Dan's experience

For the last two years, I have had the wonderful opportunity to work across Suffolk’s local governments thanks to the Partnership’s Graduate Scheme.

Looking back to 2024, I remember reaching the final months of my degree without a clear sense of what it was I wanted to do after graduating. While others around me may have had defined careers in mind, or perhaps even secured a job for that autumn, I, like most of the fellow graduates-in-waiting, often found the anxiety of leaving the safety net of full-time education for the first time to be overwhelming. As a result, I resorted to canvassing the internet, throwing my CV towards any Graduate scheme I found, for fear of failing to make the jump from university to employment. After experiencing what now feels like the compulsory experience for any graduate of passing the milestone of receiving their 50th rejection email, I decided to reassess my strategy, setting aside the anxiety of becoming the prodigal son of the family, opting rather to go against the grain of those around me and instead find an opportunity unique to me, which led me to Suffolk’s Graduate Partnership Scheme.

Although having just spent five years at university, obtaining both undergraduate and postgraduate degrees, I had not yet reached my educational saturation point. Whatever came next, I knew I wanted to continue to work towards achieving another qualification. I also knew that while I may have been applying to any graduate scheme available, my heart was not truly in many of the roles I had interviewed for, my passion was politics, policy and making a real difference to local communities. So, it felt almost too good to be true when I come across Suffolk’s Graduate Scheme, which perfectly married both wishes of mine, allowing me to work towards a Level 4 Project Management qualification, within Local Government, delivering meaningful and tangible work for the communities I have grown up within.

My scheme began at East Suffolk Council, where I was placed within the Policy Performance and Risk team. It was during this year I had the privilege to deliver a project aimed with overhauling the way in which the organisation measures the impact of its work on the surrounding environment. This was a wonderful opportunity for me to learn about the wide range of work local authorities deliver, and how interconnected our local communities are. This project allowed me to work across a wide range of service areas and teams, learning from the amazing talent that exists across local authorities. It also provided me with a wonderful opportunity to learn the complexities of delivering a project, which perfectly supported my learning towards my academic qualification that was offered as part of the scheme.

Year two took me to West Suffolk Council, where I was placed in the Policy, Project, and Performance team. Here I fulfilled the organisation’s programme management function, having the unique opportunity to work alongside a wide range of project managers, each delivering their own priority projects for the council. This role was excellent opportunity to see firsthand the intricacies of project management; I was able to apply my learning from the project management qualification and apply it to the wide range of projects I monitored and worked on. I also had the wonderful opportunity to help deliver the Better Recycling project across West Suffolk, delivering new bins to over 80,000 households to enhance West Suffolks ability to recycle, a vastly complex and interesting project! I also had the wonderful task of working with local community groups across the district, providing grant support to a range of community groups. The supported I helped deliver ranged from supporting local youth football clubs purchase their very first footballs and kits to helping rebuild village halls and community centres!

Overall, this graduate scheme has been an incredibly rewarding experience. It has equipped me with essential project management skills while providing a greater understanding of how local government operates, an area that was completely new to me when I started. The programme has helped shape my career aspirations and given me confidence that I will take with me wherever I end up next! I would highly recommend it to graduates who are keen to develop professionally and gain firsthand experience of the public sector.