Supporting guidance for local careers events

Careers events and other local engagement activities have a big part to play in inspiring the future workforce and NHS Health Careers wants to help. We have a range of resources available to help you inspire the next generation and offer the careers information they need to make informed career decisions. 

What you will find in this guide

In this guide, we will outline what these resources are and how to use them.

There are also some top tips for your events as well as some examples of good practice to help your events meet their objectives.

You will find a PDF version of this guide at the bottom of this page. 

NHS Health Careers resources for your events

Our resources include the following:

  • an online registration form – allows your event visitors to sign up to receive NHS careers advice by email
  • postcards – 15 eye-catching designs that challenge misconceptions about NHS careers
  • materials for you to adapt and print locally
  • NHS Health Careers website – provides detailed information on over 350 different NHS careers along with tools and resources.

Photo courtesy of Big Bang Fair 2022

"Supporting an event where only iPads and laptops were available to visitors was really insightful.  I saw the amount of engagement we got without having lots of paper-based resources. Digital is definitely the way to go!"

Helen Beckenham,  Careers and Apprenticeship Lead Surrey Heartlands Integrated Care System

Using the online registration form

Many people visiting your stand will know what NHS career they want to do, and will be looking for advice on what steps they need to take to realise their ambition.

By signing people up to the NHS Health Careers email communications programme, we’ll be able to send them the information they need such as:

  • benefits of an NHS career
  • information on the careers they are interested in, including the entry routes and stories from people who have done it
  • video top tips on getting work experience and applying for jobs or training.

Visitors can choose from a range of NHS career areas including nursing, administration and pharmacy. They’ll receive a welcome email from us within 15 minutes and then ongoing email communication until they tell us to stop.

Not only does this provide interested visitors with accurate, timely information on their chosen NHS careers, it also means they are prompted after the event to explore NHS careers. We can also tell you how many people signed up, helping you measure the impact of your event or stand and show the return on investment.

All you need is a laptop or tablet on your stand/event and to follow the steps below.

Option 1: use the generic online registration form at your events

You can just use the registration page below to sign people up. However, with this option, we won’t be able to tell you how many people registered or the careers they are interested in. You can find the form at https://events.healthcareers.nhs.uk/

Option 2: create a unique registration form at your events

We can create a version of the same registration form that’s unique to your event, allowing us to tell you how many people signed up and the careers they are interested in.

We know (from experience) that measuring the impact of careers events can be challenging and with squeezes on budgets, it’s more important than ever to show the benefits of careers engagement.

So what do you need to do?

Step 1: Request your unique event link

Just fill in the request form below and we’ll send you your unique event link within seven working days.

Request your unique registration form

Step 2: Using your unique link

This part is really important. It’s vital that you use the unique website address we send you for every visitor registration at your event. It’s the code at the end of the URL that allows us to provide you with data. Here’s an example of how the URL could look:

https://events.healthcareers.nhs.uk/?utm_source=NHS&utm_medium=toolkit&utm_campaign=NHS_careers_event

We know that events can get busy and sometimes it’s hard to make sure the correct URL is being used.

Here are some top tips for making sure you capture every registration:

  1. Favourite or bookmark your link on every laptop, tablet, or mobile device you’re using at the event.
  2. After someone registers at the event, select the bookmark or favourite in your browser and you will be taken back to the sign-up page. Don’t use the back button or the address bar as you risk losing the tracking code.
  3. Make sure that everyone on your stand is briefed on how to use it. Maybe remind them regularly just in case they forget.

Step 3: After your event

After your event, email us at [email protected] and we’ll send your data within seven days. Please note that this data isn’t sent automatically, so you will need to request it from us.

This data will tell you how many people signed up and the career areas they are interested in. We can offer this data in its raw form or in a dashboard. It doesn’t provide individual visitor details for data protection reasons.

 

Good practice case study

NHS Health Careers at What Career? Live
The online registration form led to over 200 sign-ups. When considering the overall event cost, this gave us a strong return on investment.
Read more about the What Career? Live event

Using the postcards

We understand that printed materials are important. This is why we continue to offer our 15 postcards for you to order.

The messages and designs of the postcards are based on research with school leavers and career switchers. The postcards have strong imagery and messaging that:

  • bust some of the myths about working in the NHS
  • highlight some of the benefits of an NHS career such as being able to make a difference to people’s lives
  • provide information on where to find out more about careers and apprenticeships in the NHS.

You can order up to 50 of each postcard, once a month. This is to ensure there is enough stock for the local NHS, schools, colleges and other organisations across the country.

Find out how to order the postcards in the 'Print and adapt our materials' section.

QR codes are also being added to each postcard at the point of being reprinted so people can easily access relevant online content. We also offer downloadable files allowing you to adapt and print them locally.

