Management ambitions aided by housebuilder’s training scheme

With a long-term ambition for a management role in the UK’s housebuilding industry, trainee quantity surveyor Jemima Marsh is seeing her career path opening up thanks to a scheme run by her employer, Linden Homes.

20-year-old Jemima is on the company’s flexible Management Trainee Programme and studying for an HNC in Construction and the Built Environment at Guildford College.

“The team was really supportive when I suggested joining the Trainee Programme and upon starting it was ensured I was visiting development sites and getting the right kind of exposure straightaway,” she says. “The Linden Homes team is one that you can feel confident you will progress within, and my colleagues have continued to do everything to ensure I am supported and receiving the best guidance.”

Jemima got her three A Levels at Godalming College before gaining a role as a business administration apprentice in Linden Homes’ customer care team. Enjoying her first few months in the industry very much, she became sure that the housebuilding industry was where she wanted to build a career as a quantity surveyor and asked to join the Management Trainee Programme.

Participating in the scheme has broadened her knowledge a great deal. “Within my role in customer care, I learnt a huge amount about the industry and the business,” she says. “From liaising with the existing quantity surveying team as part of my customer care position, I discovered that the quantity surveyor job role really appealed to me and one that I wanted to gain experience in.

“I’m experiencing a very different side of the business and the housebuilding journey to that of my experiences in the customer care team. I love visiting sites to see the bigger picture and how the processes all come together. Combining that with the college course that Linden Homes is supporting me on is allowing me to learn everything at one go – but at my own pace, as per Linden’s flexible approach to training.”

Tom Nicholson, Linden Homes’ divisional chairman for the east region, believes the company’s approach to training is a strong one, saying: “It is great to see Jemima enjoying such a positive experience as part of the Trainee Programme. We are committed to helping young people into the industry, and we are seeing an increase of young women like Jemima embarking on their careers in the field.

“We take a case-by-case approach to all of our trainees, to ensure they are provided the right guidance and balance of education and on-the-job experience, to kick-start what will hopefully be a long and prosperous career for them in the sector.”