An open minded approach to recruitment.
A quick blog to welcome Andrew to our growing Studio 31 team. As a practice, we believe passionately in the value of landscape professionals to the build environment and with Landscape Architects being the latest addition to the skills shortage list, we are astutely aware of the need to encourage more people into this profession.
It has always been the way of our studio to look for collaborations in unusual places and this is no different with our staff. With the implementation of the Landscape Institute’s Apprenticeship Scheme and a big drive on the recruitment of landscape architects into degree courses, we chose to recruit both from within and outside the existing pool of graduates by using an open brief job description for our next team member.
What we found was that we received an array of quite inspirational applications from a wide variety of professionals with hugely transferable skills. After a very difficult decision, we chose to recruit Andrew who having worked in both management and the creative industries offered an extension to the existing skill set in the office. This position is a career change for Andrew who believes avidly in both the roles of health and sustainability in landscape and having grown up in the Suffolk countryside has an innate connection with landscape.
In his short time with the practice, Andrew has already been involved with trade shows, nursery visits, landscape construction, detail design and has shown an aptitude for the design and horticulture aspects of the business. He will also be involved in our project showcasing, utilising his industry skills in photography, film production and editing to help market both our work and our message. Our aim is to give him a wide-ranging understanding of the landscape industry before supporting him on a pathway of his choosing (hopefully landscape architecture!).
With our involvement on the lecturing team for Landscape Architecture at Writtle College and our plans to deliver talks and workshops in schools, recruiting valuable professionals with transferrable skills into the industry seemed a logical next step and our open brief job description really surprised us with the quality of candidates both inside and outside the industry.
Apprenticeship schemes value the combination of industry experience and theoretical knowledge and ask both courses and workplaces to connect the two in order to remain right at the cutting edge of the industry. As a practice, we have taken this attitude and an open mind and really found ourselves a landscape professional of the future.
We can’t wait to learn from Andrews extensive experience and to offer him an insight into this very important industry we have the privilege to work in. Welcome to the team!