A group of girl guides from Leyland are feeling inspired after taking part in our careers evening.
8th Leyland St James Guides, based in the Moss Side area of Leyland, joined a team from our Buckshaw-village based Lancashire division at Worden Gardens for an evening of careers guidance and inspiration.
The Guides were joined by Lancashire’s sales director Sian Pitt, area sales manager Amy Bates and Natasha Holt and Jasmine Parker who are currently undertaking the housebuilder’s graduate scheme.
Sian Pitt said the aim of the evening was to offer an insight into the different careers within the construction sector that the girls could aim for when they leave school.
She explained: “As a company, Redrow values the younger generation and provides a number of channels to help them to kickstart their career in the industry, including our graduate programme and apprenticeships.
“We particularly would like to encourage more girls to consider a career in construction. We have a number of strong female role models at Redrow Lancashire, including our managing director Claire Jarvis, which shows youngsters that it’s a career that’s accessible to everyone. Women are still underrepresented in the sector as a whole and, although that is changing, more work still needs to be done.
“It’s really important to reach children before they get to school leaving age even if it’s just to make them aware of what opportunities are out there and to hear from people who have been through the process and are thriving.”
Earlier this year, we shared our annual report on attitudes toward apprenticeships and careers in construction. It revealed that 42% of young people say they are now more likely to consider on the job learning such as an apprenticeship in the wake of Covid-19.
It also revealed that more than a third (36%) of young people are concerned about their job prospects since the onset of the pandemic, and routes that combine working and education have a greater appeal.
However, gender differences are still apparent among young people with females remaining less likely to consider a role in the construction sector. Just 20% of women said that a career in construction is a possibility for them vs more than a third of men (36%), and young men are nearly twice as likely to say their parents think a career in construction is a good opportunity for them (44% vs 26% of women).
Ashleigh Bimpson, a leader in training at 8th Leyland St James Guides said: “We think the girls have really benefited from everything Redrow spoke about during the evening. It opened their eyes to all the roles within housebuilding as well as finding out about a whole variety of women who are part of the team. It gave them a drive and understanding that women can have successful careers in the world of construction, and they came away very happy after it. They also have lots of information on Redrow’s apprenticeship and graduate schemes so they can have this in mind when they come to leave school.”
We had previously linked up with the Guides when they applied to the housebuilder’s community fund that was linked with the launch of Worden Gardens. We received a donation that we used towards purchasing tents so the group could enjoy camping trips.
At any one time we have around 250 apprentices in England and Wales learning one of the key housing trades, including bricklaying, plumbing, joinery, electrics and groundworks, as well as administration and technical roles within the office.
Our apprenticeship programme is just one element of our commitment to nurturing talent and inspiring the next generation to build. We also run a number of graduate training programmes and have launched our own Construction Management in Housebuilding sponsored degree programme run in conjunction with Liverpool John Moores University and Coleg Cambria.
For more about career opportunities with us and how to apply go to www.redrowcareers.co.uk
