Jo Shaw

Employer: Scottish Executive, hosted by NHS Forth Valley

Qualifications: BA human resource management, Strathclyde University

I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do when I left university so I took a sales job to earn some money. It was great experience but after two years I realised that it wasn’t what I wanted. Some of my family work in healthcare and I thought it seemed like a fulfilling sector to work in. When I discovered that Scotland was launching a similar management scheme to the English programme, I jumped at the chance to apply.

My job

The scheme lasts two years and is split into two nine-month placements, one strategic and one operational, a threemonth orientation period and a threemonth elective. You also undertake a masters in Healthcare Leadership and Management at the same time. I’m in the first three months of the programme so my role is to shadow people, from health visitors to chief executives, in order to get a feel for the whole service and prepare for my first placement. I will be working as an operational support manager in Acute Mental Health and Older People Services.

The placement will involve, among other things, supporting the change management process including participating in the implementation of service redesign for Acute admission, and in-patient beds in Adult and Older People Mental Health Services. I’m being offered training in management skills as well as soft skills such as presentation and leadership and in terms of support, I have a placement co-ordinator as well as a chief executive acting as my mentor.

Highs and low

The opportunities and support offered by the scheme are second to none. I have been given access to very senior people such as Kevin Woods, the chief executive of NHS Scotland. I find the work interesting and I’m looking forward to developing my management and leadership skills through real experience. However doing a masters as well as a getting to grips with a new full-time job is hard work!