Head of Delivery for the Resilience and Recovery Directorate at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
Class of 2021 graduate Ross Yates entered the Civil Service Fast Stream programme upon graduation. After two years on the Civil Service Fast Stream, he has recently started a new position as Head of Delivery for the Resilience and Recovery Directorate at the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities.
What advice do you have for students hoping to study in ULMS?
Where possible, prioritise an interest and passion for the subject, having strong motivation will help your development more than anything.
What did working on the Fast Stream programme involve?
It involved rotating through different Project Delivery roles in different Government Departments. My first role was a Project Manager in HMRC where I was part of a transformation programme, focused on applying certain policies across IT systems.
As a Project Manager, there is no requirement to have technical IT knowledge, instead, my role focused on the planning and coordination of delivering change. I really enjoyed the Project Management aspect, as it allowed me to use an array of different skills each day, from stakeholder engagement and working with suppliers to analysing risks and budgeting.
How did your time with ULMS prepare you for your current role?
I found that my course (Business Economics with a Year in Industry) really prepared me with many of the key skills that have helped me with the transition into my role. Most importantly, my Year in Industry gave me a strong foundation in a lot of the competencies that I use each day.
The wide range of modules I studied has given me a great depth of understanding across many topics and has built on a range of different skills that I use regularly.