We recently caught up with Bright Network member, Georgina, to chat about how her career is going. Georgina has been working as a trainee site assistant at Persimmon Homes and told us about her personal experience of what a day in the life of a site assistant is really like. Read on to learn what a site assistant does and whether it’s the career path for you.
Tell us a little bit about yourself and your background
My name is Georgina and I am in the second year of my graduate scheme with Persimmon Homes. Currently, I am completing a six month construction rotation working as a trainee site assistant. I graduated from Loughborough University in 2021 after studying Geography.
What is your role and how long have you been at Persimmon Homes?
I started with Persimmon in September 2021 so have been here for just over a year. At the moment, I’m a graduate management trainee, but I am currently completing training to be an assistant site manager.
What inspired you to apply for this role and Persimmon Homes?
I liked the rotational aspect of the graduate scheme. As someone who was unsure which career path to take, trying a little bit of everything really appealed to me.
Is the most important thing you learnt so far?
Building relationships is key in the construction industry. With the heavy reliance on others and the high levels of collaboration, ensuring that you have positive interactions with people is very important.
What would a typical day look like for someone in your role?
Once I am on site, no day is the same, so I don’t have a consistent routine that I stick to. First, I usually go through my emails and chase any customer care jobs that we have outstanding. I then usually go on a site walk to see who is onsite and how the houses are coming along. I might then complete some tasks that I need to do or chase relevant people for the jobs they need to complete. I may call off some finishing touches such as kitchens and appliances.
After lunch, if our sales advisors are in their office, I pop in and see if they have any issues or ask any questions I have. I like to visit customers at their plots to go through any outstanding issues. After all of this, I head back to the site office to have a tidy up and final catch up with my team.
What do you find most interesting with the sector you’re in?
In the housebuilding sector, no two days are the same. It moves at a fast pace and things are always changing. The thing that interests me the most is that you can take a derelict space that no one uses anymore and turn it into a lovely community in such a short space of time. It is fascinating to watch a place change and develop.
What is the culture like?
The culture depends very much on where you are. At Persimmon, we have 30 different operating companies across the UK and they each work in slightly different ways and have slightly different cultures. In my division, we have a culture of hard work and fun. We are always doing small activities such as socials and fundraisers to help build morale. For example, recently we did a Bake Off competition where people entered cakes to win a hamper and afterwards people could buy a slice of any cake to raise money for charity.
Let us know where you've secured your work experience, internship or graduate role. We want to celebrate your success with a gift from us and exclusive invitations to evening networking drinks throughout the year.
