Meet our NGDP trainees
During the programme, our NDGP trainees work in a range of departments and roles to build their leadership and management skills. Here are some personal accounts from our current trainees to give you an insight into some of the opportunities available and what the programme entails at Royal Greenwich. My first placement has been in the Change and Improvement Team at Greenwich. So far I have supported initiatives put forward for the Medium-Term Financial Strategy and helped with the development of the council’s Annual Plan. This has given me lots of exposure to senior leaders, a good understanding of the broader challenges facing the council and an insight into the importance of corporate strategy. The project I have been leading on has involved liaising with departments across the council to collect data against our success measures within the Corporate Plan. I’ve found this both interesting and rewarding as it’s involved working with lots of different people across the organisation to collect data intended to monitor corporate performance, which will ultimately be published in our Annual Plan. I’d really recommend the scheme to anyone who wants to work in Local Government but isn’t sure what area they want to specialise in. The scheme provides you with a great opportunity to get involved in all different types of work, learn new skills and make connections across the organisation. Greenwich also has a great support network and is a very welcoming environment – if you ever have questions, people are always happy to help. I have been working in the Change and Improvement (C+I) team in a variety of exciting areas, including Medium Term Financial Strategy initiatives, facilitating workshops with cabinet members, and helping to implement our new Corporate Plan across the whole organisation. This placement is at the heart of the Council’s corporate core and offers a unique opportunity to gain a ‘birds eye view’ of how different teams and departments operate and interact with each other. As well as writing and implementing corporate strategy across the council, C+I supports many different teams on a project-by-project basis, so it can be a great way to meet new people in different parts of the organisation! My favourite moment so far was helping to deliver an engagement event with Corporate Senior Managers across the Council. This was an opportunity for our team to speak about some of the work we’ve been doing to develop an ‘Annual Plan’ and receive expert input from a diverse range of leaders across the Council. Moments like this are when you really get to see initiatives come to life and gain an understanding of how different parts of the organisation are constantly working together to improve! I would recommend this scheme to anyone who wants to make a positive impact with their career and is passionate about delivering exceptional public services. One of the best things about the scheme is getting to try out lots of different areas during your placements, engage with a wide cohort of other graduates, and see the impact of what you are doing in the local area.
My first placement started within Children’s Services working in the quality improvement team.
During my time in Children’s Services, I have found myself surrounded by such an amazing team who have supported me thoroughly with all my projects. I would say my favourite moment so far during this scheme is going to Warwick and meeting all the other National graduate trainees across the UK, I found these two days a great opportunity to network and meet other individuals in similar position to myself. Overall, I would recommend the NGDP scheme as it provides you with an opportunity to understand the workings of local government as well as valuable skills which can be transferred to any workplace. My first placement in Public Health and Wellbeing has been varied, reflecting the changing priorities as we travelled from the Omicron wave to ‘Living with COVID’. I have worked with a wide variety of organisations – including the NHS, educational, and health and social care – and it has been interesting to see their interactions with the Council. The Public Health Team have embraced me – they are all lovely, welcoming and supportive. It has been great to get to know them and be part of an exciting team who are working to enhance health and wellbeing in the borough. I help manage the health protection inbox, which is the first point of call for organisations such as schools, care homes, and nurseries during a pandemic. My role involves connecting with members of the team to devise a friendly response offering guidance and support when people are anxious about an outbreak. I really enjoy having direct communication with the community and it’s so rewarding to feel I am helping, in some way, to ease anxiety. It has allowed me to develop a range of skills – from research and communication, to managing difficult situations. This scheme is a great opportunity for graduates who are unsure about their career path. It can be difficult to leave education and enter the workplace when you still don’t understand where your interests and strengths lie. This scheme provides an opportunity to explore different areas and develop a variety of skills. It exposes you to a range of issues – some I didn’t even know were in the Council’s remit! I would recommend Royal Borough of Greenwich in particular because of its supportive and welcoming environment. There really is no such thing as a silly question here! The borough itself is varied and exciting, with a lot of exciting projects, schemes and programmes going on to tackle issues that many are facing. This is a trainee scheme where you can make a real difference at a local level.
I have worked in Electoral Services. I have really enjoyed meeting my fellow trainees. We have created a circle full of support, laughter and sharing our day-to-day experiences. I have also had the opportunity to write both a council and a scrutiny report, which has been a great achievement to tick off my list! Royal Greenwich offers great opportunities that include exposure to Directors and the Leader of the Council, a mentoring scheme with a Director, and seeing the breadth of services on offer at the Council. With the NGDP, you are able to network with trainees across the country, which is great for sharing experience and gaining insight.
