as I worked with the MERLIN database in addition to also drafting a PowerPoint presentation for the office. This helped me improve my IT skills as I became more competent with a computer. Improving this skill was helpful because it was an area I was not so good at before I arrived for work experience.

Relating to school, I chose this work experience because working in an MPS’ office relates very well to my Government & Politics course at Halliford. The MERLIN database stores voting histories of people in the constituency. Therefore data entering allowed me to learn how political parties at local level store information as important as who voted for them, who did not and who did not vote at all.

In addition, I saw how busy a MPs’ office becomes when he is holding a surgery. Despite not being able to watch Zac Goldsmith hold his surgery, I could see how it works. Constituents came to the office and Zac spoke to them one at a time. I also saw a range of constituents enter from a disabled person to elderly people. This observation showed me a lot about political participation as I saw the numbers of people who visited and the diversity of people who came.

My highlight of the work experience in my view would be meeting Zac Goldsmith MP.  Zac was very nice and friendly. Zac asked me questions about how the work experience was going, what I was studying, university aims and potential careers. Zac recommended the Foreign Office as he thought people working there were dynamic individuals.

Therefore I enjoyed my work experience and learnt from it as well. In addition, David, the office manager reassured me I was more than welcome back in the summer or for voluntary work. I would be more than happy to work at the Richmond Park Conservative Association again.