Jawaad has worked in Team NWAS in his role for almost four years. Before joining us in May 2019, Jawaad was working as an assistant manager at a fast-food restaurant chain.

Rewind back to November 2017 when Jawaad attended a 999 emergency services careers fair at the Ghazali Trust in Oldham. He met our Positive Action Officer, Kairen Smith who was there raising awareness of opportunities in frontline roles across our services. After long conversations with Kairen and the paramedic supporting the event, Jawaad decided that he wanted to pursue his dream of working in healthcare.

Hi Jawaad, was there something in your previous career that made you realise healthcare was for you?

“One day in my previous role, an elderly gentleman was ordering a meal. I noticed he was very out of breath, clammy and struggling to stay on his feet. I invited him to sit down whilst I followed him to ensure he did not fall or cause any harm to himself and provided a bottle of water to help him rehydrate. I stayed with the gentleman, and he recovered fully. He was grateful for the assistance. It was after this incident that I could see myself working within healthcare.”

How did you begin the process of applying?

“I was interested in the EMT1 apprenticeship position and so Kairen sent me some information and guidance which really helped me with completing the supporting information on the application.

“When I received an invitation to an interview, Kairen further helped me with this and provided pointers on how to approach questions and answer them using keywords. I was given the STAR model (Situation, Task, Action, Result) to aid me in structuring my answers and how I could use real-life examples to set up a scene/scenario for the interviewers to imagine. Kairen really supported me throughout the application and interview process.”

Tell us what your experience has been like so far?

“I was successful at the interview and started training as an EMT1 apprentice, I became fully qualified in August 2021.

“It has been a great experience meeting new people with all kinds of knowledge and experience who assist you along the way. I have worked alongside many colleagues and been to a variety of incidents from helping to bring a life into this world to the unfortunate task of notifying the loss of a family member. Within these incidents, people have been grateful for easing their nerves, providing humour and preventing major incidents from prematurely ending their lives.

“I always have had a family-orientated upbringing and NWAS seemed to be a giant green family. No matter where you are in the country, in your uniform other colleagues from different ambulance services will recognise you and treat you like a member of their family. As I have spent more time in the service it continues to grow like family.”

Jawaad is now an ambassador for the trust supporting the Positive Action and Widening Access Team at events to promote our careers. His goal is to progress and become a qualified paramedic within the next three to five years and is currently planning to apply for the paramedic degree apprenticeship. He would also like to work with the Air Ambulance Service in the future. He continues: “I do not regret changing my career and opening further doors for future development.”