UR TV CAST

But I also need to think about what career is going to give me a sense of purpose.”Once you’ve got your aims sussed and your method sorted, get a sense of rhythm for the task. Pace is important as speed doesn’t necessarily mean doing a job well.”In some instances slowing down can get you somewhere faster,” says Bailey. While businesses undertake endless efficiency drives to improve productivity and cut costs, individuals can easily contribute to this refining process by searching for the flaws in their own performance. There are any number of ways in which we can improve the way we do things, but to we need to know what our aims are as well as how we’re going to go about achieving them.

“Efficiency is fantastic as long as you are also being effective,” says Sebastian Bailey, co-founder of The Mind Gym, a company that specialises in offering 90-minute mental workouts to improve performance.
“So if I was thinking through my career I might try to get my CV to people in the most efficient manner, which may be online, for example. The average salary for chief executives is £111,000; in large councils it can be £155,000. Salary packages increasingly include an element of performance-related pay – usually around seven per cent of total salary.. Senior managers can earn £60,000-plus; chief officers one rung below chief executives average between £82,000 and £97,000 in England and Wales. In-house training and support in obtaining recognised qualifications to aid promotion are generally good.How much will I earn? Salaries vary with levels of responsibility and in different areas.

Around half of local-government staff are employed in administrative work, and school-leavers can enter as administrative assistants and obtain internal promotion. At the end of the six-month placement I should have produced a policy document I shall then move on to my next placement. I know that over the two years I will gain experience in front-line, strategic and core-service roles across the county council.” The lowdown What is there to do? A select few graduates join the National Graduate Development Programme, but many others join councils as trainees, or are recruited to specific posts. Everyone, even senior managers, has been generous with their time and keen to help me. My next step will be to set up a steering group with partners from the county council, district councils, housing associations and the voluntary sector. “My initial research has involved reading government policy documents and arranging meetings with key people who work here.

I am in the adult social care department and am producing a housing strategy for older people. “I have been here since the beginning of September, have completed the council’s induction training – including some very good courses on teamwork and management – and have attended one national training event with the entire cohort of 52 graduates I am now working on my first project. I reached my decision after attending the National Graduate Development Programme assessment centre. It was the best-run of the ones I went to and I was impressed by the people I met. After gaining my place I had interviews with two councils and accepted the placement Essex offered me. I had temporary jobs at the Home Office and in the Prison Service, so had some public-sector experience. About one third are working in corporate affairs or policy departments, one third are in support departments such as human resources and finance and one third are in front-line departments like planning or housing.” Daniel Gilby, a history graduate, is in the National Graduate Development Programme, and on placement with Essex County Council: ‘I was impressed by the people I met’ “I considered various jobs in the public and private sectors, including management consultancy and the civil service.