Top tips for building a career in housing

If you asked for a show of hands in a classroom of 30 students, maybe a handful would indicate that they want to be a doctor, nurse or teacher.

Probably none would have considered becoming a housing officer or working in community regeneration. I wasn’t any different.

While I had always wanted to work in public or not-for-profit sectors, I got my first job in housing almost by accident. Two-weeks as a temporary housing adviser on the UK’s largest council estate in Dagenham introduced me to the role of social housing in providing life chances for millions of people.

Since then I’ve worked in various frontline and strategic roles across London, and I’m passionate about the sector doing more to develop the talent we already have, and attracting those outside of it to consider joining. So how does someone go about pursuing a career in the sector?

The application process

For a sector worth over £300bn, finding social housing vacancies can be surprisingly difficult.

The largest housing players will often advertise roles through trade, online and national press, but there are hundreds of organisations – including well-known local authorities, arm’s-length management organisations and housing associations – that expect you to be scouring their website regularly, as advertising budgets are squeezed.

Cast the net wide when looking for potential roles. If you are already in the sector, this includes checking your company intranet, as many roles will be advertised to internal candidates first.

Public and non-profit application processes are notoriously formulaic and time-consuming, so I would suggest building up a portfolio of polished answers as you go. This means you should just need to freshen up your personal statement to be specific to each role that comes up, rather than start from scratch.

Beating the competition

Rising competition for jobs means that in most cases you might not even hear back unless you’ve been shortlisted. Being interviewed may not guarantee feedback, but always ask for it. Focusing on just one perfect job at a time is giving all the power to time-poor recruiting managers.

Interviews are an opportunity to establish if a role you are ambivalent about might actually be the right one. You might be surprised once you meet a potential manager who is bursting with passion and charisma, or hear more about a role that doesn’t jump out to you on paper, so keep an open mind.

In applications and interviews, the real question behind every competency based question is, “so what?”. What outcomes have you delivered for residents, customers, or the people you have worked with? How have you generated income or saved an organisation money? How do we know you can do the same for us?

Don’t fall into the trap of reciting your current day-to-day activities or job description, but shape your previous achievements around the role you are pitching for and lead your answers with that headline.

If you’re at the start of your career, you can apply the same approach to what you’ve achieved through voluntary experience, or even in different sectors. The diverse nature of the housing sector means that jobseekers from a range of disciplines can build a career.

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