Birmingham woman celebrates senior role in NHS

Recently graduated from the management apprenticeship with Damar, Caroline is hoping that her new qualification will help her to achieve more within the NHS.

“When Covid hit I was doing a master's at Birmingham University, so worked part-time in a pub. One day, a regular asked for my help to set up a vaccination centre as they knew I was being furloughed,” she said.

“My role was to find people who were in similar situations to me – not able to work but looking for extra cash – to come in and help at the centre, so I became a recruitment assistant.

“As soon as the vaccination centres were set up, I was asked to move to a fixed-term position in the NHS.”

At the time, Caroline was new to recruitment and had no qualifications that related directly to the industry. Her manager gave her the opportunity to complete the management apprenticeship with Damar, and immediately she said yes.

She said: “I never set out to do recruitment, I did an undergraduate course in history at the University of Nottingham, and a postgrad course in history at the University of Birmingham. The skills I learned while at university were transferable – I learned how to be independent, developed my social skills and so much more – but I wanted a qualification that would relate directly to my role.”

Since starting the apprenticeship, Caroline has received two promotions, making her a recruitment team leader at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s Hospital.

Speaking of the promotions, Caroline said: “I don’t think I would have achieved this without my apprenticeship.

“The course with Damar taught me so much. Both of the promotions were internal vacancies, but I was able to demonstrate experience because of learnings during the course like 1-1s and managing a project.

“The apprenticeship has also brought me so much more confidence in my role and while communicating.”

Caroline passed her apprenticeship at the beginning of October 2024 and is hoping that her newest qualification will help her to achieve more in the future.

“If you’re thinking about doing an apprenticeship, go for it,” she said, “There are things you learn during the workshops and theory that you wouldn’t learn in your usual working environment.

“It really has been amazing for my progression and development.”