Careering forward with Sovereign

5 March 2019 

With Apprenticeship Week and Careers Week both running this week, 4-9 March 2019, Sovereign Housing Association is celebrating its apprentices across the business with a series of case studies, showing the wide variety of opportunities available to those keen to learn a new trade and forge a new profession.

More than 40 out of 61 current Sovereign apprentices, trainees and improvers  will meet at Bournemouth Football Club on Wednesday 6 March to share their experiences so far, and hear more from those who are working their way through the organisation, enjoying different career journeys.

From adult learner plumber Harry, to new kid on the block Lewis, who’s learning the ropes as a tiler aged just 17, apprentices at Sovereign are recruited for their values as well as their promising talents. Rather than just being recruited for prior experience or academic qualifications, skilful and diverse recruits all demonstrate that they’re really putting in the energy, enthusiasm and passion needed to ‘get things done’.

Sovereign has also been working hard over the last year to boost the recruitment of women in its trades teams.

Liane Sheppard, Operations Director (East), said: “We’re proud of the work we do to help apprentices and adult trainees to be able to have an amazing career in housing. We’re also very pleased that our trade workforce is 3% female - well over the national average of 1%. But we’re not stopping there - over the next three years we want women to make up 4% of our adult trainees, and 6% of our apprentices. That means at least 6% of our tradespeople will be female by 2022.

“With recruitment for our apprenticeships opening in April 2019, we’re particularly focusing on trade careers and how we attract the skilled people we need to look after our 57,000 homes. We aim grow our organisation, building nearly 10,000 homes over the next five years and we need a large cohort of people to take care of those homes.”

As well as apprenticeships, Sovereign works with a number of schools across its geography, supporting events, talks and interactive learning sessions, including the recent ‘Guess my job’ event at Chiltern Primary School in Basingstoke and work experience for Carl and Bailey at Dove House School.

To arrange school work experience, taster days, open days or invite Sovereign to take a stand at an education fair, just call the organisation’s contact centre on 0300 5000 926 or email contact@sovereign.org.uk