On Our Mind

Posted on 17 Apr 2025

Lee Stokes is a communications assistant in the Communications Team at Nottinghamshire Healthcare. For Administrative Professionals Day, he shares his career path from leaving school, apprenticeships, undertaking a part-time degree and being a valuable asset to the team he works in.

He hopes his story will inspire others to go into administration as a career choice and says, Being an administrator in the NHS is so rewarding. Although not providing front-line services directly, I know I can make a difference to patients' lives through my work. 

"I have been in the NHS in administrative roles for 12 years, since I was 19.

"I left school with not the best grades from my GCSEs and not knowing what career pathway to explore. It was taught to us that we needed to attend college, so I did, undertaking a Travel and Tourism course. This was not for me, I was not outgoing enough, and I didn't see myself succeeding. I also felt like classroom-based teaching was not for me. I spent a year unemployed and wasn't sure what to do. I attended countless interviews with the support of my Job Centre advisor, sometimes attending up to 6 in a week, just to get anything. 

"Nottinghamshire County Council, through their apprenticeship scheme with Futures, were advertising for a Level 2 Business Admin Apprenticeship. I applied and the manager gave me a chance - I was over the moon that I was able to start earning my own salary - even if the apprenticeship wage was not that great. I learnt so much from this apprenticeship including obviously the basics to admin work, but I think the biggest takeaway was just working in general. 

"After 9 months I was successful in getting my first role in the NHS with East Midlands Ambulance Service. I also was passing my apprenticeship modules quite quickly, so I was able to move onto the Level 3 Business Admin apprenticeship too. A year or so later, I joined Nottingham University Hospitals as a Medical Support Secretary. I enjoyed this role - I even had the opportunity to watch a medical operation and sit in and listen to pre-operative information (this was to help my development and understand what I was typing up on my letters better). But I was wondering what I could do next and where it could take me.

"I always wanted to work in a recruitment environment as I liked what my work advisors did to get me a job. Although this would be slightly different, I moved to Nottinghamshire Healthcare to work in the Recruitment team and did admin work for the entire team. I was promoted shortly after which enabled me to undertake the entire recruitment journey from advertising to sending out a contract. I was in this role for a long time, the longest job I had ever had, but I really enjoyed it. I had some autonomy which the other roles had not provided yet. 

"The same time as starting in my first recruitment role, I also started a part-time degree in Business Administration with The Open University. This took about 6 years to complete, with plenty of ups and downs through personal life issues. However, I successfully graduated with a 2:1 degree. I was also the first one in my family to ever graduate university!

"After completing my degree, a secondment opportunity came up in the team to work on social media and the Recruitment website. I was really interested in marketing after my degree. I thought this would have been the perfect opportunity. It was - I learnt so much. However, with secondments, they are good to get experience in something you might like to try out, but they soon come to an end. 

" I became a Recruitment Team Leader which was quite daunting - but very useful to put my management knowledge into practice. I learnt so much from this role, however I needed to take a step back and so an opportunity presented itself in the Communications team to work as a Communications Assistant. I was hesitant as it felt like a career change (even though it was still in admin) - but it would be completely moving away from recruitment where I felt comfortable. I eventually took the opportunity and have enjoyed it very much. It is a great team to work in and everyone is so supportive and understands my developmental needs to progress. 

"A typical day in my role as a communications assistant involves me checking my emails first. From this I am able to get a priority list of tasks for the day. The workload is very varied, I could be signposting people that contact the communications inbox, working on patient leaflets, or doing administrative work like putting orders on procurement - no two days are the same.

"I enjoy the variation of work. Being an administrator in the NHS is so rewarding. Although not providing front-line services directly, I know I can make a difference to patients' lives through my work still, such as the patient leaflets I create.

The reason I chose administration as a career choice came about when I did a small admin course whilst unemployed which the Job Centre sent me on. I enjoyed it from that moment, and I pieced that with the fact I enjoyed working on computers, to go into admin.

I would urge anyone to look at administration as a career - we are so important in making teams function. I have never had to make tea and coffee, contrary to what you may hear. I think this is largely due to the fact I don't drink tea or coffee. Either way, we are important, and if you are considering a career in administration - do it! If you can get on an apprenticeship, I would highly recommend It. You learn so much at your own pace, without needing to be in a classroom environment. I have met other admin colleagues along the way, some of which will remain life-long friends."

If Lee's story has inspired your own career path in administration, find out more about the Trust and its vacancies here.