Jenny Hawkins

My current role is that of Assistant Consultant, Reablement. I’m doing a job that brings together all the skills and experience I have and allows me to share them with others in a creative way. People often talk about ‘transferable skills’ and, as I reflect back on my career, I’m lucky to have picked up transferable skills in abundance.

Having worked hard to get my ‘O’ Levels and ‘A’ Levels, I opted for a career in Banking rather than following an academic path. I enjoyed the work and progressed to Mortgage Applications Manager. Branch closures drew a premature line under this part of my career. My next role was part time in a school for those with special educational needs. I had, by this point, accumulated a range of skills and experience including interpreting and articulating policies and procedures, working with numbers and systems, organisation, administration and management.

By 2000, I was ready to return to a full-time position. This is when I joined Hampshire County Council as a Records Management Officer; part of a newly created Records team. This involved establishing principles and best practice surrounding our record keeping: retention, storage, archiving etc. During this time I gained an NVQ Level 3 qualification in Administration. From here I transitioned into an IT role supporting the IT HelpDesk and eventually into a Systems Training role as part of the AIS Training team.

Having no qualification as a ‘Trainer’, I undertook an NVQ Level 4 in Learning & Development and started to step outside my comfort zone of systems training. I gained experience in facilitating a range of behavioural workshops, looking at how people can accept and respond positively to change. This brought me into the field of Reablement.

I felt motivated and inspired by the ethos of reablement and the positive impact it can have on people’s lives. So now I am in a role that I love; interpreting policies and explaining them in simple and creative ways, reviewing and shaping processes and helping others to work as effectively and as productively as they can.

I’ve really found my niche. My skills are not on the front line and I’m not an experienced Practitioner. At times I think I have ‘imposter syndrome’, wondering ‘how did I get here’? My colleagues tell me I’m really adding clarity and value to their work, helping them deliver excellent person-centred care. That’s what really counts.

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