29 Jun2016
Housebuilding Technical Jobs
Shoosh.. they’re all working.
When I worked in housebuilding, I’d walk into the technical department and it was like a library. Sometimes you could hear a pin drop. As you can imagine, a Sales & Marketing office is quite the opposite. Noisy achievers, telling everyone they’ve just made a sale or a contract had exchanged – bells ringing and a party atmosphere. Technical was very different. The Director at the time was one of those flowery types, a keen eye for architectural elements and making things look pretty. Along the corridor was another quiet character, an engineer. He was very straight-forward, he left the flowery details to the director, whilst concentrating on saving money, through value engineering.
The Technical department was quite dull I felt. I guess it has to be to make sure that everything fits together, so my distractions were probably frowned upon. It’s a real shame that around the time of working there, a product was launched. It was a polystyrene disc firing gun. I bought several and armed my team with them especially for the technical dept. I remember frequently disrupting their silence with an attack by small discs travelling through the air sometimes connecting with the bods in technical, finally settling on all desks ! Not something you forget in a hurry.
It was fun. A moment of disruption to break the silence.
I’ve been headhunting for 14 years this year and I often have the pleasure of finding Technical people with varying degrees of experience. The first question I ask at interview is; “have you ever been bombarded with small circular polystyrene disks?” It breaks the ice and my candidates are put at ease, before I launch into their experience and why they should consider a particular role.
If nothing else, it gives me a chance to re-live those days. Understanding how departments work is really important for me, as I need to ensure that whoever is required to join a business, they must fit in.
I’m currently hoping to attract a couple of Senior Technical Coordinators to a business in Hampshire. All of my assignments are retained and exclusive, so I’m paid to search and meet everyone, shortlist and present to my client.
If you’re working in Technical for a Housebuilding business or a consultancy, I’d like to hear from you, even if you’re not ready to make a move yet.
My relationships with candidates are life-long, not job-long. I can help suggest ideas that accelerate your career and I consider the environment and culture very carefully before recommending an opportunity.
In fact, the same applies to every role in Housebuilding. I understand them all. I will have questions no one else will ask you and you’ll appreciate my candid approach.
I look forward to speaking and meeting soon.
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