Careers Champion case study

Kim Martins

Careers Project Manager, Norfolk and Suffolk Foundation Trust

Tell us a bit about your role and how long you’ve worked for the NHS?

I’ve been within this Trust for about 17 years and started as a support worker in a clinical team in Yarmouth and then joined an assertive outreach team in Lowestoft.

After that I was part of a dementia team within the Julian Hospital, before doing a foundation degree to become an Assistant Practitioner.

I went on to do a secondment with the Talent for Care team and I’ve been within the team for five years now as a Careers Project Manager. I look at how we can engage with people from outside the Trust, including liasing with schools and charities, colleges and our care groups.

Tell us a bit about the Careers Champions role?
The reason I started was because of the role that I’m doing as a Careers Project Manager. I started doing some drop-in sessions for our staff this July to engage them in developing their careers.

This has been fairly successful with our staff looking at where they are within their career journey, getting them to think about how they can fulfil their role, not necessarily going on to a higher banding or anything, but stretching them within the role that they’re in.

It’s been really helpful because it put a little bit of structure into how I was
delivering some of those sessions.

What excites you about becoming a Careers Champion?

I think it’s because I like to inspire people to go further. It gives me a bit of a buzz really to see other people developing their careers and showing how far you can go from wherever you start, just like I have.