Graduate development programme

I'd say the best thing about working at Wellcome is just how friendly and open everyone here has been at sharing what they do here, and helping you to know how to engage with their work as well.

The most surprising thing for me about working at Wellcome is how much I've developed in the past year, and how my interests have changed compared to how I thought they might lie at the start of the scheme. I started working Wellcome Collection, but I found I really enjoyed all the roles across the Trust.

So for me, the best thing about working Wellcome is that you have a really good balance of working in a really big organisation that is really well known around the world, and so it gives you a lot of kudos when you're going out and interacting with people outside of Wellcome. But at the same time, it doesn't feel like a big organisation where no one cares about you as an individua. It feels like somewhere where you can genuinely feel part of a community and there's a lot of cross talk between different departments here. It doesn't feel alienated or isolating in any way, even though there's a lot of people working under the same roof.

What has surprised me about working at Wellcome, is the difference and kind of working practice and culture between teams, which you really get to understand when you're a graduate and you kind of move from rotation to rotation to those teams. Different divisions can work in very different ways and look for very different things in their kind of day-to-day practices, basically, and that's been really interesting to get an understanding of.

So, one of the best things that I absolutely love about working at Wellcome is the opportunity to kind of get involved with lots of things kind of outside of your day to day job. There's so many kinds of social committees sports committees to get involved with. I've started on the Wellies committee this year which is Wellcome’s own kind of sports and social committee, and there's the opportunity to kind of run events and to kind of organize competitions and just meet lots of different staff from all over the Trust, which is brilliant.

There are a lot of great things about working at Wellcome, but one of the really nice extra things that we have are a lot of great benefits. So, for example, we have a free gym in the building which is really great for keeping healthy and keeping good mental health as well. We also have some really great subsidised delicious food available and there are a lot of discounts available through our benefits portal, for example eateries and cinema, which is also great.

So, my top tip for the application process is to really prepare well. I actually think preparation really pays off and so, for example, if you're preparing for a video interview or an assessment day or even preparing to write your application form, it's a really good idea to do some solid research on Wellcome find out a little bit more about what they do. What sort of activities they're involved with at the moment. What their priorities are. You can do this through a lot of different ways. We have a great website, but it also might find it useful to attend career's events and speak to people who work here or to attend webinars.

My top tips for application process would be to be explicit and really use those key skills that are listed and also to not be afraid in showing your enthusiasm and by making your application unique to you and genuinely showing your interest in Wellcome.

So, one of my top tips for the application process is to really think about why this scheme suits you right now. Because it's the opportunity to try out lots of different things, you're kind of not being trained just for one particular role, it's the opportunity to kind of like experiment with different activities. So, you have to really think about why is that important to you. Why does the structure of the scheme really work for you?

When you are doing your application my top tips for the application process would be to be as self-reflective and self-aware as possible when answering our questions for the Graduate Development Scheme at Wellcome. We’re really keen to hear what you'd like to achieve over the two years with us, as well as your strengths.

One of my top tips for the application process would be to make it perhaps as unique as possible. I think that something I drew on was kind of unique experiences I've had through work experience I've done in the past or kind of a project that I did at school that kind of stood out from other things in my life. I think that kind of gives you a bit of an edge and it kind of shows that you are doing things outside of just schoolwork that's on the curriculum as it were. So, yeah, I would definitely recommend picking unique things about yourself that really make you stand out against other applicants.