"As a graduate I have been given responsibility for a number of high profile, important projects from an early stage, and because in Local Government you are so closely connected with service delivery, you know that the work you do will have real and direct benefits for residents."
Working at Nottinghamshire County Council.
Studied Physics at Loughborough University.
Advice? You should make full use of the development opportunities available to you not only through the scheme but also your employer, and also make use of opportunities to shadow more senior and front line colleagues, as this will not only help develop your skills but also give you a much wider perspective on the breadth and importance of Local Government.
How have you changed? I have been able to gain a much greater understanding of leadership and project management alongside a much greater awareness of the political dimension of the work undertaken by senior local government officers, which I have not only been able to incorporate into my day job but will be of critical importance to my future career.
Favourite projects? When I joined the Council I started out with the Transformation Team within Adult Social Care. This department are currently having to make a great deal of decisions as to how services can be transformed so that they deliver optimal outcomes for our residents while being financially sustainable, this is a huge task, which as a member of the transformation team I had the opportunity to grasp. This enabled me to develop an ongoing process for identifying savings and services gaps, taking ideas from front line staff and involving them in the decision making process, so that they could help shape services using their extensive operational knowledge, whilst this was challenging, it was very rewarding and enabled me to develop a number of skills such as partnership working and project planning.
What about your development? For me being part of the ngdp programme has given me development opportunities that would normally only be open to people of a much more senior level, so there is clear benefit to being involved as I have been able to build up experiences and capabilities within a short period of time, that will enable me as a public servant to respond to ongoing challenges for the benefit of our residents.