My first placement was in Housing, as part of the community participation team, working with council tenants and leaseholders. In this role, I got to produce a newsletter, which was circulated to 30,000 tenants and housing panels, to help tenants and leaseholders feel heard. In my second placement, I worked on several programmes within HR that looked out for staff wellbeing, including promoting counselling services and mental health first aiders, as well as researching and creating action plans for a number of potential new programmes around mentoring and equality. I have really enjoyed working with the other graduates at Royal Greenwich, and the opportunity to meet other people on a similar career path to myself. I have really enjoyed being able to work with other graduates in some of the placements so far. I would recommend the scheme for anyone who is interested in working in the public sector, as graduates on the programme in Royal Greenwich receive a lot of exposure to the different elements of a local authority. The scheme enables you to experience a variety of front and back office operations in a council, which provide a wide range of transferable skill sets. You will also be able to access opportunities, such as attending council meetings, ‘Meet the Director’ sessions and a mentoring programme with directors and assistant directors.
A large portion of my time in Environmental Health involved working on the MHCLG-funded Control Migration Fund project, which aims to improve housing quality within the private rented sector. This included mapping out migrant communities using specialised databases and doing in-depth research into illegal eviction and rogue landlords. As part of this, I have led a focus group to understand intelligence and environmental officers’ views and engaged with hard to reach communities, who are often victims in this housing sector. The project has exposed me to the largescale private property sector issues presented to the council and has highlighted the need for project work. I have developed an in-depth knowledge of key areas in this department, which I can confidently apply to other areas of work in the future. One of my highlights working at Royal Greenwich was during my placement within the Environmental Health department. I was given the task of organising and hosting an online webinar for landlords, to raise awareness of domestic abuse. This was due to the fact there was a surge in the number of domestic abuse cases during the COVID-19 lockdown; often, victims of domestic abuse would first approach landlords for help, due to issues around housing. I enjoyed putting together the webinar, with the assistance of our domestic abuse specialist in the council. The online event was successful, with a good turnout and positive engagement from the landlords across the borough. By the end of the session, I felt confident that the landlords who attended could make a positive difference or help their tenants who were experiencing domestic abuse in some way. I would highly recommend the NGDP scheme to anyone who has a keen interest in working in the public sector and wants exposure to a wide range of service areas. As you move department every six months, you are in a continuous process of picking up new skills and knowledge. This puts you at an advantage, as it allows you to build a wide range of networks and gives you the ability to draw links between the different departments; this is a highly valued asset in the workplace. Some of the projects I have been involved in have challenged me in ways I did not anticipate, but more importantly they have helped me grow as a person in the outside world, not just within Greenwich and the remits of the workplace.
I am currently in my first placement working the Safer Communities Team, which deals with domestic abuse, violence against women and girls, women's public safety, and modern slavery. It is a really interesting role to have as my first placement, as the work is so varied, and I would never have known that this was part of the Council's responsibilities. Many tasks involve working with partner groups, like the Police, NHS and voluntary services, and it has been great to see how other organisations interact with the Council. Women's safety is something that has come to public attention a lot in the past year. I enjoy this work, knowing that I could be helping to make women feel safer in the borough. My favourite moment so far was helping to organise the Council's White Ribbon Day event last November, which was partly held to commemorate the tragic death of Sabina Nessa. We had a range of really insightful speakers, and it was great to see people from across the Council and community come together for an important cause like this. Since then, I have been working on getting the Royal Borough of Greenwich its White Ribbon Accreditation. I would definitely recommend this scheme, and working at Royal Greenwich, to anyone who wants a job where you feel like you are making a difference. Even if you are not dealing directly with members of the public, you know that the work you are doing is helping people in the community. There is so much more to council work than I would have expected, and so there is certainly a role for all interests. Everyone I have met in the Council so far has been welcoming and supportive, and I have really enjoyed my time here. During my first placement, I have been working within the Development and Sustainability team where we have been working with a consultancy to embed improvements in Children’s Services. This is project based, meaning my work changes week-by-week and keeps the placement exciting. It’s a small team, but Children’s Services is one of the biggest directorates. This has been a good balance as I have had good manager support and the chance to get to know my colleagues well, as well as being exposed to a range of other service areas and working with their diverse teams.
