Developing Employability Skills in Sussex
We are committed to improving the lives of residents in the areas we work in and our programme of work experience placements enable local young people to experience the world of work.
Osborne Property Services have been supporting Optivo with their ‘Build Yourself’ programme where unemployed young people are taught painting and decorating skills whilst refurbishing a community centre. The participants can also look to gain a CSCS card to kick start their construction careers.
The most recent programme took place at the Mencap centre in St Leonards on Sea, where the team renovated one of the many communal spaces. We popped along throughout the placement, working with the participants and also provided a mock interview workshop.
At the end of the programme, everyone was presented with a decorating tool kit which had kindly been donated from Jewsons. On completion, one of the young people joined us for a two-week work placement at our offices in St Leonards on Sea. Owen, who lives in the local area, completed a site safety induction to start the week, followed by shadowing the call centre, planners to give him a better understanding of how the jobs are scheduled and received our end.
He then spent the rest of his first week working alongside our supply chain Giles Oliver, carrying out painting and decorating tasks in void properties. In the second week, Owen spent time with our plasterers, carrying out a variety of small repair and maintenance tasks.
On Owen’s last day, he was presented with a certificate, and said: “I had a great experience working with Osborne, Giles Oliver and their employees. I enjoyed my time and found it really interesting understanding how everything works within the businesses. For someone like me who has never worked within a proper company before, it was a great experience and have given me experience of what to expect when I get into work”.
We wish Owen the best of luck for his future, and look forward to having more placements in East Sussex soon.
