To celebrate apprenticeship week we wanted to highlight our resident on the Aylesbury estate, Rafael, who is thriving in his work with Careys.
Rafael lives on the Aylesbury Estate, our regeneration project in Southwark which we took on in 2014. Not only do we have a major programme of new homes and improved community facilities there, we also help local people experience social and economic benefits such as employment, education and training.
Rafael came over to the UK from Colombia when he was 15 years old and managed to learn English, take his GCSEs and complete a BTEC Level 3 in Civil Engineering before going to university.
He spotted the opportunities we were promoting in our Aylesbury Now newsletter and got in touch with our social and economic investment manager Soifur Rahman to find out more. Soif helped him with his application by looking at his CV and personal statement and worked with him to prepare when he got an interview.
Rafael was successful in getting an apprenticeship as an assistant to the site engineer for six months with Careys, Hill’s construction partner. During this time the team were impressed with his determination and enthusiasm and how he overcame challenges in the role. He was thrilled to receive a full-time job offer last year, and he has now happily accepted it.
On his career journey Rafael said: “If I could go back in time, I would definitely choose the apprenticeship route again. It provided me with a true insight into the reality of the job and offered an excellent starting point to determine if this career is right for me.”
Soif does a great job in working with Hill and their construction partners to get local people into employment. Since last April he’s secured apprenticeships for more than 10 residents, alongside Rafael.
