What is your career background? 

I joined the council in 2018 as part of the LGMA graduate programme in the data analytics stream and initially worked in ICT. I then joined the customer relationship management (CRM) team, which is the service that deals with requests from members of the public. In 2019 I became Assistant Staff Officer. Prior to working in local government, I worked in data services, commodity procurement, agriculture and marketing.

What does your role involve? 

I work as part of team of four, developing projects for CRM and maintaining the day-to-day functions of the system. I also work on our online consultation portal, which allows members of the public to make submissions, for example on development plans, part 8s etc.

I also look after digital signatures; since Covid the ability to sign off on documents remotely has become very important. We also supported the CRM elements of the Covid Community Call response. This helped ensure vulnerable citizens within the city were not left isolated and had access to food, medicines, and transports to medical facilities.

What are the most rewarding things about working for a local authority?

You see first-hand the benefit you are bringing to the provision of services in the city. Visibility of these changes can be slow, but you can see the change you make to the lives of people in the city. There is also great comradery within the ICT Team and support for one another as we attempt to deliver a wide range of ever-changing projects. 

Why should someone consider a career with a local authority?

The work of a local authority is challenging and ever-changing, my role brings new tasks on a weekly basis and requires quite a bit of upskilling to maintain pace with the high speed of change within the digital sector.

You get to work with people who have a variety of skills daily such as engineers, planners, tradespeople, etc, all while delivering a service to people within your community. 

If you make a material difference to the lives of the people of the city, I would say that’s a great job. It’s different to working with a private company. It’s the people you are living among that you are making a difference for; we get to make positive changes locally which is very rewarding.