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Originally Posted by Unregistered
Yes I was in a policy role, and truth be told for a first job to take on writing policy or stating a stand, being prepared to be shot down by your boss and go through alot of ding-dong with your bosses and senior management, it's really quite overwhelming for a fresh grad. If I could use an analogy, it's like throwing you into the deep end of a pool when you haven't really even mastered threading water.
Still it was great exposure and I got to work with really committed and intelligent people. It also helped me discover what I didn't really enjoy doing, and what I could foresee myself doing in the future. Some of the colleagues I worked with really put in the effort and hours to get to where they are, but of course there is also the small handful who rise up the ranks purely by virtue of the scholar route.
I'm doing more of a functional role now, which is a little similar to what I used to do, but has a larger operational aspect to the job.
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Ah. Nice to meet someone who have had more or less the same experience. Agree with what is said here - both about the learning curve, and also about getting to work with amazing, committed and intelligent folks.
For me, I've too moved on to a more functional role but still work very closely with those in Policy. Knowing their set of rationale/concerns makes working really does empower those down the stream (i.e. execution).
Deadlines are deadlines. Some are realistic, and some are ridiculous. 3/4 AM OT tends to be seasonal, but working at home until 9/10 PM is rather normal. That was so for me back then, at least.
All in all, you need to be comfortable with writing. Copious amounts of writing. And I think this is the third time I said this now, but you would definitely need to be comfortable with your paper being discussed (in some cases, torn apart). The bright side of all these is, as the other contributor shared, you learn a LOT in Policy. I am not sure where else one can learn as much but then again I could be biased, since I started out in Policy and all.
Hope this helps you, as well as all others who are or may be considering a career in Policy.