Print and adapt our materials

Each of the following assets are available as print-ready PDF files for you to send to a professional printer and as InDesign files for you to adapt for local need:

Adaptable InDesign files

If you want to adapt the resources to better meet local needs, an InDesign file is also available for each of the assets.

For example, you may want to add your own NHS organisation’s logo or contact email address. However, there are some dos and don’ts that we strongly recommend you stick to.

Dos

  • Do – get support from a professional designer when making any changes.
  • Do – use the Frutiger font as per the NHS identity guidelines.
  • Do – keep the NHS Health Careers website and helpline details to ensure people receive the most up-to-date careers information and advice. 

Don'ts

  • Don’t – use any logo other than a variation of the NHS logo and make sure it follows the NHS identity guidelines. Speak to your communications team if you are unsure.
  • Don’t – print in black and white.
  • Don’t – alter or manipulate the images or other elements of the layouts.
  • Don’t – change the headlines, copy or imagery in the assets.

Top tips on managing events

Whether you hold events regularly or are about to hold your first, we have some tips on how to get the most out of them.

Pre-event

  • Think about what you want to achieve!
    • Do you want to get people signed up to receive information on local initiatives or programmes such as work experience or apprenticeship opportunities? If so, how are you going to do this in line with your organisation’s data protection policy? Have you spoken to your data protection lead?
    • Do you want to inspire visitors to consider a career in the NHS? If so, how are you going to do this? Do you need NHS staff in a range of jobs to talk to people about their roles?
  • Think about audience. The younger the audience, the traditionally harder they are to engage on careers.
    • For younger students, you may want to think of innovative ways of getting them excited about an NHS career. You may want to have equipment where they can ‘have a go’. Or give them a chance to dress up in NHS uniforms for photos. Or use the resources on the Step into the NHS website such as the ‘career mapper’ or the NHS quiz.
    • Older students (key stage 4 and above) and adults are likely to be more focused on their futures and will be looking for information and advice on their next steps. So it is important to come armed with the information they need and make sure you have knowledgeable people (either you or others) for this.
  • Consider some of the practical aspects of running your event:
    • Find out about the Wi-Fi availability at the venue. If there isn’t any, are there other options? Could you hotspot from a work phone for example?
    • Do you have access to power at the event? This will be useful for recharging any tablets and iPads.
  • Think about branding for your stand. How will visitors be drawn in?
    • Using a pull-up banner can help visitors identify the NHS from a distance. See our files to print and adapt ours.
    • For larger events, our events panels are available to be printed and attached to a shell scheme stand.
  • Familiarise yourself with the roles and career areas on the NHS Health Careers website using ‘Explore roles’. This will help you to guide people to the right information and ensure they sign up to the right career areas on the registration form. 
  • Order our postcards from us well in advance so you know they will reach you in time.
    • You may also want to look at which postcards best meet your event’s audience. For example, some are more aligned to career switchers than students.
    • Although you can order 50 of each postcard design, it may be better to order according to the number of visitors expected at the event. We have found that having items of no more than 10% of footfall reduces waste. For example, ordering 200 postcards for an event with 2,000 expected visitors.
  • If you are using the online registration form, we need seven days’ notice to generate a unique link for you. 
  • Think about writing a brief to send people volunteering on your stand in advance. We have drafted a template for you to use.

During your event

  • If you have a team of people on your stand, start the day with a face-to-face briefing so everyone knows what you are looking to achieve and what is available for visitors. It only needs to be 15 minutes but can really help in making sure everyone’s up to speed.
  • Make sure the registration form is readily available on tablets and/or laptops throughout the day. It’s common for users to browse to different webpages, so remember to ‘reset’ each one back to your bookmarked link after each use.
  • Encourage visitors to come on to the stand. Prepare some questions to ask people such as ‘Have you ever thought about a career in the NHS?’ Many people will say something like ‘No, I don’t like blood’ or ‘I don’t want to be a doctor or nurse’, giving you the chance to talk about the range of careers in the NHS. You’ll be surprised how many people are keen to learn more.
  • Use the Find your Career quiz on the NHS Health Careers website for older students and adults who don’t know what they want to do. It offers opportunities to discuss the careers available and sign-up people to information on the careers they are interested in through the registration form.

Post event

  • If you are gathering personal data for local use (don’t forget to speak to your data protection lead in advance), make sure that you follow-up with the person who signed up as quickly as possible. Even if it is just to say, ‘thanks for your interest…’ and ‘we’ll be in touch shortly’.
  • If you are using our unique registration form to sign people up to the NHS Health Careers email communications, remember to ask us for the data ASAP after the event

Your unique registration form

Measuring the impact of careers events can be challenging and with squeezes on budgets, it's more important than ever to show the benefits of careers engagement. With a registration form unique to your event, we'll be able to tell you how many people registered and the careers they are interested in.

Use the form below to request your unique form and we'll send it to you within seven working days. 

Guide

Supporting guide for local careers events

Download this guide as a PDF for you to take with you anywhere.

Download
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