For someone who says herself that she “didn’t have a game plan” when she left University, Christine Wallace is showing all the signs of having a remarkably promising career. Graduating just over three years ago, she is already the Office Manager and Senior Parliamentary Advisor to a Conservative MP.

After completing her degree, Christine took full advantage of the upcoming national elections by volunteering to support the campaign of her local MP, Victoria Prentis. After the election, Christine continued to pursue her goal of working in politics by volunteering in her local Conservative Association office two days a week, while waitressing at a Bistro to earn some income the remaining five days.

An unpaid internship with Ben Wallace, then Minister for Security and Economic Crime, followed.  Christine was still waitressing at the time. “It was very strange”, she says. “One day I would be in a security meeting in the Home Office and the next I was serving coffee. I don’t think people always believed me when I told them what I did.”

The many voluntary hours that Christine put in finally paid off in 2018. On holiday in the USA with family, she received a text about a job opportunity with Andrew Selous MP, advising she send him her CV immediately.  Three weeks later, Christine started work in Andrew Selous’s office as a base Caseworker.  She didn’t miss the opportunity presented to her. “The fact I had a political education was an advantage”, she says, “but I started looking at what was missing and how we could help Andrew work more efficiently”.  She started producing social media briefings showing which audiences they were or weren’t reaching, sorted out which emails he really needed to answer directly and which could be handled on his behalf, reduced costs in the office and – with her own genuine interest in politics – researched facts for upcoming debates.  After just four months, Christine became Selous’s Office Manager and Senior Parliamentary Advisor.  Her longer-term ambition is to become a Special Advisor to a Secretary of State and, somehow, we see her succeeding!