Genevieve Campbell

6.45 AM

I wake up and slowly get out of bed ready for the new week. I make myself a cup of tea and listen to the news as I get ready – it’s always helpful to know what’s in the News Cycle just in case something catches the Minister’s attention and my plans for the day are side-tracked by writing hot issues briefs!

7.50 AM

I walk to the bus stop; my housemates work in a building close by me so sometimes we walk together and chat.

8.20 AM

I get into work and say ‘hi’ to my colleagues. You can work anytime from 7am-7pm, so usually I’m one of the first people in the office – I prefer the early start and early finish rather than the late morning. On the days I work from home I’ll usually log on at 7:30 so I can finish mid-afternoon and have the rest of the day to myself.

8.45 AM

I sit down and sort through any emails that may have come in on Friday evening or over the weekend. I then open my task list and review any outstanding tasks from last week and my priorities for this week.

9.30 AM

On a Monday we have a team meeting, where we discuss priorities for the week and see who has the capacity to help out on other jobs. Even though there’s five work units in my team we’re really good at sharing resources and helping each other out when we need. Earlier in my grad rotation I would use these meetings to see what sounded interesting or new and offer myself to help out.

10.00 AM

After the team meeting, I usually grab a coffee with a colleague and - the walk wakes me up and gets me excited for the day.

10.15 AM

I get stuck into my work for the day. The beautiful thing about Policy is that the work you do changes every week! This week I am writing discussion papers about setting up a possible statutory entity and a new whole-of-Government governance structure. I’m excited because we’ll have to do some community consultation for this work, so I’ll get to travel across Queensland and talk to some community members. For now, however, I am reading lots of legislation and outlining and comparing options for what the model entity could look like.

12.30 PM

I leave the office to go meet my friend for lunch, she’s also part of the Policy Futures Grad program and although we work in different departments our offices are close and we catch up often. We take a long lunch and go to the dumpling place near my office and then afterwards head to the chocolate shop for a little sweet treat.

1.30 PM

When I come back from lunch, I see my supervisor has sent me a Productivity Commission Inquiry for our department to write a submission. I have to know about what my department is working on and check to see if the inquiry is relevant to our work. It’s a really good chance to use my strategic policy skills and see how our work interacts from a whole-of-Government perspective.

3.00 PM

I have a weekly catch up with my supervisor. I use this time to discuss feedback, my priorities for this week, and any concerns I may have. She also tells me what other work she has so I’m kept informed in case I need to be pulled into it.

5.30 PM

I finish work a little later than usual, I don’t mind though – any extra time I work with permission gets turned into time-in-lieu! I get changed into workout clothes and decide to walk to my Pilates class on the other side of the river.

7.15 PM

I finish Pilates and get the bus home. On the walk from the bus, I pop into the grocery store and grab ingredients to make dinner. When I get home, I cook myself and my housemate some dinner and put the leftovers aside for lunch tomorrow. We chat about our days while we eat and then I get ready for bed.

9:30 PM

I read in bed for a bit before I turn the lights off, ready for the week to come!

Thinking of experiencing life as a Policy Future Graduate? Sign up to Prosple to receive job alerts for Policy Future.