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Alysha BurrellAlysha is the Founder and Director of Building Future Leaders and a Board Member of Southdown Housing Association and the Chartered I ...more
Essay competition aims to help the housing sector attract and retain new young recruits
To mark National Careers Week, CIH Futures is launching a prize for young people with the chance to win a paid placement at Homes England. Alysha Burrell explains more
As the housing sector battles to attract young talent, as a result of the perceived unexciting job roles and a poor industry image, which is stereotypically seen as old fashioned and male dominated, it is important that the sector adopts its approach to attracting and retaining new young recruits. The CIH Futures National Essay Competition aims to do just that.
The initiative offers an innovative and exciting way to get more young people thinking about pursuing a career in housing through the diverse range of essay questions, which aims to showcase that the sector is not just about bricks and mortar.
By emphasising the social purpose of the sector and simply asking young people for their ideas around issues that matter to them, such as climate change, it is hoped that the competition will open up a new dialogue and understanding around the diversity of roles in the sector that has a positive impact on people’s lives and the communities in which they live.
We aim to achieve this by actively promoting the competition within academic institutions, which should capture the attention of those who do not only study the traditional housing and construction degrees.
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Improving the diversity of those entering the housing sector matters. By targeting those aged between 18 and 25, the competition aims to purposefully attract not just students but also apprentices and those who may be looking for a career change.
The prize is also designed for a diverse audience, as participants apply and get involved in the competition knowing that in return they have the fantastic opportunity to improve their professional development by making new connections, develop new skills and learn more about the sector through securing an internship or insight day.
Running this competition is also intended to inspire the people who apply and those who don’t but come across the competition to consider applying for permanent job roles in the housing sector – an industry they may never have considered.
For CIH Futures this is extremely important because ultimately the sector needs our energy and innovative ideas to ensure it both has a viable future and reflects society as a whole.
Alysha Burrell, assistant portfolio manager, Homes England; and board member, CIH Futures
CIH Futures National Essay competition 2020
The CIH Futures' National Essay Competition is a new project intended to attract young people into the housing sector. It is launched to co-incide with National Career's Week 2020 (2 - 6 March)
The competition, which is aimed at 18-25 year olds across the UK aims to raise the profile of housing as a career of choice and increase the number of young people engaged with the sector.
Participants are required to write a 1,000 word essay from one of five questions. The questions, which range from whether the lack of affordable housing is the main cause of homelessness to whether the design of homes impacts on mental health, are aimed at what young people care about, whilst gathering young people’s creative and original ideas of how they would tackle some of the challenges facing the sector.
The winner will be offered a paid summer internship at Homes England, along with a year-long CIH membership subscription, while runners up will have the opportunity to attend an insight day at one of Homes England’s offices to learn more about Homes England, what a career in housing can involve and the different career routes available.
All 10 selected competition finalists will be invited to attend Housing 2020, the CIH annual conference and exhibition in Manchester on 25 June, where the winner and runners up will be announced.
The deadline for entries is 28 April.
