Graduate Case Studies - Andy Williamson - NHS Graduate Training Schemes
"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
Send to a friend
Post a comment
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 |
Latest Graduate Jobs
| Title | Organisation | Apply by |
|---|---|---|
| Just graduated? Looking for the best way into banking and fi... | Quartic Training | 31 Jan 2010 |
Graduate Case Studies
|
Rebecca Major - Senior BarristerI 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 - management trainee - local governmentI 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 - HR Manager, Walsall Hospitals NHS TrustThe 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 - Civil Service Fast Stream ProgrammeI 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 |
Graduate Advice
|
Your guide to who has jobs, who wants interns and who needs trainees.... more |
|
Think Before You Click - The Negative Side of Facebook The next time you’re about to upload pictures of your birthday party/night... more |
|
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 |
|
... more |
Comments