Joshua White: BA (Hons) Business & Finance

Full Name: Joshua White
Graduation Year: 2023
Course Studied: BA (Hons) Business and Finance
Job Title: HR Graduate Management Trainee
Employer/Organisation Name: NHS
What are you doing now you have graduated from the University of Lincoln?: I graduated in September 2023, and went straight into a graduate scheme with the NHS. I secured a position on the Graduate Management Training Scheme (GMTS), on the human resources specialism. My first placement is in employee relations at Addenbrooke’s hospital in Cambridge and I am studying towards my postgraduate diploma in human resource management with De Montfort University. As part of the scheme we also study towards a postgraduate certificate in healthcare leadership with the University of Birmingham and the University of Manchester.
How did your time at the University of Lincoln support your career?: My degree was so varied that I was able to get a good insight to many other career paths, and this helped me decide which specialism of the graduate scheme I applied for. I also went through the recruitment process for the role of central pool campus worker, which helped to develop my interview skills, at the time I really needed that whilst applying for graduate roles.
What are the best parts of your job?: I have met so many inspiring people so far, and being able to use the business skills I learnt whilst at university, to develop a career in healthcare is so exciting for me. The first 4 weeks of my job were an orientation period, which was spent meeting wiht different departments and teams across the hospital, to get a good idea of how everything works and relies on each other within a hospital setting. This has really helped delvelop my knowledge and realise that you don’t need to have experience in healthcare to progress on the scheme!
What inspired you to study at the University of Lincoln (or one of its predecessor institutions)?: I had visited Lincoln a few times before applying and loved the city, everything is so close together and it feels very safe. It was such a good distance from home in Suffolk, to university, so I never felt too close or too far away either.
What was your favourite thing about being a student at the University of Lincoln (or one of its predecessor institutions)?: My favourite part was that even though it is a large institution, it felt like a community. Whereby, your lecturers recognised you and would stop for a chat if they saw you out and about, so much support was on offer, both academially and non. From speaking to friends I knew this was not the experience they had at other Universities.
What would you say to a prospective student thinking of applying to the University of Lincoln?: Visit the city, it is such a nice city to visit and can make you feel at home very quickly, I had no doubts I would be comfortable living away from home for the first time in Lincoln.
If you could give our current students any top tip for after graduation and their careers, what would it be?: Don’t worry if you feel like you don’t have it all figured out. But put yourself out there and try networking, at University the idea of networking haunted me, however in the first three months of my new role on the graduate scheme, I quickly learnt to love it.