A Day in the Life of an Economic Development Officer

Our Economic Development team are all about supporting economic growth in the borough, find out more about their day-to-day...

My name is Joe, and I am an Economic Development Officer at Tunbridge Wells Borough Council. Economic Development is very varied and no two days are truly the same, but this is a typical day in my life. Many people (including myself!) work in the Town Hall from 9am to 5pm, but I can work from home at different times if I need to.

On a typical day I arrive at the town hall office, and start up my computer. The first thing I check when I arrive is the business email inbox. We receive applications for a variety of grant schemes offered by the Council. The application emails are saved to a folder on our internal server, and they will be scored once the application deadline passes. I am also making a spreadsheet to track these applications as they come in.

Additionally, if there are any queries about the grants we offer, or business support in general, I will acknowledge receipt of these messages and then formulate the best way to respond. When I am unsure, I know I can ask my manager Hilary, or other colleagues on my team.

Throughout the rest of the day, I check my own email Inbox and respond to any questions or tasks I have been set. These can involve researching different schemes the council is involved with.

I also attend different meetings that Economic Development are involved with, and take notes (or meeting minutes). These are then used by others to refer to resulting actions or other agreements reached.

Another key aspect of Economic Development is supporting the visitor economy. We manage the Visit Tunbridge Wells website, which provides tourists with valuable information about the best things to get up to in Tunbridge Wells. Recently, I have worked on articles about vegetarian restaurants and corporate events.