Work experience for students over summer holidays

At Thakeham, we are committed to Building Future Generations as part of our social value strategy. As Cornerstone Employers within the Coast to Capital LEP, we were delighted to offer work experience to three students over their summer holiday.

Building future generations

One of the students was Ben. Ben begun his work experience placement with us with an interest in the duties of a site manager, with the end goal to have a deeper understanding if this would be his chosen career path. At Thakeham, we were very excited to get Ben stuck in to the heart of the action and facilitate his curiosity as he worked closely with one of our site managers to experience the day-to-day responsibilities.

Ben, commented: “I approached the week with little knowledge of what it’s like or what it takes to become a site manager. I was surprised and reassured by the community feel and friendliness around site, despite the perhaps ‘unglamourous’ picture most people stereotype a construction site being”.

Supporting young talent

We realise the importance of supporting young people to kickstart their careers, to help give them the experiences they need to carry forwards and open up new opportunities in the future.

Upon Ben’s reflection of his time with us, he said: “Thakeham’s work experience will play a crucial role in procuring the next steps on my path into the construction industry. During a time where all other work experience opportunities may have a sense of sanitisation, a low level of responsibility is given in case of error and may instead occur across virtual platforms. Thakeham have gone above and beyond to safely locate me on their current largest development and allow me to gain experience firsthand through some of their most senior employees who deal in my desired line of work.”

We asked Ben for his final thoughts on his experience, rather heartwarmingly his response was: “After today, I will begin preparing my CV for apprenticeship applications in site/construction management… and I will dream of a successful career in the industry”.

Each student rated their experience with us as ‘excellent’, ranging from support and information from the team, quality of the activities and inspiration for their futures.

Recently, we also backed a local teenage entrepreneur by commissioning him to produce handmade wooden tableware to display in showhomes. Click here to read more.

Careers at Thakeham

As a growing business, we are constantly rolling out new and exciting opportunities. We believe that our employees are key to our business, having engaged, motivated and happy employees is very important to us and a measure of our success. If you would like to find out more about working with us, please click here.