Joanne

I'd been working for the NHS for about 20 years both in clinical and leadership roles and I was feeling kinda stuck how my career was progressing.

I didn't know where to go from the point that I was at. I knew that I wanted to expand my leadership skills and knowledge, and I knew that I wanted to explore other areas of the NHS as well.

So the MTS just seemed like the perfect opportunity to do that, especially with all the extra benefits it offers, such as the leadership training and the funded master's degree.It just seemed like a perfect opportunity.

The best part about the MTS for me has definitely been the networks and connections that I've built up since I started the scheme.

Moving from placement to placement within your host board. You build so many relationships with colleagues all from different areas with different backgrounds and different skill sets, and everyone's been so supportive and keen to share these with me, to help me improve the way that I work.

Moving to the elective outside of my host board and working with different organizations that allowed me to see things from a different perspective.

I still keep in touch with people that I've worked with from the start of my time on the scheme.

and I'll quite often reach out if I'm working on a project that I know somebody else has done something similar in the past or they might know the right people for me to contact. And again, everyone's just so supportive and keen to help.

Within the MTS cohort itself, we have a fantastic support network. we're always on hand just to give each other advice or chat things through or, allow each other to vent if things aren't going the way that you would like them to go. So it's a fantastic scheme to be part of from that perspective as well.

You've got everything to gain and nothing to lose. The recruitment process itself is quite extensive and my advice would be just to go into that being yourself.

If you are someone who genuinely holds the same values and principles as the NHS, then that will shine through throughout the recruitment process.

Alongside the leadership training and learning, we also have access to executive coaches. We're encouraged to reflect and journal and things like that. So the scheme itself has not only taught me so much in the way of the kind of leader I want to be and given me the skills to do that, it's also taught me loads about myself as a person.