Working in the NHS

If you’re looking for your next – or first – job, then it would be foolish not to consider the NHS. It’s a huge organisation, one of the biggest employers in the world, and that brings with it benefits that it’s difficult to dismiss.

Today we’re taking a look at the advantages of working for the NHS so you can make an informed decision.

Variety

The first thing you need to bear in mind is that the NHS is not just for doctors! The image the name conjures up might be of surgery jobs, anaesthetists in gleaming operating theatres or career GPs who need decades of training to reach the top of their profession, but the size of the NHS means it needs far than doctors.

For one thing there are the other care professionals that don’t require such long training regimes as doctors and nurses – people like occupational therapists, nutritionists, speech therapists and others who fit under the banner of ‘allied health professions’. Many of these professions can practice after qualifying with normal three-year degree (with part time and vocational options available) or an even shorter certification process.

As well as that, the NHS is a huge army of professionals and healthcare facilities and supporting it needs almost every imaginable skill, from IT experts to procurement specialists, HR professionals and recruiters. It means there’s space for you in the NHS workforce if you want it!

Job Satisfaction

With many jobs in the modern world, it can be hard to understand the impact you have. You spend all day completing reports, solving customers queries or testing website upgrades and the only effect you can point to is a shifted percentage point in someone else’s balance sheet.

When you work for the NHS, whatever role it’s in, be it front line or back office, you know that your nine to five is devoted to improving and indeed saving people’s lives. It’s the kind of satisfaction you can’t find in many jobs.

Benefits

On top of the job satisfaction there are plenty of more material benefits to working for the NHS. The pay and working hours of doctors has become a political football in recent years, and you need a strong sense of vocation to deal with the long hours and trouble with resources. But on the other hand, your job is very, very secure, relocation is easy, as it’s a national organisation, and as well as a robust, government backed pension, key staff can also get assistance with accommodation, right up to help buying their home!