Presenting a project that I managed to the directorate management team (DMT). I analysed data and mapped outcomes for care-experienced young people doing apprenticeships at the Council. I led the project from start to finish, which gave me great experience of project management and delivering outcomes to deadlines. Feeding back to the DMT offered good exposure to high level members of staff and helped with my presenting skills. I would recommend this scheme to anyone who is looking to gain broad experience in the world of work. Even if you are not directly interested in local government, the scheme offers exposure to diverse issues that are transferable to any field. I have always felt supported by line managers and other members of staff, and my personal ambitions have been considered by managers when allocating work to me, helping introduce me to staff across the council and supporting my development. My first placement has been in the Continuous Improvement (CI) Team. If there is a project that seeks to drive change in the organisation, or works across multiple directorates, the team will provide project support and leadership. As a result, I’ve had the opportunity to work with teams across the Council and gain lots of exposure to senior leaders.. So far, I’ve supported the development of our next corporate plan, helped design a staff champion model for our equality, diversity and inclusion programme, and supported the Women’s Safety Taskforce with improving safety and access to services for women. Much of the work has been strategic and policy-focused, and I’ve been given real responsibility and ownership from the beginning.
It’s tricky pinpointing one particular moment! One area of work I’ve really enjoyed is setting up the NGDP Policy Network. The network’s purpose is to demystify a career in policy and connect current and former NGDP graduates interested in working in policy or engaging in policy issues. The experience has allowed me to meet graduates across the country, and I recently hosted an online panel event with different policy experts. It pushed me outside my comfort zone, but it was incredibly rewarding and helped me grow in confidence. I feel incredibly privileged to be on the NGDP scheme at Greenwich. As someone who was previously in a different sector, the range of learning and development opportunities on the scheme is unique, as well as the flexibility you have to explore your areas of interest. I think it’s fair to say that local government doesn’t always have the most glamourous reputation, but I’ve been surprised and impressed. The remit of the Council is huge – from public health, to education, to climate change, to housing, to women’s safety and more! It tackles some of society’s biggest issues at a local level. When considering graduate schemes, you’d be hard-pressed to find one in such a diverse and varied organisation. It’s also lovely to start a new job with graduates in a similar position, sharing a similar experience.
Many of our trainees have gone on to secure key roles within the Council after they have completed the programme. Read about their experiences below. My first placement was in the adult transformation team in the Health and Adult Services directorate. I primarily worked on the development of the local authority’s online adult social care directory – a service designed to give residents more choice, control and awareness of health services available to them in the community. By the end of that placement, I had successfully made the case to invest in the latest platform update and to merger the adult’s and children’s online directories to create a single space to access a directory of services available. In my second placement, I worked in the recruitment team in HR, procuring an online solution to replace the Council’s paper-based approach to Disclosure and Barring Service forms. Alongside this, I also picked up some side projects such as a review of some of the HR policies, our Armed Forces Covenant Silver submission, and the procurement of a headhunting service for Chief Officer recruitment. As I came to the end of my second placement, I was approached about a managerial role that had opened in the Leader’s Office and was successfully appointed after going through the recruitment process. I’ve now been working there for two years, providing day-to-day support to the Leader of the Council and managing a team of staff that provide administrative support to the Leader, Deputy Leader and Chair of Overview and Scrutiny. I absolutely love my job and couldn’t have imagined that I’d ever find myself in this position after joining the organisation three years ago. We are really fortunate, at Royal Greenwich, that the scheme is so heavily invested in, from both a resourcing and access point of view. I was part of a cohort of nine, who all joined at the same time, and we had fantastic support from both colleagues in HR and graduates who had previously come through the NGDP scheme. In my first week at the scheme, we met with and heard from each of the directors and have also had opportunities to meet with the leader and members of the cabinet. When you meet with other NGDP graduates at other local authorities, you tend to find that access like that isn’t the norm. The support network is incredible while you are on the scheme and you are joining at the most exciting but challenging time for local government. Resident expectation and need is rising, against a backdrop of diminishing financial resources - made even more complex by COVID-19. Royal Greenwich has to think about how it can change, adapt and improve to ensure it provides quality services for its residents, so you really will have a huge opportunity to shape what future services can look like. .
