After the launch of iShadow last year, we received a fantastic response from Civil Servants who wanted to take part in a positive and engaging job shadowing opportunity or host a colleague from another department. Since then iShadow has helped colleagues to build a network across a wide range of Civil Service departments, as well as supporting skill and personal development.
Helene Murphy from HM Revenue and Customs recently visited the Legal Aid Agency in Jarrow to find out more about the work of a Contract Manager and she shared her experience with us.
It was a well structured job shadowing experience. Each department representative gave an oversight of where their work fitted into the overall picture of the Legal Aid Agency. We started in the mail section where all the files are stored and retrieved and progressed from there. It gave me the chance to see a completely different branch of the Civil Service and how they operate. The atmosphere and working methods differed from what I am used to. Each person who showed us their part of the process, was professional and explained any specialisms they had. I think it gave us a good understanding of the Legal Aid Agency as an entity and what it is that they do.
If you would like to get involved, we are looking for Civil Servants across the North East and the Yorkshire and Humberside who wish to shadow a colleague in another department. We have attached a guide to job shadowing that we hope you find useful when considering whether you would like to take part in iShadow. If we have sparked your interest, please take a look at the list of current opportunities available and visit our booklet for further details about each opportunity.
Alternatively, if you could give up a short amount of your time to host a colleague from another department who is interested in your work, we would be keen to hear from you.
If you are interested in any of the iShadow opportunities, please contact Kelly Roush for an Expression of Interest form.