It may come as a surprise in the midst of the ubiquitous cut-backs and redundancies, to hear that there is a strong ray of light for jobseekers with the NHS who is undertaking a weighty recruitment drive.
It may come as a surprise in the midst of the ubiquitous cut-backs and redundancies, to hear that there is a strong ray of light for jobseekers with the NHS who is undertaking a weighty recruitment drive.
Ambitious efficiency plans have been set by the government and the health sector must find £5bn of savings in 2010/11.This has created a strong demand for commercial skills-sets and has seen an enhanced commitment from the NHS to inject fresh blood into the higher ranks. They wish to source candidates who are adept at driving value-for-money and competitiveness to meet these targets.
Roles vary drastically and range from finance, account management, facilities, HR and procurement with candidates coming from retail, pharmaceuticals, management consultancies and accountancy practices to name a few.
We placed a candidate early this year with a surveying background in Guy’s and St Thomas’ who was a director in a leading commercial property company. He has reported back that far from being dull and predictable the role has proven to be stimulating and extremely rewarding. He’s seen his input and ideas come into fruition quickly. He says the big difference is job satisfaction – clinical staff or users actually say thank you whereas in the commercial world for the shareholders the sole aim is profit. It’s never dull with lots of patient involvement; he’s particularly humbled by his involvement in transforming a patient chemo day-unit. Needless to say there is security and The Trust has several £billion’s spending planned over the next 10 years and the aim to make Guy’s no.1 cancer centre whereas his experience in the private sector has seen many projects mothballed.
If you are a senior-level job seeker with commercial skills, these roles should not be sniffed at however careful consideration is needed before making the move. We placed an accountant in a London PCT from a private practice who said that she is finding the lack of structure very different. In the private sector practice her time was recorded every six minutes so they could bill the client. She feels it’s definitely less pressurised in her experience which has taken some adapting to.
In addition the permanent salaries are lower so be prepared to take a cut, but it may be surprising that once you gain experience, working as an interim could actually be rewarded with higher rates than in the private sector by up to 20%. We placed a Head of HR from a large oil company who was actually being paid 25% more doing interim work in The NHS, but naturally forfeited any permanent benefits.
To give some scale to this, our executive recruitment team has recently managed a campaign for over 20 roles specifically designed to place private sector candidates into roles at NHS Eastern and Coastal Kent PCT and we are now working on a campaign for NHS London to recruit for 40 roles for communications & PR staff.
How to make the private to public sector move?
- Review your key skills: Are you strong at Account/Contract Management? Do you have demonstrable experience of making cost savings? Do you have strong technical project management experience?
- Are you ready for a big culture change? Are you adaptable and can you cope with lots of detail and potential longer decision-making processes?
- You should prove you are credible, take an active interest in the NHS, understand their strategies and business and above all speak the language
- You should be strong at driving change, gaining buy-in and influencing people
- Work with a recruitment agency who has a strong alliance with the NHS and seek detailed guidance and support on how to make the move
It may come as a surprise in the midst of the ubiquitous cut-backs and redundancies, to hear that there is a strong ray of light for jobseekers with the NHS who is undertaking a weighty recruitment drive. Ambitious efficiency plans have been set by the government and the health sector must find £5bn of savings in 2010/11.This has created a strong demand for commercial skills-sets and has seen an enhanced commitment from the NHS to inject fresh blood into the higher ranks. They wish to source candidates who are adept at driving value-for-money and competitiveness to meet these targets.
Sarah Bennett, Director, Morgan Hunt Recruitment