Maisie Goodson, our student Events Assistant summarises key information and tips from our two final speakers on the Getting into Public Sector event
Jordan Snell, a graduate trainee at the NHS spoke at out Getting in to Public Sector event in October. Jordan graduated from Bristol University with a law degree and worked for a year before beginning the training scheme this September. She is part of the General Management scheme at the NHS and is currently on placement in the Service Transformation and NHS Improvement department, working in engagement and implementation. There are many challenges facing the NHS at the moment, one of which is consistency across regions and Jordan is helping improve that. The most challenging aspect of her job is that there are many different projects to get to involved with and managing it all can be difficult. The best thing about her job is the positive and supportive managers she has. Jordan’s top tips for graduate scheme applications are:
· Be interested
· Be smart
· Be confident
· Know how the NHS works
The NHS are looking for leaders in a challenging time, if you think you are one then luckily the NHS graduate scheme is taking two cohorts of graduates this year. Applications are now open and will close on the 4th December!
Our final speaker of the evening was Gabby Mitchell, a Senior Analyst at Dstl, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory. Dstl’s purpose is ‘to maximise the impact of science and technology for defence and security of the UK.’ The in-house work of Dstl is sensitive and classified so Gabby couldn’t share her specific projects but she informed us all about the Dstl and the roles it has. The priority capabilities of Dstl are: analysis, systems, weapons, human capabilities, counter terrorism and security and integrated survivability. All these capabilities work together to solve real world problems. Gabby herself graduated from Bath with a Psychology degree in 2014. After her placement as a Research Assistant at the University of Surrey she realised she wanted to apply knowledge and not just gain knowledge for knowledge’s sake. In her graduate hunt she only applied to Dstl and was successful. Dstl offers work in a range of different locations and there are lots of funded education opportunities such as Masters. In her department Gabby works to provide advice to the decision makers. She says one of the challenges of her job is the acronyms and military jargon. In terms of work opportunities, Dstl employ from any degree discipline. There is a 2 year flexible graduate scheme with 100 places, a year long placement with 50 places and a summer internship with 60 places. For more information see the Dstl website. Her tip? Apply sooner rather than later!
What did we learn from the Q&A?
· In applications we should show we have what they want rather than direct skills in experience.
· Practice, practice, practice! Practice the online assessments before taking them!
· Assessments and online applications are usually based on a framework so make sure you know what this is.
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