“I am now responsible for the coordination of a fantastic team and the delivery of up to 25 testing sessions a week, across five campuses, and seven halls of residence.”
Graduating in June 2020 was certainly daunting as I was faced with media headlines predicting a recession ‘worse than 2007’ or ‘as great as 1929’ – depending on who you chose to believe. What everyone did agree on was that 2020 was not a good year for job seekers!
In September, I stumbled upon an opportunity to become a COVID-19 test facilitator – a casual worker for Imperial responsible for the running of the COVID-19 Asymptomatic Test and Trace project. I quickly applied, keen to put my newfound (and extensive) free time to some meaningful use.
A month after I joined, I successfully applied for the position of Test Facilitation Coordinator. I am now responsible for the coordination of a fantastic team of nine test facilitators, and the delivery of up to 25 testing sessions a week, across five campuses, and seven halls of residence.
I help to prepare test schedules, track the stock that we need to administer the tests, and help the test facilitators to deal with any problems that come up in the testing sessions. Some work does require me to be on campus, but I can also work from home.
The work of the test team and the contact tracing team has been fundamental to keeping students and staff who need to be on campus safe. Therefore, we are grateful that despite ‘test fatigue’, almost 500 of you put yourselves through a self-swab COVID-19 test, every day.
Together, we are (hopefully!) creating an environment in which you can feel happy and comfortable coming to work.
I love sports, and I really like learning new things. Over the last lockdown, I have traded in the gym for a pair of roller skates! While progress is slow, I’m committed to doing a little bit every day, particularly after a long day working from home.
Accurate during February 2021.