Ongoing Success for Chris – Ryearch’s ‘Building Plymouth’ Trainee

Ryearch is a key sponsor of Building Plymouth, a Plymouth City Council-led partnership enabling construction stakeholders in the region to overcome the skills shortages facing the local construction and built environment sector, and providing people with career opportunities accordingly. To support the project, Ryearch has developed a programme to deliver construction focused work experience and taster sessions for candidates which include:

• one-day and week-long placements to learn trade skills including brick laying and carpentry
• experience of civil engineering and general construction projects on live sites
• interview skills training and development

Building Plymouth is particularly focused on giving opportunities to those who are long-term unemployed or who face other employment barriers, and has close links with the Royal Marines Charity, the Princes Trust and the Shekinah Mission. One of the candidates nominated to Ryearch, Chris, had been unemployed for eight years and was keen to get into the construction industry.  Having completed a six-week Re:construct training course through the Shekinah Mission, Chris had achieved a Level One qualification in construction skills and a CSCS card. Following an interview training session with Ryearch’s Managing Director, Mark Wildman, Chris was offered a work placement on our construction site in Newton Ferrers, Parsonage Road.  He quickly proved to be an asset to the team and was initially offered a PLUSS traineeship of sixteen hours per week.  However, the site team continued to be impressed by Chris and his hours were soon topped up to a full-time salary. Mark Wildman, Ryearch’s Managing Director, said:

“The skills training and mock interview sessions we held for Chris were aimed at boosting his confidence and skills.  However, his determination and positive attitude came across so well during both the placement and interview, it led to a genuine job offer being made.”

A real success story for the Building Plymouth project and Shekinah Mission, Chris has now been a valuable part of the Ryearch team for over a year.  He has achieved sustained and fulfilling employment, as well as improved self-esteem, health and wellbeing. Another project that Ryearch has partnered with Building Plymouth on, is the adoption of Eggbuckland Community College as part their Adopt a School initiative.