Meet the finalists

Catherine Attenborough, senior business improvement consultant, Catalyst Housing

Catherine Attenborough, 36, is a senior business improvement consultant for 21,000-home Catalyst Housing in Ealing, west London. She lived in Australia for 12 years, graduating with a degree in communications from the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in 1999 before gaining a postgraduate diploma in psychology from the University of Melbourne. She joined Catalyst in 2007 as a quality and performance officer.

Why did you enter Rising Stars?

‘I’m really interested in how you can use social media to achieve business objectives so I saw the topic [entrants were asked how they would promote a career in housing to school leavers] as a fantastic opportunity to apply some of my thinking around how to use social media better and test it out.’

How would you promote a career in housing to school leavers?

‘For Millennials and generation Ys, sharing their daily lives with their friends on social media is as natural and instinctive as breathing, so my idea is to create exciting opportunities for young people to produce really great content that’s ripe for sharing and do this by providing them with first-hand experience of the housing sector.

‘I’d then provide an interactive platform on which they could share their content – a website – and support the site with an integrated social media campaign to drive traffic to the site. So, essentially I am looking to leverage the sharing and collaboration instinct that young people have to get them to promote a career in housing to each other.’

The judges’ view:

‘This is a very strong entry. We really like the fact Catherine thought about what would appeal to school leavers. We particularly like her video blog idea.’

Use the poll at the top of this page to vote for your favourite Rising Star

Peter Bond, tenancy management officer, Cosmopolitan Housing Association

Peter Bond, 33, is tenancy management officer for 2,500-home Cosmopolitan Housing Association in Liverpool – his first job in housing. After graduating in politics from the University of Liverpool in 2001, he worked in sales and financial services before joining Cosmopolitan in 2006. He completed, via distance learning, a postgraduate diploma in housing through the Chartered Institute of Housing and De Montfort University.

Why did you enter Rising Stars?

‘I think it’s really, really important that we promote the excellent work that’s done by front line staff across the sector.’

How would you promote a career in housing to school leavers?

‘The main point of my entry was that we should focus on the strengths of the sector, in that we can offer people jobs whereby they can really make a difference to people’s lives individually but also to communities as well.

‘My strategy was obviously underpinned by that ability, but it was [also] underpinned by initiatives such as creating young ambassadors, ring-fencing entry-level positions for school leavers, creating more opportunities to volunteer, pathway training courses and also the creation of a national candidate database for people who are interested in careers in housing…. What I [also] suggested was, possibly as a benefit of employment, offering a discount on the latest smart phones for employers to attract the best young candidates.’

The judges’ view:

‘There are some excellent ideas in Peter’s entry. We especially like the mobile phone point. The national candidate database idea is good too.’

Use the poll at the top of this page to vote for your favourite Rising Star

Sarah Morton, graduate mentoring officer, South Yorkshire Housing Association

Sarah Morton, 23, a graduate employment mentoring officer, joined 6,000-home South Yorkshire Housing Association in Sheffield last October. It is her first job in housing. She graduated in sociology and social policy from the University of Leeds in 2011 and then completed a masters in international development management at the University of Manchester. She is studying for the Chartered Institute of Housing Level 4 Certificate for the Housing Profession.

Why did you enter Rising Stars?

‘I’m really passionate about social housing because I think it has such a huge impact on people’s lives and it’s really over-arching. I’m really keen to carve out a career in the sector so I saw it as a great opportunity.’

How would you promote a career in housing to school leavers?

‘My main idea is to make use of schools and the fact that they have to teach citizenship to pupils. I think quite often citizenship is a subject that’s overlooked because maybe it’s not assessed and it doesn’t go towards the kind of qualifications that people are aiming for.

‘This presents an opportunity to housing associations and social housing to help teachers and get involved in citizenship lessons as a way to get people involved in social issues, communities, housing and the wider stuff that’s involved in our everyday jobs, and the reasons why we’re passionate about it. I suggested an application that identifies the perfect social housing role for the student by asking a series of questions.’

Judges’ view:

‘There’s some brilliant thinking here about what 16 to 18-year-olds want and how then to begin delivering this.’

Use the poll at the top of this page to vote for your favourite Rising Star