Supporting Oxford-wide careers

 

Portrait of Alice Chilver

 

 

 

I hope that all of our professional services staff are able to take a step back and consider what’s next for them and identify at least one way that they can develop and become most fulfilled as part of the University community.

 


Many of us spend more time at the University with our colleagues than at home with our family and friends, so it’s important that work is fulfilling as it’s so central to our lives and wellbeing. Not everyone wants to be the next Registrar but, whatever our career aspirations, we all benefit from fulfilment at work. For some of us fulfilment includes career progression and development.

Working in the sector for the past ten years, I’ve seen many professional services staff feeling stuck in their roles. They are unsure how to progress their career and often don’t want to leave the University, but are not sure how to keep growing. Our academic colleagues see these challenges first-hand too: extremely talented individuals are struggling as there’s no obvious pathway to steer them towards.

This needs to change, and because of Professional Services Together there are increasing ways to explore careers within the University. For example:

  • A mentoring scheme specifically for Professional Services staff is underway, and all staff are invited to sign up as mentors and mentees. Guidance is available and POD are hosting sessions to share good mentoring practice.
  • Communities of practice and professional networks provide inclusive, supportive environments for colleagues who might not come together in their day-to-day roles, but share professional disciplines to unite, learn from and grow with one another.
  • A Career Club launches on 20 March, to bring together professional services staff wanting to develop practical skills and hear stories from colleagues about career progression and lessons learned. In the first session, University Registrar Gillian Aitken will share her own career journey and top tips for fulfilment and progression. In the second session, the Careers Service will cover key techniques to create the best CV, write an outstanding application and gain new skills in your current role. To register contact sarah.lewis@admin.ox.ac.uk.
  • A new management development programme, The Confident Manager, began last term, with two tracks to support both new and more experienced managers to gain good practice skills and build confidence in their roles. There is also a Managers' Toolkit offering succinct guides on key topics.
  • POD co-ordinates the Oxford Coaching Network of University Staff who are qualified coaches and allows staff to find a coach to support them in their personal and professional development. We also support these coaches to continue their own professional development via two courses; coaching skills for managers and coaching skills for supervisors.

There are now a number of career mobility pilots underway across the University. For instance, Research Services are experimenting with job swaps for grades 6 and 7 staff. POD will share the results of these once completed with the aim of encouraging more parts of the University to experiment.

Over the coming months, POD will deliver many more projects to further support Oxford-wide careers. These include:

  1. simplifying the recommended PDR form and refreshing guidance to focus on the importance of meaningful conversations
  2. creating and embedding a skills and behaviours framework that is common to all professional services roles/grades
  3. working with staff to produce career pathways in their areas for transparency and clarity.

You can find out more about these opportunities on our webpages. I also encourage you to visit the Professional Services Together website to find out more about how this initiative can benefit you.

In the meantime, I hope that all of our professional services staff are able to take a step back and consider what’s next for them and identify at least one way that they can develop and become most fulfilled as part of the University community.