Health Careers

When opportunity knocks

How people make decisions about choosing a career, getting a job, and planning their future, is changing. For an employer like the NHS, the largest in Europe with over 350 different types of roles, knowing what motivates people and what puts them off, is critical.

Existing NHS careers print material was expensive to print, store and distribute, lengthy and not handed out at the right moment when people are thinking about a health career. It was unhelpfully branded and didn’t outline some of the key benefits of working in health and care. Awareness and understanding of the breadth and diversity of NHS careers on offer was low. And there were many myths about the skills and experience needed to work there.

It all starts with insight

It was clear the print strategy required a radical turnaround. Our brief was to rationalise this important area of brand communication and reduce precious NHS expenditure. For us, the starting point was obvious. Talk to the customer.

“We quickly discovered that many myths prevailed about working in the NHS, creating barriers to engagement. Like needing a degree, having to work directly with patients, prior experience as a health or care worker. Debunking these myths first meant we could approach the project from the user perspective and craft design and content responses based on what they really needed to know.”

Peter Mills, Brand Ethos

From this a taxonomy was developed for the range of career paths which simplified the customer journey, reduced the quantity of print and addressed myths through positive messaging. Now anyone from school child to midlife career switcher could easily access a range of roles and career paths in one handy guide. This design thinking influenced the development of subsequent digital communications, too.

Take a look at the Health Careers website.