TRAINING
Despite some of the misconceptions in the press, the NHS would fall apart without qualified managers – and the next crop are about to start applying. Adam Hewitt reports.
T
he NHS in England is soon to begin re- cruitment for its 2012 intake of man- agers – and is expecting around 100 appli- cants for each of the 150 places available.
The vast array of management areas are boiled down in the recruitment process to four main streams – general management, HR, informatics and finance.
Despite the need to make billions of pounds of efficiency savings, the NHS still needs bright young managers to take on challeng- ing roles, it says.
The NHS Graduate Management Training Scheme offers an annual salary of £22,222 during the period of the programme, and also funds successful candidates through an additional professional qualification or postgraduate course in the area of expertise they choose. The programme lasts for two years (30 months for the finance special- ism), after which the candidate will also walk away with a prestigious qualification: a CIMA, ACCA of CIPFA professional quali- fication for the finance stream, or a Masters level qualification in Leadership for Service Improvement, Health Informatics, or Hu- man Resources for the other three streams.
Of course, there is also the pay: the NHS Graduates website advises that the average salary on completion of the scheme ranges from £27,000 to £37,000 – and tantalises applicants with prospective future earn- ings of up to £90,000 as a director, or £100,000-plus as a chief executive. A job is not guaranteed, once the fixed-term period of the scheme is up, but lots of help is avail- able in getting a full-time post.
Eligibility for the training scheme is not de- pendent on huge numbers of qualifications, management experience, or previous work in the NHS – a 2:2 degree or equivalent is the minimum requirement, plus a number of ‘key competencies’: resilience and the right values being the main ones.
Applicants can expect online tests to sort out the potentially successful applicants from those with no chance – these include verbal and financial reasoning tests, along- side psychometric type ‘personality’ exams.
56 | national health executive Jul/Aug 11
The NHS Graduate Management Train- ing Scheme has been ‘highly commend- ed’ by the Association of Graduate Re- cruiters (AGR) in the Graduate Selection and Assessment category of their 2011 Awards.
The training scheme is hosted by the NHS Institute for Innovation and Im- provement, and is the only public sector training scheme featured in that catego- ry of the awards.
The NHS Graduate Management Train- ing Scheme won the same category in 2009. The AGR judges noted that the Scheme’s Selection and Assessment ‘Day in the Life’ exercise was “very real- istic” and “the experience of the candi- dates was considered [by the NHS team] at every stage”.
Previous experience within the NHS is not a pre-requisite – although NHS Graduates says “we are keen to attract clinical and/ or NHS employees on to the scheme” – as with any job interview, applicants should read up on their employer and ensure they know their QIPP from their QOF.
Candidates should be familiar with the ar- guments around structural reform, models of care, commissioning, and the sorts of topics covered frequently in depth in Na- tional Health Executive and national news- papers.
Successful candidates can choose which Strategic Health Authority region they would prefer to be placed in – although this is not guaranteed, and they must agree to work anywhere within their selected re- gion.
Potential candidates are advised to take a short quiz to find out whether NHS man- agement is for them. A sample question is: “The NHS has to change the way it delivers services – these changes may not always be immediately understood or welcomed. Will you be able to communicate our message effectively to keep public support?”
The Scheme is currently rated fifth in The Times’ ‘Top 100 Graduate Employ- ers’ and first in The Guardian’s ‘Top 300 Public Sector Graduate Employers’.
The scheme has also been in the news because NHS Graduate Finance Man- agement Trainee, Michael Armour, achieved the world’s highest score in the Chartered Institute of Management Ac- counts (CIMA) exams, scoring 89% in the Financial Management paper.
Alex Bush, Head of NHS Graduate Man- agement Training Schemes and Interim Head of Emerging Leaders for the Na- tional Leadership Council, said: “Con- gratulations to the NHS Finance Trainees on the fantastic results achieved during this year’s CIMA exam papers.”
The Emerging Leaders Workstream of the National Leadership Council has commissioned the NHS Institute for In- novation and Improvement to deliver an accelerated development programme for 120 NHS leaders – 60 emerging lead- ers and their local sponsors – over a six- month period starting in September.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Visit
www.nhsgraduates.co.uk/Is- Graduate-Management-For-Me
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