Our Culture
One Team
We are the product of multiple mergers over the years so we’ve got pretty good at coming together as one team.
Here you will feel supported by a network of like-minded colleagues who are passionate about their job and who put our students at the heart of everything we do.
Whether you teach or work within one of our support functions, we encourage you to get out, in front of students. You could even deliver a lesson!
We all have an impact on a student’s experience of college – whether we teach the lessons, keep the building clean and safe, process applications or enrolments, design advertising that attracts a student, or cook in our onsite cafes, we are all in this together.
Flexibility
We pride ourselves on our emphasis and promotion of a positive work-life balance. Happy staff mean happy students so your wellbeing is paramount.
We promote flexible working arrangements so that there are no barriers in your way to doing a fantastic job.
Over 50% of our workforce works part-time and many more work flexible hours so that they can care for children, other members of their family or pursue other interests.
Leadership
Leadership development is a key part of our training and development offer.
A lot of our colleagues hold a management or leadership qualification and more are scheduled to take up a course this year. Many of our managers started out their careers as a non-manager with us and we are proud of our track record in supporting our staff to develop and reach their potential, wherever they see their career taking them.
Community
The College’s work in the community is unprecedented.
We deliver hundreds of courses out in community venues, many free of charge, to adults who find themselves long-term unemployed, who need to upskill to meet the needs of the modern workplace or who need support to build confidence and rapport with like-minded people.
In addition, we take corporate social responsibility seriously too. Our staff are encouraged to take up volunteering and are offered one day a year to take time out from their job to give something back to the community by way of volunteering.
Diversity
Our strength as a college and as a workforce is our diversity. Our commitment to diversity is strengthened still by our regular cross-college OD and HR Committee and Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Committee, which take place monthly and ensure the College is proactive in embracing and celebrating our diversity in a number of fantastic initiatives that take place throughout the year.
What our staff say:
I joined the College in 2012 as Head of Marketing, PR and Communications. Since then I have had two children, now 2 and 4. In both cases, I was able to take a full year off work as maternity leave, with additional maternity pay, and with the full support of the College.
When I returned to work after my first born, the College were extremely understanding of my need for flexibility around childcare and as a result I returned to work with slightly reduced hours and start and finish times that enabled me to drop off and pick up from nursery.
When I returned to work after my second child was born, I was able to come back on a part-time basis, working four days a week, with tailored start and finish times to accommodate my childcare arrangements. The College demonstrates a real understanding of the pressures of raising two children and the flexibility that is required to support a new mother (and indeed fathers) coming back into the workplace. To retain my position within the organisation whilst working part-time has been a real plus for me – having two years out of work is a difficult situation to manage but the College proved its commitment to me as an individual and to all parents working here. I’m really proud to work for an organisation that offers so much support and flexibility for its staff. A good degree of trust is required to adopt policies of this kind and I definitely don’t take that for granted. I’m grateful for the role that I have within Nottingham College and the impact I can have on the student experience, and I’m grateful too for the time I have with my young family. A positive work-life balance is something that is very important to me, at this stage in my life and career and is not something I could have without the full support of my employer.
— Nottingham College’s Head of Marketing, PR and Communications