Pioneering social landlord Platform Housing Group is setting the tone with its Trainee Board development programme for young professionals and is looking to recruit new members in 2023.
Following work with the Chartered Institute of Housing, Platform launched its very first Trainee Board Programme two years ago and recruited four young, driven, and passionate people: Neelam Heera, Kaeden Bunting, Remi Turton and Edd Hall.
The initiative and the way in which Platform developed the programme has attracted real attention from the likes of recruitment executives in diverse female leadership and leaders within the housing sector. It’s been celebrated as a great success and recently, Chief Executive, Elizabeth Froude, was asked to impart her knowledge and experience at a leadership seminar.
Elizabeth explained the reasoning behind why Platform has a trainee board,
“After struggling to recruit diversity onto our Board, we decided to recruit diversity and then give the individuals the training that brought them the Board skills they’d need. Each Trainee has a buddy, a Board member who mentors them throughout the programme and we rotate the trainees around all of our Board Committees meaning that they get to see the varied technical areas of the business, giving them two years of experience, they can put on their CV’s.”
Elizabeth Froude, Chief Executive of Platform
“The benefit to us as a business means that we can offer them a permanent place on some of our subcommittees to give them some depth. It’s great to see a passion and desire and we’re pleased to be able to help shape them for the future no matter who they work for; recruit the people and not the destination of where you want them to go”.
Trainee Board member Kaeden Bunting, and social housing tenant told us about the opportunities that have been made available to him and how Platform has supported his personal and professional growth,
“Being on the trainee board and being a social housing tenant, I’ve had a unique and exciting opportunity to understand how a social landlord operates and improve my knowledge about its inner workings. One thing for me that stands out from my experience is that Platform created a fantastic learning environment right from the outset. All trainee board members were provided with training and tailored personal development plans to develop us professionally for our future careers. For instance, I gained crucial chairing skills and undertook CIH training too”
Kaeden Bunting, Trainee Board member
Adding to this, fellow trainee board member Edd Hall stated
“Platform has given me the time to gradually learn how a board conduct’s its business and enabled me to ask questions that others may not necessarily be thinking. This has really helped me understand how different areas of the business work, from treasury management to compliance.”
Edd Hall
Following this roaring success Platform Housing Group will be looking to recruit the next cohort of trainee board members later this year.
