5.30 AM
The alarm goes off and I’ve got 15 minutes to wake myself up, usually by browsing social media or catching up on the news overnight. Then it’s off to the gym for a workout to orient myself for the day and helps get the blood pumping.
7.30 AM
It’s home for a shower, get dressed, gulp down breakfast and catch the 8:20 train. Most days are in office attire, which is often a suit without a tie. I wear a tie on days when I have meetings with external stakeholders (non-Ministry staff) and Fridays are casual wear.
9.00 AM
It’s time to settle into my day. My first job is to check my emails to see what’s come in overnight. Working in international relations, there are often developments that take your day in unexpected directions. Last week I got an email from an Embassy that requested to meet and discuss recent developments. It was up to me to coordinate the meeting between their Embassy and our subject matter experts as well as welcome them, attend the meeting and take notes. Other times I have ‘normal’ days where I’m tasked with working on complex business cases in order to secure funding for programmes to aid countries in the Pacific, or to report on how efficiently those programmes are functioning.
10.00 AM
This is usually time for a team meeting or a coffee catch-up with other grads or friends at the Ministry. We often like to take time out to have a breather, spin a yarn and maybe vent our frustrations. It’s healthy but also you end up meeting new faces who you could one day work alongside in an offshore posting – you never know!
10.30 AM
It’s an opportunity to get stuck into my workload. Today I’m firming up details to have four external consultancies present to myself and a panel of evaluators their plans for assessing one of our programmes in the Pacific. I’ve seen the whole process through – from creating the terms for the evaluation to contacting the consultancies, setting the criteria for the consultants, the budget, the timeframe for their response, pulling together our panel of evaluators and much more. The successful consultancy will be awarded a contract that will support jobs and affect the outcome of how the programme is assessed (and whether it should continue, be altered or be discontinued). It’s important I get it right!
12.30 PM
Lunch! I really enjoy this as this staff room is full of people from across the office, not just the little patch where I work with my team. You can connect with new people and the usual ritual is to do the daily quiz in the paper. There are a ton of good food spots around too. If I’m feeling lazy I might grab a bite to eat from the noodle bar across the road.
1.00 PM
Lots of things can happen in the afternoon. The Ministry offers maintenance classes for speakers of second languages, so I try to attend the Spanish and Chinese classes once a week. There are courses run to help you settle into the Ministry too – today the course I’m attending is centred on emotional intelligence and is held at the waterfront. A whole range of networks is available for staff members that provide fabulous support.
2.30 PM
On a normal day, I’ll use this time until the end of the day to really make sure I accomplish multiple tasks. I fire off emails, set up meetings and clear my to-do list. My role at the Ministry is a balance foreign policy and development activities. The trick is to pay attention to both to prevent one from lagging behind. That means ensuring that the countries I work with are looked after and have the information they need on the foreign policy side. On the development side it means that the programmes I have responsibility for are being monitored correctly, any issues arising are dealt with and the partner agencies who implement the programmes are supported. On both foreign policy and development I have to stay well connected with key contacts both inside and outside the Ministry.
5.00 PM
Home time! I wrap things up at the office and head home for the day. The walk to the train station is 10 minutes from our office and the train ride is 15. If I’m lazy or late I might grab an e-scooter to speed things up.
5.45 PM
After catching the 5:20 train I’m home. I have some dinner and the rest of the night is mine. I’ll usually stream something on TV, read a book and then get ready for the next day. That means making lunch, ironing a shirt and making sure my bag is packed for the gym the next morning.
10.00 PM
Bed! It’s lights out, ready to get up for another day of interesting, dynamic and fulfilling work.