Sam Knight, group HR director of MJ Gleeson plc, offers valuable advice on how to progress a career in housebuilding, and insight to employers about retaining their talented team members.
Housebuilding is an extremely rewarding industry to be part of. Being able to contribute to building local communities and much-needed new build housing means that you are making a real difference. Particularly at an affordable housebuilder like Gleeson Homes, we are able to help first-time buyers take their first steps on to the housing ladder and avoid the renting trap.
The industry is comprised of a wide range of different roles, with a rich and diverse array of disciplines which enables the sector to provide housing to the country. When considering the government’s new housing targets of building 1.5 million new homes in this Parliament, it’s an extremely exciting, if sometimes challenging, time to be part of this important industry.
Getting a foot in the door – how to shine in a recruitment process
Leading the HR function of MJ Gleeson plc, which comprises housebuilder Gleeson Homes and land promoter Gleeson Land, I am very involved in a high volume of recruitment. We receive a lot of applications, every single day.
For those looking to enter the industry, or seeking a new role in housebuilding, my advice is always to ensure that you thoroughly understand the role that you are applying for, apply your skills and experience to the position and evidence why you are well suited to it. It’s critical to think of the skills and competencies that an employer or recruiter will be searching for in a certain role, and ensure your CV evidence all of those skills.
Producing a good CV for an application is critical, it must be concise; no more than two pages where possible, and effectively and concisely communicate the candidate’s experience, it must not be vague or ambiguous and should showcase a range of different achievements where possible. This can be challenging, but it’s important to get it right to stand out to an employer in a competitive employment market.
However, in terms of recruitment, the CV is only half the battle, with the next challenge being the interview process, where candidates must demonstrate and expand upon their skills and experience. It is usually quite easy to spot excellent candidates from the offset at an interview, with those who have over-inflated their experience or achievements on their CV becoming obvious.
My advice to applicants is always to remember that the interview is your opportunity to shine showcase the range and breadth of your experience by giving different examples and scenarios where possible and remember what competencies the interviewer is looking for. It can often help to prepare a list of points you would want the interviewer to take away from the meeting, your achievements, skills and points of pride, and make sure you include these in the conversation.
Recognition and culture
Once an applicant is successful, and they’ve joined the business the employer’s responsibility is to consider how they retain, incentivise and inspire employees effectively.
The key word for me is ‘recognition’ – it is at the heart of our culture at Gleeson and is crucial to building a happy and motivated workforce. Every role presents its own pitfalls and challenges, but a company needs to support a culture of recognition to ensure that employees feel valued, and know that they are recognised for their own unique contribution.
This can be done in a number of ways. We have a range of schemes in place at Gleeson aimed at ensuring our people are recognised and, ultimately, content.
An important element of this is engaging regularly with employees to check in, see how they are feeling and overcoming any issues and asking what they would find beneficial. A check-in in the first month the employee’s employment and ongoing touch points at regular intervals provide great insight, which has led to improvements and new initiatives being launched, such as a fantastic new rewards scheme that we introduced based on feedback received last year.
The scheme is called “Gleestar of the Month”, a peer-to-peer recognition scheme where our team can nominate colleagues they believe have made an outstanding contribution. This is followed by our Annual Recognition Awards, where we recognise colleagues in categories including Site of the Year, Gleestar of the Year, Outstanding Contribution and Rising Star of the Year. What pleases me most about this is that we consistently receive a high number of nominations across all areas of the business, evidencing the fact that our employees are engaged. It elicits a real sense of pride, team spirit and camaraderie among the team.
Pride and recognition really is the key here, and in so many other things we do at Gleeson to ensure the team feel rewarded and acknowledged for their work. It’s a great way to celebrate our achievements, and for the management team to thank them for what they do.
I am confident that our culture at Gleeson is really inclusive, as shown by our consistently outstanding engagement scores, and recognition plays an important role within this.
So, whether you’re at the beginning of a current or potential career in construction, or a more experienced leader keen to motivate your team and drive engagement and pride in the role, there are important lessons to takeaway. Together, we can help build a thriving industry contributing to society in the way we all know it is capable of.
