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CILIP North West Careers Panel - Gil Young, Knowledge and Library Services Development Manager, Health Education England


Gil Young - Knowledge and Library Services Development Manager 

Health Education England


Career Journey

My first job was as a graduate trainee at the Alsager site of Manchester Metropolitan University. Since then, I have worked in the library at the Christie Hospital in Manchester, as a librarian at Manchester Metropolitan University and at Stockport public libraries. I then worked for the North West Academic Libraries consortium for almost 10 years. At that point I got my current role although the lead employer and my role title have changed in the 10 years I have been employed by the NHS. 

Current Role

The best bit about my current role is the variety. I have regional responsibilities for NHS knowledge and library services across the North West. This translates as working with the 30 plus services based in the North West and their staff. I work closely with the teams and often get involved in recruiting staff, advising on strategy and restructures and offering professional and personal support to individuals. Besides my regional responsibilities I am part of several national workstreams with responsibility for workforce development, for communications, and for research. The role is challenging, especially trying to keep on top of all my responsibilities and maintain an awareness of what is going on across the rest of the team. 

Advice 

For those of you who are interested in working in healthcare, knowledge and library services I would recommend trying to get an understanding of how the NHS works. The Kings Fund is very useful for this. When you apply and interview for a post do your research into that organisation; make sure you are clear what their values and strategic aims are and think about how you can contribute to achieving them. I would also suggest reading Knowledge for Healthcare and setting up an alert on NHS jobs as that is where most NHS knowledge and library posts are advertised.

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