350 careers
Whatever your skills, qualifications or interests, there’s a career for you in the NHS.
One NHS
The NHS has careers available if you’re interested in becoming a doctor, nurse, midwife or physiotherapist, which you will have heard of.
But we need people in all sorts of jobs, whether you work frontline on a ward or never see a patient. You could work behind the scenes helping to manage the finance system, in a laboratory as a biochemist, or be the clerk who books a patient in for their operation.
Depending on what role you choose, you could work in any number of locations around the UK, for example hospitals, GP surgeries, community clinics, pharmacies, mental health facilities, prisons, or ambulance services.
Whatever you’d like to do, you’ll make a difference to people’s lives from day one. Keep an open mind and remember the NHS needs people in all sorts of roles, some of which you may not have even heard of!
NHS values
We’re keen to hear from anyone who shares and is committed to the NHS values.
This means that you’ll be someone who’s keen to work with colleagues for the benefit of patients. It also means that you’ll treat everyone with respect, and that you’re committed to making a difference to people’s lives.
Getting Started
There are different ways you can start your student’s NHS career.
- If making plans for university feels right for you, you could study to become a nurse, midwife, or physiotherapist.
- An apprenticeship could be a great option for you and the NHS offers these at different levels.
- Or an assistant or technician role could be the perfect way to start your career. It will also mean you could be in the right place when a degree apprenticeship becomes available.
Your Future
The NHS is a great place to grow and learn and, once you’re in, we’ll be keen to support you to stay and develop your career.
The pace of change and technological developments in the NHS means that we’ll always need new skills and experience, so there’ll be opportunities to change careers as you progress too.
And the pay progression system is based on gaining knowledge, experience and skills so this is another great reason to progress your career within the NHS!
Teachers!
National Careers Week is a fantastic opportunity to celebrate all the free resources we have available for you. There are competitions and other teaching resources and online quizzes to name but a few. They can help you meet the Gatsby benchmarks too, so see the tabs below for details.
There’s also a section on the Health Careers website just for you, so take a look.
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Read our inspiring stories
Olivia
Olivia kept believing in her dream career after her A-level results were disappointing.
Layla
Layla has grown in confidence in an NHS apprenticeship!
Cherie
Cherie became a mental health nurse after she overcame post-natal depression.
Meeting The Gatsby Benchmarks
Our teaching resources for KS4 are an online suite of resources that can be delivered as part of work in citizenship, PSHE, English and drama.
Have a look at our Health Careers role pages for labour market information to help you meet Benchmark 2.
To help you meet Benchmark 3, have a look at our careers quizzes. The Step into the NHS website has one for secondary school age students and there’s a more in-depth one on the Health Careers website.
We have a useful compare roles function on the Health Careers website too where students can choose up to three roles to compare at any one time. Especially useful if they’re not sure what they want to do!
And our course finder will help your students find the course that’s right for them.
Many staff in the NHS volunteer to provide support in schools through Inspiring the future so it’s a good idea to sign up. And there are lots of STEM ambassadors too who are always happy to provide an insight into what they do in their role.
The Step into the NHS schools competitions for KS2 and KS3 are great for helping you meet Benchmark 5. New for this year is a one-lesson resource to help you launch the competition and an online gallery to showcase students’ entries.
We run a programme of online events for your students throughout the year, as well as attending many in person. Bookmark Health Careers so you can see what’s coming up. It’s a good idea to follow us on social media too.
It’s important to remember that any caring or customer service experience is invaluable for applications for a health course, job or apprenticeship. To help you meet Benchmark 6, have a look at our work experience guide and work experience ideas.