Howard Civil Engineering were proud to attend Wates Group’s Supply Chain event last week in support of their award-winning Building Futures programme. Our Health and Safety Advisor, Wanda Curtis, joined a multitude of other businesses in the industry to mock-interview fourteen adult job-seekers with a view to gain long-term employment opportunities for the candidates.

Wates Group’s Building Futures scheme is a two-week programme offering unemployed adults the opportunity to gain key skills needed in the construction industry and put themselves in front of potential employers. For some candidates, the Supply Chain mock-interview was the first time they had ever attended an interview, and feedback was exceptional.

Wanda spoke of the experience and commented on the talent of the individual candidates: ‘Whilst carrying out the interviews, it was interesting to hear the stories behind the individuals and what they have achieved up to that point in their lives. I was hoping to be able to identify a small number of new employees for our rapidly increasing pipeline of work, however I was delighted to find an overwhelming offering of both direct and transferable skills, knowledge and experience amongst the interviewees. It was an enlightening experience to see how something so small could create such a big impact to the lives of those on the scheme.’

We are looking forward to using this experience to aid our ability to grow our team and enhance the quality of our workforce both in our offices and on-site.

Howards Civil Engineering attended this event as part of our ongoing work with Wates Group delivering groundworks at their current York Inpatients Facility site. Read more about this project here.