Today’s guest blog comes from Finley Gazzard, who has spent last week gaining work experience in the Mayor’s Office and Labour Group Office at City Hall.

My name is Finley Gazzard and I have spent a week’s work experience in the Mayor’s Office and the Labour Office. The purpose of my work experience was to gain further understanding of how the Bristol City Council (BCC) functions and how they help improve Bristol as a city.

My first day of work experience was spent at the Labour Office working alongside the team.  In the morning I was able to sit in on my first meeting where I learned how meetings run and how vitally important communication is in a work place. I then watched the BCC induction and learnt about equality and diversity. I found this very interesting as it shows how the BCC is representative of the diverse culture in Bristol and how all groups of people are included in our city.

I was able to be involved in the Full Council meeting on the Tuesday which was a great experience. Earlier on in the day I attended a meeting with the Lord Mayor to discuss the running order for the meeting in the evening; during this meeting I learned how important time management is. I then assisted the Mayor and his team with the preparation for his speech at the meeting. This was interesting because I was able to work alongside different people and experience the working environment where different ideas are thrown around.

Later on that day I sat in the Full Council meeting. It was really interesting to see how the planning earlier in the day was used in the meeting, and that without good planning the Full Council meeting would not have been able to run as smoothly as it did. Also, I watched the Mayor deliver his speech and it was good to see how our earlier rehearsals were useful.

During the week I was given the task of reviewing the media to help make the councillors and members of staff aware of the news during their busy days. This was an important job because the councillors are very busy and do not have time to read all the news; I helped them to be able to quickly know all the key stories that were relevant to them.

I also summarised Local Government Association articles on housing, bullying and low pay. This was to help the team get a brief understanding of these articles during their busy days. I did more research into libraries in other cities.

Overall, it was a very interesting week in which I learned lots of new skills to help me further in life. I now have more knowledge on how the Mayor’s Office and Labour Office function and what a working environment is like. I am very thankful for my week as it has helped my understanding of work.