Name – Paige Collins
University – Oxford Brookes University
Role – Development Graduate Trainee
Location – Surrey
Time period – 18 months (nearly finished the programme)

Graduate opportunities (roles/positions for graduates) – Development (Land/Planning), Commercial (Quantity Surveying), Technical (Civil Engineering, Design, Architecture), Construction Management, Sales and Marketing, Customer Service.

Contact details – Hannah Mockridge ([email protected]) or Melanie Suthern ([email protected])

Locations – Bristol, Tamworth, Brentwood, Chertsey, St Albans

Application deadline – 20th May 2019

Tell us why you chose the Crest Graduate scheme to start your career?

Having looked at graduate schemes with other developers, I felt Crest Nicholson had the best graduate scheme to enable me to kick-start my career in planning and development.

Most other schemes don’t offer graduates the opportunity to rotate around all the departments within the business. By rotating around each department within the business it gives a great insight into how the business operates, as well as providing the opportunity to get to know Crest employees in other departments, this is a vital element as creating contacts is key.

Furthermore, the graduate scheme at Crest Nicholson provides graduates with workshops planned throughout the year. This is greatly beneficial as it assists with learning and also the APC process.

Finally, I chose the scheme at Crest as graduates are provided with the opportunity to present in groups to the main board. This means that as a graduate you instantly have access to the main board.

What do you feel has been the most important experience for you on the scheme?

I feel that the most important experience has been the graduate project. This is because it provides the opportunity to work within a team and to work with graduates and learn from one another.

Tell us about something you were surprised to learn during your time with Crest? Was it helpful to you?

From my time so far at Crest Nicholson I have learned a lot in regards to the planning system, as well as understanding how appraisals work.

I would say the thing that I was most surprised to learn at my time at Crest is the complexities of acquiring and disposing of land.

If you were to offer one piece of advice to applicants as part of the recruitment process, what would you suggest?

One piece of advice that I would give to applicants in relation to the recruitment process would be to prepare. This is really important, particularly when it comes to the interview stage, applicants should understand the history of Crest Nicholson as well as current projects that Crest are involved in, graduates should also have knowledge of current market conditions and stay up to date with the news.