Secondment request

[OlafLovesAnna]

I work for a large healthcare trust and am hoping to be offered a new job in a neighbouring trust which would put me in a training role rather than a clinical role.

It's possible that the new job could be a secondment as the new trust would be happy with that but I'm not sure how to approach my current manager and suggest the temporary change.

I find my manager quite unapproachable (although she seems fair and does a very demanding job) but I'm not sure I could 'sell' a secondment's value to her.

For background I'm in a busy clinical role, we are understaffed as a department but advertising for more qualified staff. I have only been in this job for 7 months but have been doing the job for 6 years elsewhere. I really hope to make the sideways move into training/development longer term but like my current department and would very much like having a 'fall back' just in case.

Has anyone organised a secondment in the NHS and how did you broach it with your manager?

Secondments can be a great way for staff to develop skills in new areas which will benefit them when they return to their permanent position, so you should demonstrate this when you approach your line manager.

Managers won't want to keep the job open for someone who sees the role as a 'fall back' and it's normally obvious, no matter how good a business case the employee puts forward.

The biggest alarm for me is that you have only been in your role for 7 months. It's rather early to be asking for a secondment.