Kate talks about her post-ngdp experiences.
I joined the ngdp in 2003 after graduating from the University of Durham. I was based at London Borough of Newham. The ngdp was perfect for me as I knew that I wanted a career in the public rather than private sector but was unsure about which job to pursue. The ngdp allowed me to work in many different areas of the council gaining senior project based experience from the outset in both front line and support services.
My work placements, combined with the invaluable post graduate diploma at Warwick Business School helped me progress quickly. I secured a permanent Performance Improvement Officer job at Newham while still on the ngdp, followed by a move in 2006 to the Greater London Authority (GLA) as a Senior Project Officer.
During my time at the GLA I worked on a wide range of projects at the heart of regional governance, seeing the transition between Ken Livingston and Boris Johnson as Mayor. I worked on projects including sport, health, decision making, efficiency and business restructuring, to name but a few. I also had my first taste of line management.
I gained a wealth of experience in a relatively short time at the GLA, including a promotion to Project Manager. This helped me decide that I wanted to stay in the sector but at a regional level, making a real difference in a fantastic city.
At the start of 2009 I moved within the GLA Family to London Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) as a Senior Programme and Performance Manager. I'm currently acting up from this role while my manager is on maternity leave, as Assistant Director of Programme and Information Management. I'm responsible for a team of thirteen project and performance management specialists and also lead on communications and diversity awareness for my directorate. I work in the Directorate of Resources, which is made up of Property, Procurement, Finance and Strategy departments. I'm incredibly proud to work for the MPS; it is a fascinating, challenging and rewarding place to work.
The ngdp has undoubtedly helped me enormously in my career but for me, the most valuable part of the programme has been the amazing ngdp network that I'm part of. Not only has this group given me the support and confidence I needed to apply for each job I've had, which seemed terrifying at the time, but some are now my closest friends. In addition, with the ngdp alumni all doing very well for themselves, they are very good people to know!