Robert Halfon, Member of Parliament for Harlow and Chair of the Education Select Committee, is looking for a Parliamentary Assistant. The successful applicant will work as part of a small team in the Member’s parliamentary office.

Responsibilities will include:

• Overseeing the member’s diary
• Dealing with emails and written correspondence
• Tabling questions and EDMs
• Some speech writing and research
• Supporting team members with press releases, campaigns and social media when required.

Necessary skills

• Exceptional organisational skills
• High standard of written English
• Confident telephone manner and communication skills
• Ability to work well and calm in a high pressure environment and to tight deadlines
• Compassionate with an understanding of the needs of the constituency
• A positive, hard-working and can-do attitude
• A trustworthy, discreet and conscientious manner.

Preferable skills

• Awareness and support of the member’s political interests, including Education Select Committee work
• Experience using the PRU and House of Commons Library
• Experience using CR5 caseworker system
• Experience tabling questions and EDMs
• Good knowledge of social media, databases, WordPress and general computing

Upon starting employment, the successful applicant will have a two week overlap with the outgoing Parliamentary Assistant who will provide all necessary training for the role, including filling in any of the preferable skills that the successful applicant is lacking.