Inducting the stars of tomorrow

This year, 35 new recruits joined our annual graduate & trainee induction, which was held over two days at the Denham Grove hotel in Denham, Middlesex.

The aim of the event is to bring together newly recruited graduates, trainees, industrial placement students and apprentices for a company induction. The two-day induction provides the recruits with an opportunity to increase their awareness of the operational activities and corporate values that underpin the BAM brand. The event helps to set out expectations and introduces them to the professional development programmes available to them, providing knowledge which will assist with their overall development as young managers. It also provides an opportunity for them to network and meet the heads of our different business units and members of the board.

Day 1:

BAM Executive Director Richard Bailey kicked the event off with a close-up look at BAM Construct UK's strategy, and our positioning within the wider BAM Group. Five of BAM’s senior managers from different disciplines, including IT, design management, surveying and project management, then hosted a speed-dating style workshop. This helped highlight the variety of career paths on offer within BAM and gave useful hints and tips to achieving success.

We also invited Gill Trodden from the Chartered Institute of Building and Jon Lever from the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors to the event. They were able to introduce their professional development programmes, and explained the process and benefits of working towards a chartered membership of a professional body.

In the afternoon XPG Events, led by Desmond Feehily, ran fun team building activities in the grounds of the hotel. The activities were designed to test the capabilities of the new recruits compared to the skills that underlie BAM’s new competency framework. The activities required the recruits to work in teams to implement strategies in order to complete tasks, all against a strict deadline. Luckily, aside from a small shower, we managed to stay dry!

Day 1 was completed with dinner and a quiz, expertly held together by the quiz master himself Chris Jones, BAM’s Director of Learning and Development. Congratulations to the team “Three Men and a Lady” for their deserved victory!

Day 2:

Everyone was up bright and early, and a short team exercise helped awaken the brain cells!

The day kicked off with two presentations from Kath Fontana, Managing Director of BAM FM, and Nitesh Magdani, BAM Construct UK Sustainability Director. They were able to demonstrate how BAM is connecting our various businesses and driving collaboration for the future.

Our Community Manager Ellie Jenkins was supported by Jenny Vaidya from CRASH (the construction and property industry’s charity for homeless people) and introduced our wide ranging community engagement activities across the UK, giving real life examples of how BAM has made a difference to the community at our Manchester City Football Academy project in the North West and the Pilsdon project in Dorset.

The final afternoon session was dedicated to the Graduate Challenge, where the recruits worked in regional and inter-regional teams to come up with ideas for a fund raising activity in aid of CRASH. Congratulations to the combined team from North West and North East, for their winning idea of ‘12 days of Christmas’. Each of the teams will now plan and deliver their events to BAM’s sites and offices across the country.

Thanks to everyone involved who all helped to make another successful induction programme!

If you are interested in finding out more about BAM’s opportunities, take a look at our careers pages.

About the author

Nigel Kibler

Recruitment and Development Manager

With over 17 years of experience in the recruitment industry, Nigel has been at BAM for eight years.

As the war for talent intensifies, Nigel is driven to create a positive candidate experience and to streamline our recruiting practices wherever possible.

Acutely aware of the need to have a successful attraction and selection strategy from apprentice level upwards throughout the company, he strongly believes in us taking ownership of our own employer brand when engaging with future recruits.

Nigel has been working closely with industry professional bodies for a number of years and currently sits on the Chartered Institute of Building Business Development Board. He is passionate about guiding employees through professional development programmes to gain chartered accreditation at all levels of experience across BAM.

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About the author

Nigel Kibler