Our Grads

Policy Adviser

Alistair: “That’s a really interesting question. I chose to join the treasury because I wanted to have a career that makes a real positive impact on people’s lives. Following university I had done some teaching out in Ghana, done some work for the government of Goa, and also worked for an international development consultancy. And following all those bits of experience, I decided that I really want a career that benefits people’s lives and figured that policy makes massive changes.”

Male Interviewer: “So Alistair, what was your initial impression of the Treasury?”

Alistair: “My initial impression was, actually the Treasury is a really fast moving department, which was quite an interesting insight, having come from the private sector where I’d heard a lot about Civil Service bureaucracy. I think that’s largely due to the people and another impression was that the people are really great to work with – always intellectually challenging, and great to go and have a coffee or have lunch with. Overall, I also think the work we do here is just at the heartbeat of everything and central to everything the country’s looking at – so really, really interesting stuff. I also think it’s a really great place for learning. There’s always loads of opportunities and I was struck by that as soon as I walked in the door.”

Female Interviewer: “So can you tell us a bit about what you’ve been doing on the programme so far?”

Alistair: “Yeah, of course. So, I’m in my second post on the programme at the moment. My first post was in public spending, so that involved working with a whole load of stakeholders across Whitehall and I’ve now moved across onto the international E.U group, so many more international stakeholders. In my time I’ve got to do a load of really interesting stuff, so for instance; presenting to a delegation from Israel, briefing ministers, and even doing box duty in the House of Commons.

Male Interviewer: “Oh, cool – what did that Involve?”

Alistair: “Oh, that was really interesting! So, it involved supporting the minister in the house, as he was in the middle of a debate and essentially passing notes on really technical areas of policy, to support him in the debate.”

Female Interviewer: “So what do you feel that you’ve been able to bring to the role?”

Alistair: “I think one of my key strengths and skills that I really enjoy using is creativity and I think in both my roles I’ve been able to be quite innovative and entrepreneurial in various ways, for instance on change processes and actually working out how best to convey information to ministers. But overall, I think I’ve just been able to be myself in the office, and I think that’s the really great thing about the Treasury – you can just be you”