Leaving government, and what to do next
Finding out you are losing your job via Twitter is horrendous, ironically on most occasions it would lead to a social media outcry, but for Special Advisers (SpAds) in UK politics, it’s the grim reality.
Your boss has been called to see the Prime Minister, you know it probably is not good news and then finally a tweet from Laura Kuenssberg, the BBC Political Editor confirms it:
‘Smith OUT’.
Three letters that means that you are most likely out too. The civil service is at its brutally most efficient when a reshuffle takes place, you’ll have about 15 minutes to pack up your belongings.
Somebody will pass you an envelope, ‘gosh’ you’ll think, ‘a leaving card, they got that organised quickly’
Although it is not a card, it’s your P45,. Like I said, brutal efficiency.
Somebody will tweet, ‘spare a thought for the special advisers’, but that is about the extent of public sympathy.
So I thought I would write this post about what you can do next, because they’ll always be reshuffles and I hope this post will stand the test of time.
It originated from some advice that Dan Korski, my predecessor under David Cameron, said to me when I first became a SpAd in the summer of 2016, ‘You are in a privileged position, getting to meet with business leaders each day, when one of your colleagues ends up being turfed out, just remember to reach out to them and offer a hand’.
In the following years, I had to do that far more than I imagined and given the general maelstrom we were operating in, I might not have always managed it.
Therefore I had this conversation with lots of former Special Advisers and thought I would just write down a few thoughts on what you can do next. This post primarily focuses on business options as that is my field, but there are plenty of other routes like academia, law, NGOs and charities.
As a SpAd you will be a highly motivated and capable individual used to doing an incredible amount of complex work very quickly, and like a light bulb going out, it goes to sweet FA in an instance — media SpAds often find this particularly hard. Last week you might have been irritated by Matt Chorley / Jack Blanchard’s phone calls, now you will miss them …
Well first things first, if you haven’t already, take a break, go away, go home, just get out of London, you’ll be more tired and worn down than you realise. You’ve got the redundancy money, use it, you’ve had a rough time and you’ve earned a decent break. Some go and lie on a beach, some go on fitness bootcamps for a week.
Secondly try not to be bitter. You know that politics is a brutal occupation, there will be part of you that liked the high octane element of it, and now you’ve been caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. It might not be fair, but sulking won’t improve it, try to focus your energies on the next challenges.
It is worth remembering that some of the most important special advisers of recent years, including Fiona Hill, Nick Timothy, Stephen Parkinson and Lee Cain all left Government and returned, so don’t think the Government or the party is over for you, you may just be on an enforced sabbatical. Just make sure you use this time to broaden your horizons and skills — you’ll ultimately be a better SpAd because of it.
So when you are through that process of grieving, it is time to think about what to do next.
What’s next
Public affairs is the most obvious option, and if you haven’t done any of it before, it is an interesting world, where your skills and understanding are most immediately transferable.
There are broadly two options:
Agency vs In house.
Agency, like a WPI or Portland will give you lots of variety, wide range of different clients and different challenges, if you are a jack of all trades, and a people person, this is a good fit for you. If you aren’t immediately sure of which agency, it is worth reaching out to a recruitment firm, Elva Partners or Ellwood Attfield are good ones who can help sharpen your interview technique and help figure out where you might fit best.
If you have a wider or media background particularly, you might want to consider some of the bigger agency houses like an Edelman or Finsbury, as you’ll be able to provide support across a wider number of their divisions. Trade press contacts will probably be more important here than the lobby.
Do it for a couple of years and then work out if you want to do something more specific.
If you are more of a specialist, then you might want to look in house and join a big corporate in house lobbying team, such as Barclays or Marks & Spencer. These are interesting places to work, and you might be able to shift across the company into more business focused roles, if that’s your ultimate objective.
There’s also big tech. The regulation of the technology sector is only just beginning, and they will continue to hire lots of people with insight. Uber, Google, Facebook, etc.
There are good jobs out there, both Lego and the FA are looking for public affairs and policy people at the moment (literally childhood dream jobs for many!)
Then there are the ‘big 4’ and management consultancy, all of them interesting places to work, they are talent hoovers and are always on the lookout for bright young people, so look at the job openings page, there will be lots, EY, Deloitte, KPMG, Mckinsey and Bain. If you like the idea of a big corporate, but want to move away from policy, these are good places.
The not so obvious routes
Have a think about the technology start up world, London and for that matter the whole of the UK has got some really exciting stuff going on. A former SpAd who worked in DfT, and the FCO, recently took a job at a company called White Hat which is revolutionising the way we place apprentices, it is one of the most exciting companies in the UK, and chances are you haven’t heard of it.
Have a look at TechNation and their future 50 programme, that is a useful guide as to the fastest growing companies in the UK at the moment.
There’s lots of bigger technology companies out there like that, Monzo, graphcore, FiveAI, Deliveroo, Funding Circle, Starling Bank, Babylon Health, Deepmind, are all brilliant UK companies doing really interesting work. These places might not have many policy people yet, but they are going to in time.
Go your own way
If you’re attracted to high octane and risk, why not start your own company? Creating a business is about solving a pain that exists, and as a SpAd you have seen plenty of areas where things aren’t working. Dan Korski, Ameet Gill and Sean Worth have all started ventures of their own in recent years. Will Tanner even went onto start his own think tank, Onward.
If you are not sure where to start check out entrepreneur first, Zinc Mission and Public, that’ll give you some ideas for how and whether to get started.
Another option for those a bit longer in the tooth, is to do a portfolio of these things and you can use this time to work out what is next. Or you might decide you really enjoy the portfolio lifestyle and wish to continue it. I have been writing for The Times and took a couple of associate and advisory board positions.
Another route, one which I ultimately pursued, is executive education. Courses can vary in length and some are just online — but it’s quite enjoyable to have a look at what you can study. The Economist has quite a good search for it here
Summary
The message I want to get across is that there are lots of opportunities out there, but it will take awhile for you to work out what you want and for you to find it. You will at times in the next few months, feel a bit despondent and at points a bit desperate and clueless about everything, that is normal and it is OK.
Government is about those people that show up and try to make a difference, it is hard and not many people thank you, but being a Special Adviser to a Secretary of State is an amazing privilege. An experience that will have hopefully given you stories to tell for years. I have included the infamous Teddy Roosevelt quote at the end because in 110 years I don’t think anyone has summed up what a privilege and frustration it is so eloquently.
Just remember when you first became a special adviser, you will got there by being hard working, highly skilled, motivated and had a little bit of luck. You will need to use all these skills again for your next challenge, whatever that will be. Forced unemployment is not how you would have envisioned it, but it gives you a great opportunity.
When I left №10 a few months ago, it was the hardest professional decision I have ever taken, but I left to start a family and have ended up studying at Stanford University and moving to San Francisco for three months, so it works out in different ways than you might expect.
If you have any questions about anything I have written above, drop me a line and I’ll try help. I am on Twitter @JimmyM
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It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
