Viapath Career Development Programme – A personal review

The Viapath Career Development Programme (VCDP) was reviewed in the last issue of “pathology@viapath”. It is a 2 day training course, led by Viapath’s Future Leaders in Innovation, aimed to guide junior employees at Viapath who want to learn more about career progression within healthcare science. Here Jadie Baxter, a Senior Assistant Technical Officer in the Red Cell Laboratory, discusses her reasons for attending the course and what she gained from it: 

What are your aspirations for your future career? 

I hope to do my IBMS registration portfolio, a master’s degree and become a registered Biomedical Scientist. 

Why did you attend the VCDP? 

I saw it as an opportunity to obtain some information and guidance about the possible career pathways as well as to learn about some of the disciplines and opportunities available at Viapath. I hoped to improve my knowledge and skills which will help me to achieve my ambition of becoming a Biomedical Scientist.

What did you gain from the programme?

I feel that I gained a much better understanding of the opportunities available to me in healthcare science and also within Viapath. I also acquired knowledge on how to improve my job applications and interviews as well as more in depth information about what is required for the completion of the IBMS registration portfolio.

How will you use the skills that you learnt to develop your career?

I learnt about the Viapath Insight Programme which encourages Viapath employees to spend a day in a different department to see what their work entails. I’m scheduled to go to St Thomas’ Newborn Screening laboratory which will be interesting and very valuable as my laboratory performs their second-line screening tests. 

I personally found the Viapath Career Development Programme to be very useful and I’m grateful that I was able to attend.