Top Tips
Finally, here are some Top Tips you may find helpful in your engagement activities.
Tailor material to age group:
13/15 year-olds – more about raising awareness
school leavers – more interested in actual opportunities
Listen, adapt and be as interactive as possible if you’re in a classroom or other group setting.
Where you have a few sessions with young people in a classroom or youth group setting, listen to what they want to know about and how they want to learn about housing.
Be sure to feature any young people you already employ, especially if they’re from the local area.
Highlight the variety of jobs available in housing (not just Housing Officer). There are over 200 different roles to choose from in social housing alone.
Explain that housing is a career where personal qualities and experience often count for more than academic qualifications, which can be gained later once in work.
Young people may already have some of these skills and qualities:
like helping people
good with people
good listener
empathetic
want to make a difference
flexible/adaptable
like a challenge
team player
leaderships skills
good at managing their time.
Encourage young people to think about the skills they already have and how these might relate to working in housing.
Highlight some of the many benefits of working in housing:
it can be a secure, long-term career
pay and prospects for career advancement are good
there’ll be opportunities to train and learn throughout their career
social housing landlords are located throughout Scotland and the UK, meaning there’s the potential to work locally, in their own community, or move to other areas.
Make your content interactive, so you’re involving pupils:
include quizzes and Q&A
consider using Mentimeter for interactive quizzes – lets pupils use their phones in class and comment anonymously. (Needs access to reliable Wi-Fi network and for pupils to be allowed to use their phones.)
Be honest and don’t sugar-coat it. Working in housing:
can be challenging, especially when working with customers who are in difficult circumstances, though there’s great satisfaction when you can help
can involve unsocial hours – Tenant Participation Officers and other staff involved in community engagement activities, for example, sometimes need to have evening meetings with tenants.