Why students are integral to the NHSBSA
Hi, I’m Katia, digital team manager here at the NHSBSA. I’m passionate about exploring new ways to nurture growing talent both within and outside of our organisation.
According to the World Economic Forum, by 2020, over 30% of skills considered important today will have changed. This is being attributed to the ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’ where the rate of technological change will have brought us a number of advancements such as; artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics. As a result, an ever-increasing skills gap is emerging.
This is why we (the NHSBSA) recognise the importance of a student placement, not only for their future but for the growth and development of our organisation. And this is why I’m writing this blog.
So, what are we doing about it?
It’s clear that we need to find new and creative ways to attract developing talent and to build on a combination of technical and soft skills in order to reduce the emerging skills gap.
We are more focused than ever on recruiting and developing passionate and talented IT Digital and Technology Solutions work placement students.
We provide students across the country with the opportunity to work on their degree, earn money and gain real life experience within the world’s largest and oldest public healthcare system. A fantastic opportunity which I wish I had whilst studying!
Some of these placements include:
- Developers
- Content Designers
- Automation Testers
Why join us? We’re going through a lot of change – digitisation
Over the last few years, we’ve embarked on some big changes. We are now looking to digitise a lot of our healthcare applications in order to become a catalyst for better health.
To enable us to achieve our goals, we introduced the return of student work placements, starting with two in 2017. This then grew to four for 2018 and now, we are looking at nine in for 2019 (to say we are in our infancy would be an understatement!).
With all this change and flux we are honing in on what matters to us most, which is where our student placements fit in. And oh my, they’re a big part.
Why should students choose us?
We are aware of how competitive the job market is once students graduate. We not only want to provide them with the skills that they need for them to nail their final year, but we want to give them lifelong skills. And the ultimate prize? Offer them that coveted full-time graduate role.
We aim to bring students in and immerse them in our culture, train them to the highest standards and facilitate their growth, no matter where that takes them.
We are committed to developing them professionally, personally and of course, having fun along the way.
How are we making students aware of these opportunities?
This year, we’ve not only taken to the local universities, we have also broadened our scope to social media such as LinkedIn and Twitter. We want to show that although we operate within the public sector, we are technologically advanced and know how to use it to reap the rewards!
We are also in the midst of launching a new vacancy portal, the ‘Digital Insight and Technology Careers’ website. This will not only showcase our fantastic permanent roles, but pay homage to our current students and graduates who are more than happy to tell those viewing the site why new students should be the ones standing in their shoes come September.
Here at the NHSBSA we recognise the importance of a student placement. Students are our future; our future java developers, our future content designers, our future CEO.
Join us and be part of shaping the future of healthcare as we know it!
If you have any questions or comments on the above, please email Katia directly: Katia.yazigi@nhs.net
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