Library Graduate Trainee

The role

3x positions available: Graduate Trainee – Customer Services x2; Graduate Trainee – Collection Development x1 RCN UK HQ Office (London), 35 hours per week, 12-month fixed term contract with start date of 04 August 2025. Salary per annum: £22,836 plus London weighting of £5,094 per annum

There is more to the RCN than you might think. We’re a trade union with a membership of over half a million nurses, midwives, nursing support workers and students. We support their practice, represent them, lobby on their behalf, and develop them. We exist to make a positive difference – to the working lives of our members and ultimately to standards in patient care.

Our employees are drawn from many walks of life – we are nurses, marketers and communicators, administrators, IT professionals, policy and finance experts, lawyers… together we are so much more. We couldn’t do what we do without our people. Our Library Service has been awarded the Customer Service Excellence standard. We're accredited with Investors in People Silver Standard. Our people are our greatest asset, and we want people who can contribute to our purpose in line with our values.

As a Graduate Trainee in our Library, you’ll use your enthusiasm, your positivity, and your customer service skills to deliver an exceptional service to our members. In this varied role every day will be filled with possibilities. You will get involved in anything from helping nurses access our resources and putting on events, to social media promotion and working with our unique collections. We'll look to you to work with and represent all aspects of the library service, fielding front line enquiries, dealing with journals, assisting with exhibitions, assisting with member training, and supporting long-running and short-term library projects. It's a great way to build your skills and experience, and your understanding of the library profession and the many varied roles within it.

To join us, you’ll need customer service skills and, ideally, a background in a relevant area such as libraries, retail, or the service industry. Whatever your background, you'll be a strong team player, efficient, accurate and show a real customer focus in all you do. To succeed at the Royal College of Nursing all you need to do is think bigger, better and brighter. And with an attitude like that, anything’s possible.

The person

What we offer you

We expect you to look after your customers. And we expect you to be rewarded for it. We offer an impressive range of benefits, a broad range of learning development opportunities and an award-winning health and wellbeing programme. We offer annual leave of 28 days, plus bank holidays and three additional days for the Christmas break.

Balancing work and life commitments is important to us as an organisation. We are a diverse organisation and understand everyone has different needs. All employees can ask for flexible working and when personal circumstances change, we will work with you to find a smarter working solution that suits everyone.

Contact details and timescales

Our selection process: Please click the ‘apply now’ button to submit a CV and answer the supporting questions online demonstrating how you meet the criteria for this role. You may not be shortlisted if you don’t. Please ensure your CV is in a simple format with minimal tables and sections. Any identifying information in your application will automatically be anonymised for shortlisting purposes.

We want your experience applying for a job with us to be the best it can be. We aim to be more flexible about how we hold interviews and assessments. If you foresee any problems with attending an interview in person in London, please let us know in your supporting questions. For example, we would be able to cover reasonable transport expenses.

Equal opportunities for everyone: Equity, diversity and inclusion are a priority for us and we aim to foster an inclusive environment so our people can bring their authentic selves to work. This is integral to our mission to enable you to support our members and ensure their voice is heard by all UK governments to get the best outcomes for them and their patients.

As a proud member of the Disability Confident employer scheme we actively encourage applications from people with disabilities. We particularly welcome applications from individuals who identify as People of Colour, BAME and/or part of Black and Global Majority racial and ethnic groups.

Contact details

For more information, advice on applying or for an informal discussion about the role please contact Dawn Williams, Collection Development Specialist or Hannah Slater, Customer Services Information Specialist (Operations).

Opening date: Friday 02 May 2025

Closing date: 11.59pm on Sunday 01 June 2025

Selection dates: Tuesday 24, Thursday 26 and Friday 27 June 2025