Behind the scenes in the NHS (Blog 2)

March ’14

The last few months have been very busy, both with getting ready for finals, as well as trying to complete patients’ treatments and transfer others to other students. However I was able to meet with Barry in January when he invited me to the National Steering Group meeting at the Department of Health/NHS England in London. There have been many changes within the NHS in the last year, with numerous ‘local professional networks’ having been set up to provide feedback on local services. The National Steering Group communicates between these and NHS England, as well as monitoring the pilot sites for the new dental contract. These meetings are very important in determining the direction that NHS dentistry will take for many years to come and so it was great to be able to observe it. It also gave me the chance to meet other people playing important roles in these developments, such as Professor Jimmy Steele who led the independent review of NHS dentistry several years ago and is now helping the attempt to improve quality of care for patients without reducing access to dentistry.

Watching Barry in his daily life showed a very different side to the clinical aspects of dentistry that I’m familiar with. I was able to observe several other, some more informal, meetings that Barry had scheduled that day, and it made me appreciate the amount of communication and work that needs to take place within different departments/groups in order to be able to make changes and improve even one part of the NHS.

Since then I have kept Barry updated about my application and offer of a foundation training place in September and am now aiming to meet him again in June to catch up and for a meeting of the National Dental Commissioning Group. So far I have very much enjoyed the experience, and despite both being very busy it has been good to make time to see the ‘behind the scenes’ of the NHS and has helped develop my understanding of the profession I am entering.

Expanding my network (Blog 2)

December – I arranged the second meeting a few days after the first via email. It’s good to have a date in the diary not only because the mentors have busy schedules but also because it gives you a deadline to aim towards (for example, Alan had recommended some organisations to read up on which I made sure I did before we met again).

A motivational chat (Blog 1)

November

Having turned up over an hour early to my first meeting with Alan Davey, I found a nearby Costa and sat down with a cup of tea. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect but I had come prepared with a notebook in which I had written my personal ambitions for the upcoming year and specific objectives for what I wanted to get out of the Alumni Leadership Mentoring Programme (ALMP). I used the time to read over these objectives and re-read Alan’s biography on the Arts Council website as well as familiarising myself with the Arts Council mission statement and recent news.

The mentoring learning process (Blog 2)

After an incredibly hectic second semester I finally have some time to sit back and reflect on the most recent developments in my Alumni Leadership Mentoring Programme (ALMP) experience…
As I write this I am yet to receive a job offer for next year, having been rejected from numerous different graduate schemes across a range of different industries/sectors. Interestingly though, when I look back over the different applications and interviews that I gave, I can find flaws in every single one of them. This isn’t because I hashed them out without due care; or because I am an overly self-exigent individual. But rather because my mentor, Andrew Garner, has given me an entirely different perspective with regards to career management and entry-level recruitment. I genuinely can’t stress just how refreshing it is to get some career advice that is different to the generic stuff you find online.

Work experience at Sainsbury’s (Blog 2)

Second Meeting – February
Following our first meeting, Mike offered me the opportunity to complete some work experience at Sainsbury’s which I was very keen to do. In the time since our last meeting, Mike had been announced as the next Chief Executive Officer at Sainsbury’s!

Big decisions, Big opportunities (Blog 1)

First Meeting – October
I applied to be mentored by Mike Coupe, the commercial director of Sainsbury’s, for my final year of my business management degree after returning from my year in industry as a buyer at Halfords. Between applying for the scheme and returning for my final year, I managed to gain a graduate job, but I was still keen to discover more about a career in retail and for guidance throughout my final year.

Hands-on experience at Amey (Blog 3)

Back in Oxford

I was invited back down to Oxford so I could learn more about the different roles within HR. My visit was extremely exciting and I was able to spend the morning with the frontline team who answer all the telephone calls and emails directed to the HR department. I learnt a lot from the frontline team, and was able to listen to the calls first hand via the training headset they use to train staff how to answer the variety of queries they are asked. I was surprised at just how varied the phone calls could be, from reference requests to telemarketing etc. A member of the team also went through the case management system and how emails and telephone queries were categorised and logged. I really enjoyed sitting with the frontline team and believe that if I want to really understand HR I would have to sit on the frontline to gain the breadth of knowledge and experience needed to be a good HR generalist.

Graduate scheme? Check! (Blog 2)

My second meeting with Jane Lodge took place in the second term. At the end of first term, I had been accepted onto my first choice engineering graduate scheme. I used the advice Jane had given me on how to practice for interviews, especially using the mirror and making eye-contact with myself when giving a presentation to practice for my assessment centre. In addition her advice to do as much research on the company, including recent events, was very useful as I was asked what the company had done recently. With this the requirements for our mentorship relationship had shifted, I was confident on my initial career path and was no longer actively seeking any graduate schemes. I thought for our next meeting that we should focus more on Jane’s career path and advice on succeeding in a career path (including being a career oriented woman).

Important Feedback with Andrew Garner (Blog 1)

Before I go on to talk about my experience so far with Andrew Garner, I think it’s important to highlight just how big an opportunity the Alumni Leadership Mentoring Programme is. If you’re in two minds about applying, just imagine yourself telling somebody that your mentor is the Commercial Director of Sainsburys, or the Group Chief Executive of AMV BBDO, or if you’re really lucky… one of the most successful Executive Search Consultants in the country! The programme provides fantastic access to some of the most successful individuals in the country, whose advice many people would (and in some cases do) pay a lot of money to for.

Expanding my network through my mentor (Blog 2)

24th October 2014

The majority of the communication between Cilla and I is done via email. Keeping her up-to-date with my happenings is now part of my weekly routine. It’s sometimes a bit disconcerting when the reply you receive is somewhat brief, but I remind myself that she is one of the most important and busiest people I am ever likely to meet. The most recent development is an invitation to the Young Creative Entrepreneurs along with Cilla where hopefully I can meet some more useful contacts and gain a greater insight into my chosen field. Before this I also have a meeting with a member of BBC Central which Cilla has so kindly put me in contact with about my plans for the Radio Network here in Birmingham Uni and for jobs after my graduation. It’s set to be a very exciting and interesting day!