See my student job - Julie analyses energy

Name Julie Frølich

Subject Political Science, 5th semester

Student job Student assistant at the Danish Energy Association, an interest group for energy companies in Denmark. My tasks consist mainly in keeping up with the politics of the energy sector: What questions are being asked of the minister, which bills are being presented in parliament, and what the different parties say in parliamentary consultation and in the media.

How long have you worked there? Since March 2016

How did you get the job? I applied. You often hear about people who got a student job because their mother had a friend who knew someone. Which certainly also happens – especially in the world of politics. But I actually got the job through an application round and an interview. So I am quite happy with this.

A day on the student job

Since I have classes twice a week, I work as much as possible on the remaining three days. I am fortunate to have a very flexible student job where you can turn up a bit late or leave a little early sometimes if you need to study, or if your friends call for you.

9.00 The working day starts

I turn up around 9, turn on my computer, get some coffee, and read the Berlingske news site. This can be recommended to anyone who needs a brief overview of the political world – and it is written well.

Up until lunchtime I check up on what has happened in parliament and write down questions, legislative proposals and other things into a – if I may say so myself – highly manageable schema. This schema I send out at the end of each week to everyone in our organization, and to a few of our members along with a mail that briefly sums up the political week in Parliament.

12:00 Lunchtime

Around 12 we go to lunch. I eat lunch with a couple of the consultants as there are no other student employees in my section. You get to hear many stories about the workplace, the children and the family vacations. Sometimes I think that I am, age-wise, significantly closer to the consultants’ children than to the consultants. But when the talk gets technical, it’s surprising how much you can learn in a lunch break. After lunch I work, for example, on an analysis of the revenues that the states of Europe take in through the collection of taxes.

Denmark is the country with the lowest wholesale electricity prices. But it is also the place where the consumers pay the most for their power.

The analyses are often based primarily on quantitative data from EU statistics. This is how we make sure that the facts are in place when we go to the media or to the politicians with our political agendas.

16.00 End of working day

16 and my day ends after many cups of coffee and many hours in front of a screen.

Would you like to tell us about your student job? Write an e-mail where you respond to the same questions asked in this article – and tell us about your day on your student job. Send the e-mail to uni-avis@adm.ku.dk.