Work experience blog – by Ifan Hughes

I had the opportunity to go for a week of work experience with Rhun ap Iorwerth, Assembly Member of Anglesey, in his office in Llangefni in July 2016. I am a second year student at Bangor University studying History and I live in Bryngwran on Anglesey. Because my time at University is coming to an end next year, and I’m not entirely sure of what to do after I graduate, going on work experience with Rhun was a good opportunity for me to understand more of what kind of work an AM does. Because I study History and I have an interest in politics the experience was an eye opener for me to help my decision for what path I’m going to take after I graduate.

During my time I had the opportunity to accomplish many different type of tasks and gained many new experiences that were very useful for me. I spent my week in the office in Llangefni and there I had the opportunity to work in the company of Rhun and his staff which were always ready to help and give me plenty of work.

I attended one of Rhun’s public meetings in Llangefni rugby club on the 4th of July about the referendum and how Rhun intended on moving forward following the result to leave. Following the meeting I had the opportunity to write a statement on the event that would be released to the press. I had never written a statement before, this was a useful skill for me because writing a statement focuses on using quotes more than my own interpretation of the event, something I do often in my work at University.

I took part in a ‘Surgery’ with Rhun listening to people’s problems and inquiries about many different matters. By taking notes at the Surgery I then went on to write letters to try and solve the problems. I also wrote a letter to congratulate Creating Chances group on winning a grant from the Big Lottery Fund. Because of Rhun’s very busy schedule I went through articles in the Holyhead & Anglesey Mail giving a short summery of their content to update Rhun on the local news.

Because I didn’t go down to Cardiff with Rhun, I had the opportunity to attend meetings on Anglesey. By attending these meetings I got a better idea of what Rhun and his staff deal with and I also had the opportunity to voice my opinion in some of the meetings.

It was a very interesting week and I enjoyed the experience of working with an AM and understanding more on what kind of work they deal with. Certainly the week of work experience has been very useful for me to start thinking of getting a job within politics in the future.