Scottish Housing Day blog by Neve Beaton

In the lead up to Scottish Housing Day 2023, procurement officer Neve Beaton shares how her career path took her to Wheatley Group and how she is making a difference.

After I graduated from Strathclyde University, I took a graduate role with a private sector company. However, I quickly realised that my values didn’t align within that sector. It wasn’t for me.

I saw Wheatley Group’s graduate scheme advertised online. I already knew people who worked for the company, so I had heard first-hand about the great work Wheatley was doing.

This was during the pandemic and I was amazed at the support they could offer with food parcels and supermarket voucher schemes. I quickly realised housing meant far more than just a roof over your head, and it could be a very rewarding and important sector to work in.

I joined the organisation as a business graduate in the Procurement Team. Fast forward three years and I’m now a procurement officer.

Even though I don’t work on the frontline, I am still making a difference. I deal with Wheatley Group’s goods and services contracts. I’m supporting other staff by making sure we secure the best contracts to benefit our staff and customers – that can be anything from ensuring we have good quality uniforms, to securing the best employee assistance programme to support our staff.

I would encourage anyone to join the housing profession. It’s such a varied sector, with a wide range of opportunities to demonstrate your individual skills and qualities. There are so many different roles in housing:  from the development team who are building new homes, to fuel advisors and housing officers who are helping customers on the frontline every single day.

The housing sector encourages using transferable skills and offers the opportunity to move around and try new roles.

More could be done to encourage young people to see housing as a career of choice. We should be telling children in primary and high schools about the amazing work we do – and the opportunities open to them.

University graduate job fairs always feature private sector companies. Housing should be there too.

A career in housing isn’t just for me, it’s for everyone.