Kickstarting careers in healthcare –from job seekers to care givers

A pioneering recruitment programme has kick started the careers of 36 candidates who joined the Trust keen to get hands on in healthcare.

Recently, the medicine and emergency care team at the Trust launched a recruitment drive keen to get candidates into a range of healthcare assistant roles. With the collective efforts of the team, a dynamic recruitment day offering candidates an opportunity to progress through selection and interviews in a single day was planned.

Hosted at the Trust’s flagship education centre in Sandwell, the recruitment event launched with clinical leads providing candidates with an insight into healthcare followed by action learning and peer to peer discussion groups and presentations delivered by clinical and nursing teams.

Taking an innovative hands-on approach to recruitment and selection, candidates were then given the opportunity to engage with a series of real-life case studies with patients on simulations wards and gain an understanding of the modules, observations and assessments involved in the recruitment process.

Sharing news of the successful recruitment event, Matron for elderly care Jo Thomas said, “We’re really pleased to be able to say that following this innovative recruitment event we were able to end the day with 36 new colleagues being recruited into healthcare assistant roles who should be joining us at the Trust in the new year.”

And for some of those who were unsuccessful in securing roles, it wasn’t the end of the journey. Six additional candidates were offered opportunities via our Supporting Career

Opportunities Recruitment Employment (SCORE) programme for apprenticeship roles here at the Trust whilst they complete their entry level Health and Social Care qualifications.

Chief Nursing Officer Mel Roberts said, “Healthcare assistant roles are a great way for young people to get onto the career ladder in the NHS. These roles give colleagues an opportunity to gain hands on experience on the frontline which they can then use to build on with further training and qualifications.”