Grow Our Own success as trainees secure full-time positions

18 months on from the creation of the Grow Our Own programme, Elliot Danby and Isaac Parr have become the first trainees to secure full-time roles with Wales & West Housing.

Having joined in May 2021, Elliot & Isaac have been working full time roles in the Data team, learning more about the job, the organisation, and the housing sector.

Trainees attend bespoke additional training days as part of the programme. The focus of each training day is different, but all with the same aim of improving their knowledge, skills, and experience. These training days have ranged from traditional, classroom-based training on topics such as emotional intelligence to site visits across Wales.

All of this has culminated in both securing full time positions with Wales & West Housing.

Isaac, Data Analyst, said “The best thing about the Grow Our Own programme is the opportunity that it provides.”

“Coming out of university, it can be tough to get a job and get that first foot on the career ladder. It’s also difficult to really know what type of career you want, so getting real world experience, working 40 hours a week for a year and a half has really helped cement this career in my mind.”

“This is something that I’m interested in, and I really want to keep on doing – I’m so happy I secured a full-time position with Wales & West Housing so I’m now able to do just that with an organisation I’ve really enjoyed working for!”

Elliot, Information Systems Officer, secured a role in a different team to the one he spent his graduate programme in. He said “As part of the program we attend Grow Our Own training days. It not only gives us a chance to touch base with other trainees but allows us to spend time with other departments that we might not have an immediate connection with. The training days have also given us the opportunity to visit our North and West Wales offices, and we’ve also had the opportunity to visit Wales & West Housing development sites.”

“Gaining broad exposure of the organisation definitely helped when I applied for my current full-time position.”

Carly Hodson, Career Development Manager, was responsible for setting up the programme and building bespoke training for the trainees.

“The Grow Our Own program enables our trainees to launch their career without the need for any previous working experience. We provide a real job, a competitive salary, whilst providing practical work and experience. We provide a structured program which is well supported giving our trainees the opportunities to experience different departments whilst getting a feel for various roles. It is a chance for them to discover the kind of work they find most rewarding.”

“Elliot & Isaac have grown and developed hugely since first joining us and they’re now embedded into the organisation, and they fit in really well. You can just see their confidence growing every day. So, it’s been really great that they’ve been able to secure full time positions with us.”

Find out more about Grow Our Own here.