Secondments galore!

In the third of our ARMA Secondments Blog series, Pilar Pousada Soliño from the University of Lincoln shares how three secondment opportunities have dramatically ‘shaped’ her professional path

I am definitely a fan of secondments! They have been a very formative and inspiring way for me to develop my career. I have approached them all a bit trepidatious but enthusiastically and, they have dramatically ‘shaped’ my professional path.

My first experience of a secondment came at a bit of a difficult career juncture. My department at the time had a vacancy that would have been a promotion opportunity for me. Not one to keep still, I applied for the post but was unsuccessful. Feeling a bit downhearted (we have all been there!), I looked around for what else was available and another department in my institution was offering a maternity cover as a secondment opportunity. I had no idea what secondments were at the time but after a bit of research, off I went to my interview. On this occasion, I was successful, and I had a very formative six-month spell in my host department. This secondment opportunity was key for my career development as it exposed me to different departmental cultures and allowed me to understand the wider institution better, while allowing me to work quite independently at an early stage in my career.

At the end of the maternity cover, the colleague I was covering for returned and I went back to my previous department, albeit only for a few months. The secondment had not only given me the technical development I needed but also the confidence to try new opportunities. I soon found a new role that I thoroughly enjoyed.

‘Customised’

Fast-forward a few years and I moved to the University of Lincoln, my current institution. In my first role here, I devised my very own ‘customised’ secondment. I like to think of it as an arrangement based on the principles of secondment, although it was not technically a secondment. On this occasion, I was really enjoying my role but I was quite new to the institution, and I was seeking to improve my knowledge of other professional services. This was at a time when budgets for development in the department were quite tight. I approached my department to see if they would ‘free me up’ for half a day a week for six months. I wanted to use that half a day to complete a project in a different department (this is the part-time secondment bit!). My preferred ‘host’ department was Research and Enterprise, and they said yes! This gave me the opportunity to devise my own project around supporting early career researchers at Lincoln. It was very good to have ‘protected’ time to dedicate to a project which I could make entirely my own. This was very much an informal arrangement, no paperwork changed hands and the only cost to my department ‘of origin’ was a few hours of my time every week; but it really showed me how Lincoln was keen to do things differently and to support both its staff and the institution.

I had tested the water with my informal secondment and I really enjoyed the experience. It later transpired that the feeling was mutual. When the right vacancy arose in Research and Enterprise, I gladly followed up on the opportunity, safe in the knowledge that I already knew the culture and the ways of working of my new colleagues.

It is in Research and Enterprise that I was able to take on my last secondment opportunity (to date!). With full support from my department, I successfully applied for a secondment as a REF2021 Panel Secretary. I took the secondment on a part-time basis and during a very busy year, I worked on a REF panel while still delivering some of my duties at Lincoln. It was, again, a great experience. It greatly expanded my professional networks and gave me knowledge and expertise that is not only of value to me but of great value to my institution. This for me is the real value of secondments.

Seeing the value for individuals is the easy bit about secondments, in my opinion. As an institution, or a line manager, it is always a bit more difficult to let someone go on secondment, for fear that they would never return. Of course, that is a possibility, but it is also a possibility that someone leaves at any time, especially if they cannot find development routes in their institution. With a secondment, there is also the possibility that the secondee returns full of new skills and ideas, ready to energise and enhance the capabilities of your team!

Pilar Pousada Soliño, University of Lincoln

To find out more about the ARMA Secondments Project, click here.