Q&A round-up: how to progress your career in housing

Janet Goode is director of customer services at Housing Plus Group There are some graduate schemes to draw young talent into the sector. In the Midlands in 2009, several housing associations worked with the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) to recruit four graduates in to HCA & West Midlands Graduate Academy. The CIH provide good expertise on how graduates can get in the housing sector. Look closely at the values of the organisations you are applying for. Increasingly recruiters are seeking a strong affinity with their values. Relating your work experience to demonstrate you understand these values should get you through an assessment stage. In the current climate, consultancy is the best area to look for employment in sustainable housing. Until funding issues are resolved, most career prospects in sustainable housing will be based around consultancy. Matt Lewis is business director at Hays Social Housing There will be opportunities in housing policy in the future. Changes are being driven by both regulatory change and the financial constraints facing us all so most organisations are reviewing what they do and how with big implications for policy. To progress, map out your core competencies and those you want to develop. Marry up your aspirations against the core competencies you have developed in your various roles such as interpersonal skills and the ability to build working relationships. You then need to be able to cite some examples of where you have used these skills best. Get in contact with a senior or experienced figure in the sector. If they are able to give you some of their time and steer you in the right direction, you will benefit from their experience and be able to tap into their network. Jill Allcoat is the membership development manager at the Chartered Institute of Housing Have a plan of where you want to be and by when. You can then start to put all the steps into place to help you get there. Sharing your career plan and aspirations with others (your network) can help you keep focused. Talk to your local housing employers to find out what recruitment schemes they have in place. The CIH offer a wide range of courses for further training and its level four certificate in access to housing is designed for people who hold non cognate degrees. The Why Housing book provides profiles of professionals as well as other information about opportunities in both the public and private sectors. Gain experience by shadowing professionals in a range of departments. This will help you to think about the route you want to go down and it gives you a really good overview of how teams and department work together. Nicola Dibb is business development director at GB Building Solutions Ltd and founder of Women in Social Housing (WISH) To get in to sustainable social housing, target larger housing associations. Large housing associations run estate regeneration schemes and mixed tenure solutions focusing on sustainable communities. Try organisations like London and Quadrant, Hyde HA and Places for People as well as contacting contractors and house builders who focus on this type of work. Never pass up the opportunity to learn new things and build up your experience and contacts. Even going to an event such as a seminar or workshop that seems irrelevant to you, may be of use if you meet some new people who can help you in your career. Passion gets you a long way. Skills that are crucial in development are drive, enthusiasm, tenacity, hard work, creative thinking and above all passion! Jayne Crosse is head of the skills and knowledge team at the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA) Technical knowledge will get you far. There is a need for technical specialists in the field of sustainable housing as well as more general housing specialists. People who are able to understand enough of the technical detail to ask the right questions to providers and contractors will do well. Build up good project delivery experience and develop core skills that can be transferred from role to role. For example, stakeholder management and negotiation skills and communication and partnership working skills. These alongside technical skills, are what you need to do the job. Attracting young people to the profession is crucial. Ideally, we should encourage 14-19 year-olds to spend time with different professionals from across the housing and regeneration sector when they go out on work experience. This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. Become a housing network member to get more stories like this direct to your inbox