Technician Review

My job is to supervise my team of 3 people and delegate workloads. I order supplies for the facility using our internal facilities team, organise transport and deliveries with our logistics team. I have regular contact with grant holders who do their research here with us and help to look after their experiments.

Yes I have done many of the Universities e-Learning courses provided by Cisco including Ladder Safety, Manual Handling, Assert Yourself Course, Risk Assessment Training, and Motivating People course. I am a First Aider and Mental Health First Aider and had training from St. John's Ambulance. I also had DOPS training which enables me to be able to assess new staff and sign them off to a high standard.

I really enjoy the college days where we all get together (via Teams) roughly once a month to learn about a certain topic. The mentor has a really good way of making you feel welcome and part of the team. I do not feel judged and feel very comfortable having my camera on and engaging with the others on the course. I was not sure of what to expect apart from thinking it would be a bigger group of people, but the class is small (around 8 of us) which is perfect.

At first I felt like there was so much information to take on board and I struggled to pull of the bits of information together. Now that I have been on the course for 6 months it all makes more sense now and meetings have been structured and it has been made clear what my tasks are after each lesson or meeting.

I do receive support from my manager but with her working a lot from home I feel that there has been at times a lack of communication. I think that my manager has under estimated how involved I need to be in taking on responsibility and that I need to shadow to learn. My mentor has been good and assessor has been great so far. The problems I had at the beginning of the course accessing my learning plan was handling very well.

I have had a great amount of support and encouragement from my mentor and assessor. They have both been able to answer all of my questions and really challenge me to think about my work and what skills I want and need in order to progress as a team leader. They are both quick at answering emails and I couldn't do this course without them.

Doing the qualification is really making me think more about my role, about my team and about how I want to pursue my career. It has given me a challenge and a real focus. I have learnt skills in the qualification to help me communicate better and be more interactive with staff and external contacts. Its helped me to listen better and appreciate people's point of views more - I would say that I have become more open-minded which has helped me in work and in life outside of work.

Not really, the University has a gym where the membership is subsidised for staff but I live too far away to make the most of it. There is the University club where my team and myself use to go sometimes for Thursday curry club evening. Before Covid my Department put on a Christmas Party every year - hopefully that will return this year (2022). I l=enjoy walking with my partner as a hobby outside of work.

Yes

Because of the job security that it provides, good amount of holiday entitlement, good maternity pay and sickness pay if required. Generally a nice place to work, friendly people, nice building and environment, good equipment and computer facilities, I can park in a multi-story carpark. There is a canteen on site.

Look for a permanent post if possible and ensure that you have a good travel route and/or be willing to use public transport. The application process has changed since I did it - give yourself plenty of time to fil in the application before the deadline day. I was told that there would be lots of opportunities but in reality in my experience those have been limited somewhat. I would have like to be told that the University offers paid Apprenticeships in many areas.