Wayne - Camden Careers

I came here from the private sector

Before joining Camden I always enjoyed working in recruitment but pre pandemic the culture was always about being in the office 5 days a week with little flexibility around working hours and childcare. I appreciate the landscape has significantly changed these past couple of years and most recruitment agencies now offer excellent flexible working packages, but it just shows how ahead of the game Camden were… and still are.

When I joined Camden, it was like a weight had been lifted.

There is a perception that working for a council is like going back in time, lots of red tape to get through with very few dynamic people. Well, you couldn’t be further from the truth. We have a modern head office based in the heart of Kings Cross, technology to ensure we can work from anywhere, visionary leadership and colleagues who are committed to make a difference.

It’s a really family-focused place to work. I have two young children and my wife and I both work full time, the flexibility Camden promotes is vital to ensuring a happy home while also getting the best version of me at work.

Our rebellious spirit puts us so far ahead.

Camden have a reputation for being cutting edge and leading the way with new initiatives, not least in recruitment. Camden are committed to creating an organisation where our end-to-end recruitment processes are fair and unbiased and this is reflected in our candidates and final appointment decisions.

We are only part way through our journey but we have made numerous positive changes already including but not exclusive to; introducing anonymised recruitment, diverse interview panels and updating our policies and procedures.

Whatever the initiative, we’ll give it a go. If it doesn’t work, we’ll try something else.

We never say never. It’s all: “What can we do with this? How can we make it work?” Everyone’s opinion is welcomed. We don’t always agree of course, but it’s good, because everyone has a voice, everyone is heard and everyone’s passionate. Everyone really cares. 

The support here is like nothing I’ve ever experienced. Colleagues go out of their way to help.

Before I was promoted to my current position, I told a couple of people I was interested in applying. They went out of their way to help me, pointing me in the right direction ensuring I focused on the qualities and skills that would benefit my application. They gave up their time, which I found very humbling as they didn’t gain anything from helping me... they just wanted to help.

The thing I love about Camden is I see this kind of generosity all the time. We’re a good bunch

I definitely see my future here in Camden.

There are opportunities to go anywhere. There’s always a chance to try something different. If you want to keep progressing, the possibilities are here.