NAME: Fred Stott COMPANY/REGION: Persimmon Homes West Midlands Ltd JOB TITLE: Purchasing Manager/Development Manager DEPARTMENT: Technical PLEASE DESCRIBE WHAT YOUR DEPARTMENT DOES? Material purchasing; liaison with external architects and consultants in the co-ordination and production of working drawings and supporting information. We also get heavily involved with answering technical queries; and heavily involved with developing relationships with suppliers and our internal customers. PLEASE DESCRIBE WHAT YOU DO ON A DAY-TO-DAY BASIS? A good deal of trouble-shooting - problem solving - technical queries. Liaison with suppliers and consultants, co-ordinating works to ensure deadlines are kept and generally offering support and, when needed, direction to members of my team. Improving/developing systems to help workflow. Also involved with technical specification and producing technical documents. WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT WHAT YOU DO? No two days are the same. My job is very varied. I also enjoy the interaction with other parts of the business and with those we come into contact with outside of the business. WHY DID YOU CHOOSE THIS CAREER? I trained as a maths teacher and literally fell into the construction industry and “stuck” mainly because I enjoyed the interaction and “cut and thrust” of the industry - the reason I pursued my career. WHAT QUALIFICATIONS DID YOU NEED TO GET THIS JOB? I would say that educational qualification other than literacy and numeracy are not generally required. What is of great importance is the ability to establish relationships and also to be able to solve problems creatively. IS THERE ANY PARTICULAR ADVICE YOU WOULD GIVE A GRADUATE OR TRAINEE LOOKING FOR A JOB IN YOUR WORK AREA? Don’t think that this industry is backward looking. The new people coming into industry are those that are going to shape the future of sustainable housing.
