About the program
The WA Health Graduate Development Program (GDP) attracts well-rounded graduates who seek a dynamic and highly advantageous introduction to a career in WA Health as part of the WA public sector’s "A Place of Opportunity” Program (external site). Annually, the GDP attracts graduates with diverse skills from a wide variety of academic backgrounds, all of whom share an interest in health, and are passionate about contributing to continuous improvement of the health system and community health outcomes.
The Program runs for 18 months, commencing in January each year.
Program streams
The WA Health Graduate Development Program (GDP) has 4 program streams designed to develop your skills based on your academic background, areas of expertise and personal interests. These Program streams include:
- Finance and business – for finance and business analyst graduates interested in accounting, legislation, compliance, policies and business improvement.
- ICT – for graduates interested in business analysis, solutions architecture and application design and development.
- Public health/health (formerly general corporate) – for all other disciplines where your talents could be used anywhere across the health care system.
- Data analytics and information management – for graduates interested in how data can contribute to health service planning.
Program benefits
Work life balance
Flexible working arrangements can be negotiated to suit you and your work unit. This may involve taking time off due to working overtime hours.
Work experience
During your time in the Graduate Development Program, you will participate in three 6 month placements across the health system giving you a unique insight into corporate, policy and operational areas including health system reform, strategic planning, research, analysis and evaluation, project management, program development, public health/health promotion, and workforce and business planning.
Depending on the Graduate Stream that you are employed within, these placements can be tailored to your interests and strengths. Choose your own adventure!
For more information about the types of projects you might undertake, have a read of our Graduate Focus 2019 edition (PDF 3MB), Graduate Focus 2020 edition (PDF 7MB) and Graduate Focus 2021 edition (PDF 8.3MB), Graduate Focus 2022 edition (PDF 11MB).
Support
Graduates with WA Health are supported every step of the way in their personal and professional development.
- Mentors: These are experienced staff selected from within WA Health to provide you with career support and enhance your program experience.
- Buddy: These are past graduates of the program who provide you with peer-level support.
- Placement supervisors: Supervisors oversee your work programs, manage your performance and assist with your learning.
- Program coordinator: This is the first point of contact for everyone involved in the program.
In addition to the above, people with disability will be provided with appropriate adjustments and/or support in the workplace.
Networking opportunities
Graduate networking and learning group: This group provides you with an opportunity to develop peer support relationships, and to share with and learn from each other’s experiences in WA Health.
Read more about the many additional benefits in working at WA Health.