August 03, 2023
Shoulder tap advisors carry political risk
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A political scientist is warning of the risks to politicians of inexperienced political staffers.
Jennifer Lees-Marshment, an associate professor in politics and international relations at the University of Auckland, says the use of staffers has grown because they can add value to the politician and take off some of the political workload.
But they’re expected to work long hours in an insecure work environment and learn on the job without the sort of training and human resources support available through a normal public service career track.
They also don’t go through normal selection processes.
“They tend to shoulder tap people they might know or somebody they know knows. I’ve heard of people being selected because they went to a wedding and got chatting to somebody and like it’s crazy times and that means they’re selecting people on word of mouth and who they know and sometimes that works but sometimes it doesn’t and actually they would be better off getting somebody form outside with key professional skills rather than someone who may have been volunteering in the party for years and years but may not be the best person to go and work incredibly long hours in Government,” Dr Jennifer Lees-Marshment says.
She says politicians often have little management experience and don’t understand the jobs they are going into or hiring for.