Graduate News
Scroller on / off
Times are hard, can KPMG and Durham University mak...

City workers, at the top of their corporate ladder...

The more technology evolves the more we seem to ta...

Realworld graduate of the year 2005 Alan Mak wins ...

The UK's first private university in decades opens...

The government's cuts spell woe for job-seeking gr...

The private sector brings some relief to the jobs ...

Travelling the world and experiencing new cultures...

The award has been created in memory of 2005 Gradu...

With categories for Universities, Employers, Socie...

FEATURED GRADUATE EMPLOYER

PwC Logo

We help our clients and our people create the value they want. We work alongside our clients to measure, protect and enhance the things that matter most to them. What's more, we've been voted number one in The Times Top 100 Graduate Employers survey for the last seven years. As well as training that helps you gain breadth as well as depth of knowledge, we'll give you support to gain a professional qualification plus the chance to experience a range of clients and projects. If you have a 2:1 or above in any discipline, at least a 300 UCAS tariff or equivalent and the ability to make an impact then visit

www.pwc.com/uk/careers

FEATURED GRADUATE EMPLOYER

TotalProfessions.com was created to guide and inspire you about the directions you can take to start out on your career path.
The Profession Finder gives you summaries of each employment sector, with tips on jobs, salaries, training and funding. It also features relevant associations and employers.
Check out our pages for students, including the Career Chooser, information on work placements and graduate schemes and advice on how to get professionally qualified.

www.totalprofessions.com

Total Professions Logo

Graduate Case Studies - Andy Williamson - NHS Graduate Training Schemes

Andy-Williamson---NHS---Graduate-Training-Scheme

"I think my three-month placement in Australia has been one of the highlights of my traineeship with the NHS," reflects Andy Williamson who works in recruitment at Guy's Hospital in London. "That and seeing a baby being born by caesarean during my first week's orientation, which was pretty amazing - I think I was more proud than the father."

Being involved in a frontline cause is what initially drew Andy to work in the NHS. "It sounds corny but I really feel that the work I'm doing is making a real difference and, because of the nature of the job, the work environment is generally very positive. There's a good spirit and NHS camaraderie," he says.

Like many others, Northumbria University student Andy graduated from his history degree without a clue what to do. After working in insurance for a couple of years he went travelling and on his return in 2004 decided that he'd like to work in human resources. He took a job as a personnel admin assistant to gain some background experience and began looking for -organisations that would offer a traineeship and also put employees though the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development qualification. That's when he came across the newly launched HR traineeship in the NHS.

"The NHS offered three different placements with really good exposure to all areas of the organisation," he says. "Each placement was HR related and you could also take the chance to work in healthcare abroad, although you need to set that placement up yourself."

After an eight-week orientation programme, his first placement of six months was an operational management job, managing 14 people at St Barts Hospital in London. "It was quite daunting, as I didn't have any experience managing people before," he says. "However it meant I learned loads in my first role." He then moved on to work for East London and The City Mental Health trust. "took an HR adviser role focused on the Improving Working Lives initiative, which is an NHS scheme aimed at making the organisation a better place to work." Then, after three months at a hospital in Gosford, Australia, redesigning their induction programme, he returned for his final placement of six months at Homerton Hospital in Hackney, London, focused on improving the diversity in recruitment.

Andy is now in his first non-trainee role working at Guy's Hospital in London. He feels the scheme has been an amazing experience. But you do need to be able to cope with pressure, he says, both when you are studying for your CIPD while working and when you are dealing with pace of hospital life.

