Ongo, the housing partnership which includes North Lincolnshire Homes, has appointed a team of apprentices to conduct its tenant surveys, supported by Voluntas and a local college.
Five apprentices, aged 17-20, will carry out telephone surveys on behalf of North Lincolnshire Homes as part of a three-year apprenticeship. The apprentices will also carry out surveys and research work for Scunthorpe-based North Lindsey College. Voluntas is providing the survey and analysis software.
As well conducting surveys, they will also carry out customer services work for Ongo and the college while they work towards a level-two apprenticeship in customer services. Two of the apprentices are sponsored by the college and three are sponsored by Ongo.
Karen Cowan, customer services and support manager, Ongo, said, “We already have really good links with North Lindsey College, which itself also has a successful track record in supporting apprenticeships, and we are always looking for ways we can provide further opportunities for young people in North Lincolnshire.
“During a conversation at the college, we learned that one of the greatest areas for recruitment in North Lincolnshire is in customer services. That then prompted a conversation with Voluntas and the college to see how we could work together to create a local enterprise that brought benefits to us all but, most importantly, also created opportunities for local young people.”
Dylan Chipp, co-founder and director, Voluntas, said, “Employment opportunities for young people are the stepping stones to great things. I started work as YTS trainee in the late 1980s and I owe the local council in Tewkesbury a great debt for giving me that chance. I hope this fantastic scheme helps North Lincolnshire’s young people along their career paths towards achieving their own ambitions.”