My first placement was in Health and Adult Services, where I worked with residents and saw the difference we make to the community. One of my responsibilities included creating a video clip for residents with learning disabilities, to ensure that there is better understanding of Direct Payments. Next, I worked with the HR Workforce Development team. I was able to gain an insight into how internal departments are supported, co-manage the Employee Mentoring Programme and assist in creating new guidance documents. Then my third placement was in Public Health. I took part in researching mental health attitudes across the borough and challenging the stigma around it. For my fourth placement, I joined the Community Participation and Diversity team in Housing and Safer Communities. This role was about increasing community engagement from our council tenants and leaseholders and I had the opportunity to manage another member of staff for the first time, write a scrutiny report and produce our Talk Housing newsletter. Then I joined the Procurement team as a bonus placement. In this unique role, I was able to check through contracts, uncover legal issues, and develop a working knowledge of the different processes for procuring goods and services for the Council. During my bonus placement in Procurement, I noted that a role was advertised in the Community Participation and Diversity Team. I enjoyed working with the team during my placement and, as I had worked in the team before, I had a good insight into their key priorities. I worked hard on my application and was successful at interview and I started in January 2020.The role provides so many opportunities to get involved in different projects. An important aspect of my role is that I work with Councillors and the Directorate Management Team (DMT). I really enjoy my role in the Council. My best memory is co-managing the Employee Mentoring Programme with two other graduates in our cohort. An enjoyable experience, we worked well as a team to transform the previous scheme. It was an opportunity to lead a project early on in my placement journey. Royal Greenwich promotes the graduate scheme, which is extremely helpful when you are a new graduate. I have felt supported both professionally and personally and I would certainly recommend the programme to others. My first placement was in Children’s Services, where I supported the senior leaders in service strategy. This included developing the Children’s and Young People Plan, in partnership with several organisations, and I also worked on strategy to improve how children and young people are involved in the council’s decision-making processes. Following that, I joined Parks and Open Spaces, which involved visiting different sites and developing projects, and I was involved with the £1m Parks Improvement Fund consultation. Then, during lockdown, I helped produce a report on how COVID-19 affected park usage. Now, I am in public health where my work is focussed on the pandemic. So far, this has included testing strategy, COVID-related expenditure and income and project to ensure hard to reach groups get vital information. During my placement with Children’s Services, I was able to help run consultation sessions with children and young people, about issues that affected their lives. This included attending Action, Change and Equality (ACE) board sessions, with young people with special educational need and disabilities (SEND), which were really enjoyable and enlightening. The scheme gives you an opportunity to work on a wide range of projects in interesting and exciting areas. Working to find solutions for the issues facing your local community is rewarding and challenging and there are great NGDP support networks to ensure you get the most out of your placements. I have made great friends through NGDP and it has been really helpful to have fellow graduates who can offer support through placements - and lunch with every day! This programme also gives you the chance to meet and work with senior leaders, which is rare so early in your career. Doing NDGP is a great way to develop your skills, discover new interests and get support to progress to the next stage in your career path.
My first placement was with the Safer Communities Team, working on modern slavery and domestic abuse. One of my main tasks was to establish a modern slavery database, to enable us to better understand cases and make connections which we shared with partner agencies. I also managed the multi-agency modern slavery response meetings, led on a domestic abuse awareness campaign, and supported a training review. About a month in to lockdown, I moved to Public Health as my second placement and this carried over to be my third placement because I was involved in COVID-19 response work. Tasks here have included assisting senior leaders from across the council with our ‘Community Hub’ response to help vulnerable residents, improving ‘digital inclusivity’ through planning and training for residents who suddenly found themselves more dependent on technology as a result of the pandemic, and commenting on planning and licensing applications from a public health perspective – which I have really enjoyed. I have had many great memories working at Royal Greenwich so far and have really enjoyed the events I have attended with the other graduates hosted by the LGA. One of my favourite moments so far has been going to the House of Lords for an event hosted by FORWARD, an African women-led organisation working to end violence against women and girls. At this meeting, they discussed the progress that has been made in combating female genital mutilation (FGM) so far, and the next steps that crucially need to happen. I was so moved by the speeches I heard and very humbled to be in the presence of such passionate people in such a historical place. I would really recommend this graduate scheme to anyone who has an interest in local Government and making a meaningful contribution to society. It presents a unique opportunity to experience different departments in local government, learn new skills and make connections with people from various parts of the local authority and external agencies. This graduate scheme exposes you to frontline work as well as very strategic work. Alongside being challenged in your placements, it is also great to have an academic focus through the Institute of Leadership and Management (ILM) assignments; I have appreciated learning about leadership and management in my placement and through the ILM. It is great to hear about the experiences of those from other local authorities through the scheme and learn about broader societal challenges from a local perspective. I have met so many inspiring people and already had such a varied, exciting and challenging experience in my placements. I finish every working day feeling like I am really helping others. Meet our NGDP trainees
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My placements so far
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My placements so far
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My placements so far
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My placements so far
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My placements so far
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Former trainees
My placements during the programme
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My placements during the programme
How I came to work at Royal Greenwich permanently
My favourite moment so far
Why I would recommend the NDGP scheme in Royal Greenwich
My placements so far
My favourite moment so far
Why I would recommend this scheme
My placements so far
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