The Civil Servant Press Officer

The perks
We certainly don’t get expense account lunches. But for me, the sense of being involved in front-page news stories on a daily basis is great. We also get a great holiday allowance – 30 days plus a few extra days that we can take to add onto bank holidays.

The pits
Working from home on the duty rota can be quite tedious as it’s tiring and disrupts your week. Also, the unpredictability of the job means that your social life can suffer a bit – if a big story blows up, you can’t just swan off to the pub (much as you want to).

Coping with stress
I mainly turn to tea and chocolate biscuits.

Seeking inspiration
See previous answer.

Child-friendly job?
The civil service is very family-friendly as a rule – one of my colleagues, who was pregnant with her second child, left recently for a five-year career break. That’s a pretty flexible definition of maternity leave. It’s up to every woman to decide what’s best for her and her family. Nowadays, I think women may feel they’re letting down ‘the cause’ if they don’t return to work soon after having babies. Personally, if I was working and spending all of my salary on childcare I might wonder what the point was…but ask me again in ten years!

The future
I’d like to do the same sort of thing as now but be much more senior – Alistair Campbell, watch out!

The Verdict
This is the best job I’ve had yet.

What’s it like doing your job? If you want to share your day-to-day get in contact: Work&CareerChannel@email.ivillage.co.uk.