By invitation only twelve Service leavers attended a bespoke Recruitment Open Day by Skanska UK for Project Managers on 9th May 2014 at their HQ in Hertfordshire.
Skanska is a multinational construction and development company and is recruiting for 1,500 new roles over the next two to three years. Attracting the right people with the right skills is therefore critical for Skanska, and their recruitment team is looking to the ex-military talent pool, via the CTP, in order to find the right candidates for the jobs on offer. Many key skills acquired in the military are closely linked to those needed in the construction industry.
The recruitment open day consisted of a series of presentations from various areas of the business giving an overview of Skanska from a UK and Global prospective. Service leavers learned more about what it’s like to work at Skanska during a networking lunch with managers across a number of their different operating units.
During the afternoon session, attendees participated in mini assessment centre activities including informal one-to-one speed dating’ style interviews and a bridge building exercise. The activities also gave the hiring managers a taste of the transferrable skills and experience Service leavers can offer to the construction industry.
The ‘speed dating’ style interviews were 10 minutes long with various members of Skanska staff, from HR to Hiring Managers. This was an opportunity for Service leavers to put their interview techniques into practice and gain some experience ‘selling’ themselves, along with the chance to ask any questions they had about opportunities within Skanska and what it’s like to work for the organisation.
The second mini assessment centre activity was a bridge building exercise, with Service leavers split into two groups and tasked with building a bridge that would sustain a toy car placed in the middle of it for 30 seconds. The groups were provided with a box of materials and given certain cost and time limits. This activity allowed Skanska to observe Service leavers demonstrating skills such as team working, adaptability, planning, leadership, and problem solving.
Feedback from the day from both sides has been very positive; Skanska were very happy with the calibre of attendees and Service leavers found the day extremely beneficial in providing the opportunity to speak to hiring Managers about potential jobs and learn more about careers in construction.