Job Description
The Community Relations Apprentice is responsible for supporting the Social Value and Community Lead with the relationship between the project and external and internal stakeholders including members of the public and the local community affected by the construction scheme, the client and any additional interested parties.
About The Project
Costain have won extensive work across the water sector this year to support the AMP 8 investment cycle. We have been appointed by Northumbrian Water to the Living Water Enterprise to help shape and deliver its strategic infrastructure upgrade programme with contracts valued up to c.£670m to Costain over 15 years.
What does an Apprenticeship at Costain offer me?
The level and training provider for your apprenticeship will depend on the skills you present at interview. The Early Careers team will register you with a suitable training provider who can support the delivery of your qualification. Being an apprentice means you will work both on-the-job with your project at site, and off-the-job with the provider.
When taking on one of the many apprenticeships on offer by Costain, you will be supported by your project line manager and team, the Costain Early Careers Team, and the training provider of your academic qualification. The training provider may be a college, a university or even an independent training provider.
You will be supported throughout your apprenticeship by your local team and line manager, and you will be given time to carry out your studies with the provider etc. Your on-the-job training will be in line with the work available on site but will afford the opportunity to ensure that you are given on site experience required to meet the technical and competency levels in order to achieve your apprenticeship goals.
Responsibilities
Responsibilities
- Undertaking the day to day administrative roles which will include responding to email queries, gathering information from team members, presenting information in a report,
- Reporting Social Value data
- Creating monthly newsletters
- Helping to establish contact with key stakeholders
- Supporting the team with building community relationships
- Providing assistance in the producing written communications and face to face communications
- Supporting the team with responses to complaints and enquiries
- Attending community events, exhibitions, project open days
- Attend and promote fundraising opportunities in the local community
- Helping with value adding community outreach opportunities
- Undertaking the day to day administrative roles involved in engaging with stakeholders, residents, community groups
- Providing support for the team in submitting social value data for bid submissions and awards
Essential
Knowledge, Skills, and Experience
- Engagement delivery: Ability to prepare engagement plans with little support.
- Advocacy: Supports internal Community Relations forums.
- Public interface: Takes ownership of personal safety in the community, appraises personal risk, and takes steps to resolve risks.
- Management of Complaints & Enquiries: Understands the importance of creating records that are compliant with data protection legislation.
- Written Communication: Awareness of, and compliance with sensitivities/ restrictions on sharing project / company information via social media.
- Social Value: Can identify basic social value outcomes. Vs inputs.
- Stakeholder Management: Able to listen to stakeholders needs/ concerns and demonstrate empathy.
- Risk management: Awareness of potential risks and consequences to cost or reputation.
- Contractual compliance: Awareness of legislator or contractual requirements to meet service level agreements (SLA’s).
Desirable
- Engagement delivery: Understands the relevance of the project programme and the need to plan external communication.
- Advocacy: Ability to demonstrate the value of good community relations.
- Presentation skills: Supports colleagues to present at internal and external community events.
Qualifications
About you
- Five GCSEs, grade A*- C or certified equivalent, including maths and English language
- A passionate individual looking to undertake an apprenticeship with an award-winning employer
- An organised individual that can work well to deadlines
- Someone who is creative, with a keen interest in the latest technology
- Someone that enjoys challenges and problem solving in their day-to-day work
- Communicating clearly, both written and verbally
- Problem solving
- Getting it right the first time, with good attention to detail
- Works well within a team, but equally on your own
- Building and maintaining positive working relationships
- Using a computer and Microsoft software
- Numerate
- Please note that if you are invited to interview, we will require you to produce your passport and/or right to work documentation.
As some of our project sites are based in remote locations, it is worth noting that you will be required to have the ability to travel to site.
About Us
Costain helps to improve people’s lives with integrated, leading edge, smart infrastructure solutions across the UK’s energy, water, transportation and defence markets. We help our clients improve their business performance by increasing capacity, improving customer service, safeguarding security, enhancing resilience, decarbonising and delivering increased efficiency. Our vision is to be the UK’s leading smart infrastructure solutions company. We will achieve this by focusing on blue chip clients whose major spending plans are underpinned by strategic national needs, regulatory commitments, legislation or essential performance requirements. We offer our clients leading edge solutions that are digitally optimised through the following five services which cover the whole lifecycle of their assets: future-shaping strategic consultancy; consultancy and advisory; digital technology solutions; asset optimisation and complex programme delivery. Our culture and values underpin everything we do.
Costain appreciate the time and effort taken when applying for one of our positions but, due to the high volume of responses, we are unable to provide individual feedback on candidates at application phase.
We do share individual feedback following an interview .
A Disability Confident employer will generally offer an interview to any applicant that disclose they have a disability and meets the minimum criteria for the job as defined by the employer.
It is important to note that in certain recruitment situations such as high-volume, seasonal and high-peak times, the employer may wish to limit the overall numbers of interviews offered to both disabled people and non-disabled people.
For more details please go to the Disability Confident website:
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/disability-confident-campaign
About The Team
Costain has been awarded a new contract on the Northumbrian Water Alliance, created to deliver 12 years of Complex Delivery works within the North East of England. Under the new contract, Costain will work with Northumbrian Water and its key partners where the main scope of work will include design, construction and commissioning of new water and wastewater treatment assets, asset renewals/modifications, refurbishments, and extension to treatment works.
