Higgins’ Management Trainee Programme offers school leavers an alternative to university
Posted 19/12/2023
With the deadline fast approaching for students to apply for university places, Higgins Group is offering school leavers an alternative through its Management Trainee Programme.
The ‘Building Your Future’ Programme was created to identify young talent to work and develop careers within the construction industry and built environment. It has been designed so that during term time trainees spend four days a week working on site or in head office and the remaining day spent at an industry accredited University studying for a construction related BSc (Hons) degree.
What makes Higgins degree apprenticeship programme stand out from other industry programmes is the opportunity to get a taste for a number of core disciplines, such as commercial, pre-construction, production and technical before deciding on a discipline to specialise in.
Amy Reynolds, Director of ESG at Higgins Partnerships comments, “Apprenticeships offer individuals an opportunity to gain experience working in a professional environment whilst obtaining a degree, without the additional pressure of student debt.
“We also know it can be difficult to decide on a career path when you finish school, so we have designed our programme to give individuals the opportunity to gain experience in different departments within the business before deciding the route they wish to take. This allows them to get a real insight as well as learn new skills.”
The programme is fully funded and allows individuals the opportunity to ‘earn while they learn’ without the burden of student debt once their course is completed. Trainees also earn competitive salaries, benefiting from performance based annual pay rises and are enrolled into a pension scheme.
Trainees are also part of Higgins’ mentoring programme whereby a senior employee provides individual guidance on their career as well as assistance with their studies.
Grace joined Higgins’ Management Trainee Programme in September 2023. She says, “I love seeing the whole process of building new homes and what goes into it. This is definitely the best route as you are able to put what you learn at university into practice, and it really broadens your knowledge and understanding. Everyone has been so supportive and happy to help me wherever they can.”
Jake also joined the programme in September 2023. From an early age he had an interest in the industry and studied Construction Management at college. He knew he wanted to start working rather than university so searched the Government website for apprenticeships before discovering the Higgins opportunity.
Jake says “It really appealed to me as I wasn’t 100% sure which area of construction I initially wanted to go into, so the rotations give me a broad understanding of each discipline. I am really enjoying the programme and have initially started in production. Being based on site is great as I can put what I have learnt into practice.”
Amy Reynolds continues, “At Higgins we recognise the importance of young potential and the acute need to encourage more people into the construction industry. Our programme provides the building blocks for management trainees to advance to senior levels of management and directorship within the Group.”
A successful applicant must have a minimum of 3 A levels (or equivalent) at C or above to the join the BSc course, good communication skills, computer literate in Word and Excel and enthusiasm and a willingness to learn.
The deadline for applications is 11th February 2024. Apply here.