Every year, a new cohort of young aspiring leaders from across the housing supply chain join The Housing Forum’s (THF) Futures Network for a year. The Futures Network aims to support the development of skills the sector needs to drive it forwards.

Our very own Rob Worster, senior employer’s agent for JRP, was chosen to join the cohort of 2024 and has just completed his year. We spoke to Rob to find out about his experience – what he did, what he learned and the advice he’d give to the new cohort, which includes one of our Graduate Project Managers, Eden Carberry-Hughes.

How did your involvement with The Futures Network come about?

Our MD Mash Halai is already a mentor for THF’s Futures Network and mid last year he suggested that I join the next cohort. He thought it would be great to get someone from JRP involved as a mentee, so I applied, had an interview and was fortunate enough to get a place.

What has your cohort focused on this year?

As a cohort, we were given a topic to focus on for the year – the skills shortage in the construction industry and housing sector. We then had the chance to think about how we were going to address it and how we could gain exposure to shine a light on the problem.

Ahead of the first general meeting we were assigned a personal mentor, who we then had for the whole year. Throughout the year we then split up into four groups of five people. Each group then had its own sub-focus area. The group I was in focused on how to bring new skills into the industry by attracting school leavers, getting them to consider a career in construction or housing.

When I was school leaver, I didn’t really know that there were so many different career options in construction. In my mind, it was only ‘you can choose to be a builder or an architect’ and that was it. So, I was quite passionate about focusing on this area; I wanted to show what other options are available within this sector.

A lot of people get into the industry via family connections or, just like me, they (luckily) stumble across it. We want to change that and encourage young people to consider construction as a career. But to do that we need to tell them what opportunities are available.

Part of our work was to create a video for social media, to try and capture the attention of the younger generation. We’re hoping that the video, based on our campaign name Build Your Future in Housing, is shown in schools and colleges so it inspires and catches school leavers as they’re making a decision about their next steps.

The video will be shown at the next THF conference this month and we’re going to be really proud seeing it played in front of members and people in the industry.

How much time did you have to invest in the Futures Network over the year?

We met over Teams fortnightly for an hour or two and then we’d have monthly meetings in person. It probably equated to a day month. We would often go for drinks or to eat afterwards, which was a great way to get to know people on a personal as well as professional level.

What do you think you’ve gained personally from being involved in the Futures Network?

It’s been a really good way of networking, developing relationships and getting different perspectives. Working on a project like this you realise that everyone in that room wants to be there, and they want to work towards something that’s really good. It was inspiring working with a group of passionate people who want to make a difference.

It also helped me develop my leadership skills. To get an idea across to a room of people means you have to speak up, you can’t be a passenger – you’ve got to be fully involved. It definitely put me outside of my comfort zone, but it was well worth it.

And what did you enjoy the most about it?

The creativity was really fun. I actually wanted to go into graphic design and media when I was a school leaver. Combining my skills as a surveyor with a previous passion was great because I got to link the two together.

And meeting new people is something I really enjoy, so this side of it was a positive for me too.

How do you think this opportunity will inform your career going forward?

It’s already had an effect, I think. It’s made me more aware of how to hold people’s attention when working in a group. I’m definitely getting better at that. And the networking has also helped tenfold. Making connections means I’m on the radar for projects. If people I’ve met need a quote or advice, they can bring me in and ask me to sort it, which is great and that wouldn’t happen if I didn’t network.

Has the project reignited a passion and enthusiasm for your career progression?

Yes, being part of the Futures Network has given me a lot of confidence in myself. It’s also made me realise that if you do go that extra mile or put in a bit more effort than you get something out of it. I really enjoyed being part of it at all because it’s just given me that extra edge to think ‘I know I can do this and I’m actually quite good at it’. It’s given me a passion to move into more leadership focused roles in the future.

Inspiring the younger generation – is this something you’d still want to be involved with outside of this project?

Yes, definitely. To be honest, as a business JRP do it to an extent anyway. I’m always involved in the careers fairs we do. This knowledge and involvement helped inform the work we did for the Futures Network actually – knowing and understanding the skills shortage, for example.

The lack of career knowledge and the skills shortage is a real problem which needs addressing. I am passionate about that. I’ll continue going to the careers fairs and we’re looking to start up Uni visits again, which is how I heard about JRP.

Hopefully, over the next 10 years, there’ll be a whole batch of young people who know about all the jobs available and who will want to get involved and bring their skills to our sector to help drive it forward.

What advice would you give to Eden, as she starts her year with THF Futures Network?

If you’re going to do it, do it and embrace it. You’ve got to go into it with two feet, I think. Put the effort in and go to every meeting. Sometimes, when it gets a bit busy, it’s easy to think ‘I might need to re-arrange this one’, but if you go, it really pays off because people remember you and you will build stronger bonds with people as a result.

Good luck to all those taking part this year and next. It really will inspire you.