Andy Williamson

Employer: Guy’s and St Thomas’ Hospital NHS Trust
Qualifications: BA history, Northumbria University

9.00 am

My job is mainly office based so the first thing I do is switch on my computer and check my e-mails. The department has recently been restructured into two teams, each of which should have four people and I am responsible for managing one of these teams. However, we only have two people in the team at the moment so I get on with the process of recruiting the remaining team members – sifting through applications and making a shortlist of candidates for interview.

11.00 am

I then have a meeting with my colleague (the manager of the second recruitment team) to discuss an issue we have about a candidate’s references before continuing my work on a recruitment and selection training programme that I am helping to design and deliver. The programme is designed to aid managers at the trust when recruiting new staff, explaining interviewing techniques and the processes involved for example.

1.30 pm

After lunch I run through a process issue with a manager who didn’t realise that they needed to have an authorisation number from finance before they could advertise one of their job vacancies.

3.00 pm

I then spend some time designing the selection questions for a new online application form, which will aid recruitment into certain posts at the trust. These questions will act as the first stage of the filtering process, checking whether people have work permits for example so I need to make sure that the questions I use are tailored to the specific job roles the candidates will be applying for.

5.30 pm

I leave the office on time as I’m going for a drink with my colleagues to celebrate a birthday. It’s great that I can work with so many people on a day-to-day basis from managers and my team, to job seekers. I really enjoy helping people to sort out issues.