"There is quite a lot of red-tape as public money is being spent and people working in the frontline don't always understand why they have to go through certain procedures," he says. "My job is to stay patient and help them but you do need to be -resilient. This is par-ticularly true at the -moment, as the NHS suffers from financial problems and some people are unsure about their jobs."
But he believes that the NHS is a great place to work. "It's built a strong foundation for my career and I'm doing something I really enjoy," he says. "There are many misconceptions about working for the NHS but there is huge job satisfaction in working to support frontline staff like nurses and doctors."
Zo' Roberts

GRADUATE TRAINING SCHEMES: BACKGROUND

The NHS offers a range of schemes to graduates which combine early responsibility in real jobs with a professional or postgraduate qualification. Graduates can consider the General Management Training Scheme, which offers the opportunity to gain postgraduate qualifications in healthcare or general management; or the Finance Scheme, where trainees study for Professional Accountancy qualifications or the Human Resources Management Scheme, where trainees can study the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) qualifications.

For more information visit
www.bringingleadershiptolife.nhs.uk or www.nhs.uk/careers


Add to Delecious Digg Reddit Stumbleupon Furl Simpy Yahoo myweb


You need to be logged in to vote.

Article rating:
  • 4/5 Stars.
Send it to a friend | Comments (0)
Thanks for rating!

Send to a friend

To:  


From:
 

  JCapture


Thank you for posting. You message will be moderated before going live on the site

Post a comment



Comments

Comments

No comments....



 

Graduate Employers

nucleargraduates The UK’s nuclear industry is facing its biggest challenge in... more
Cambridge City Council Cambridge is a vibrant city and is a great place to live, work and... more
NHS Employing 1.3 million people and responsible for an annual budget ... more
RAF You’re in your final year at university. So what do you want... more
Army 85% of officer cadets at Sandhurst have graduated from university.... more
DSTL Graduate opportunities with profiles can be found at Graduate Vaca... more
Cipfa CIPFA is one of the leading professional accountancy bodies in the... more
MI5 We are responsible for protecting the country against covertly org... more
Essex County Council Essex, Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock Local Authorities working toge... more
Rochdale County Council As the largest employer in the Borough, we have hundreds of vacanc... more
View all Graduate Employers

Latest Graduate Jobs

Title Organisation Apply by
Just graduated? Looking for the best way into banking and fi... Quartic Training 31 Jan 2010
View all Graduate Jobs

Graduate Case Studies

RebeccaMajor

Rebecca Major - Senior Barrister

I defend the Home Office when people bring legal challenges against immigration decisions. My work consists mostly of defending applications for judicial review in the High Court ... more

Helen Lesowiec - preview

Helen Lesowiec - management trainee - local government

I am based at Reading Borough Council and am currently on my fourth placement - I have previously worked in Business Transformation, Environmental Health and Culture, and I am now working in the School Improvement Team, looking at ways of raising attainment at Key Stage 2. ... more

Frieza Mahmood

Frieza Mahmood - HR Manager, Walsall Hospitals NHS Trust

The NHS takes a broad view of diversity and is working in partnership with Rare and EmployAbility, aiming to increase the diversity of its graduate programme intake.. The Association of Graduate Recruiters (AGR) recognise this, awarding the NHS the ‘Best Of The Best’ and the ‘Graduate Selection and Assessment’ awards in 2007, competing against the 700-strong membership of graduate recruiters and employers from the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. ... more

Sachin Shah

Sachin Shah - Civil Service Fast Stream Programme

I am based in the Home Office. As part of the programme I undertake a series of posts of around a year in length each. I am currently on my second post, which is as Team Leader and Workflow Manager for a team working on clearing the backlog of asylum cases. I line manage 11 caseworkers and plan their work so that they can meet some very challenging team performance targets. ... more

View all Graduate Case Studies

Graduate Advice

whos hiring

Who's Hiring?

Your guide to who has jobs, who wants interns and who needs trainees.... more

Advice - Facebook Article

Think Before You Click - The Negative Side of Facebook

The next time you’re about to upload pictures of your birthday party/night... more

Advice Hammer Nail

Nailing That Position- Top Tips for Getting Picked For Graduate Training Schemes

If you’re currently stressing over applying for and going for interview... more

resources

Work Placement Resources

... more

View all Graduate Advice