Parliamentary Internship: Conservative MP for Havant, Alan Mak
***FINALIST APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS: All applicants are required to submit a resume (one page), statement of interest (one page), and two references by the application deadline on Sunday, February 6 at 11:59pm ET. If selected as a finalist, applicants to this host organization may be required to submit the following additional materials directly to the host organization after the application deadline:
- Letter of Recommendation
- Writing Sample
LOCATION: London / Havant, UK
Our office is able to host a REMOTE OR IN-PERSON intern (depending on mutual preference).
TIME ZONE: GMT / BST
WORKING HOURS: There is flexibility regarding which hours the intern works.
INDUSTRY: Elected Officials
ABOUT US: Alan Mak is the Member of Parliament for Havant.
RESPONSIBILITIES & PROJECTS: General office support, helping to organise events and incumbency activities and dealing with constituent correspondence.
WORK ENVIRONMENT: Small team split across two offices, one in Westminster and the other Havant.
EQUIPMENT & SOFTWARE:
- Access to high-speed Wi-Fi
- Personal laptop
- Smart Phone
- Web Camera
- Microsoft Office (Word, Powerpoint, Excel)
2021 Intern Reflection:
Working for an MP offers a rich experience as the role straddles both highly localized issues and those of national prominence. From writing the newsletter and press releases to designing pamphlets and working on policy proposals I’ve had the opportunity to engage with the office’s many layers of responsibility. I’ve been guided through these eclectic assignments by a welcoming team whose members I have gotten to know personally through twice daily office meetings. I've also enjoyed frequent encounters with the MP. Importantly, this internship places me in a position to contribute to the inner workings of an MP’s office rather than shadowing MP Mak. As with any public-service job, much of the work is performed by dedicated and passionate people who make the wheels of government turn. The work itself, even virtually, expands my skill sets as I am assigned diverse projects using different computer services that would apply just as easily to a senator’s office as an MP’s (and countless other non-political jobs, too). Through information-collecting assignments and constituency projects I have also gained a familiarity with the MP’s district. I’ve been amazed at how familiar I feel with the constituency despite the virtual nature of the internship. Most office work is performed on computers even without the pandemic and, so, the experience has felt not entirely different from an in-person internship.
- Tobias Benn