The UK's third largest housebuilder, Persimmon Homes, has announced the launch of its FIRST Management Training Scheme aimed specifically at school leavers.

A new initiative introduced to develop talent within the Group as part of Persimmon's much wider programme aimed at addressing skills in the industry – Homing In on Opportunity – school leavers will be able to join the four year FIRST training scheme from September 2009.

Two structured programmes are available, working alongside experienced teams within Persimmon Technical Departments or on Site, involved directly in a wide variety of different projects.

Trainees will attend college one day a week to undertake relevant further education and will each be assigned a mentor. Ongoing and formal assessments will be provided by the mentors along with appropriate senior managers and by the Construction Skills NVQ assessor and college tutors.

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Applications are invited from school leavers with a minimum of five GCSE's A* - C including English Language and Mathematics, who have a passion for the construction industry and wish to train for supervisory roles.

At present a total of 21 positions are available – eight Site and 13 in Technical Departments.

Mike Farley Group Chief Executive said: "Whilst we are proud of our track record in developing opportunities for a broad cross section of trainees, we recognise the recent impact of the downturn. Now that the market is stabilising, we are eager to rebuild by once again investing in young people for the future.

"We are keen advocates of on-the-job training and our FIRST programme is tailored to provide an all round experience in both Technical and Site environments. It is hoped that in time FIRST trainees' introduction to the industry and Persimmon in particular will not only see them fully immersed in our business processes by the end of four years, but fully equipped to join over 29 percentage of our staff who have been with the business over 10 years."

Steve Geary, Skills Strategy Director for Construction Skills, added: "We're delighted that Persimmon Homes is creating these new opportunities for people to enter and progress within the industry."

The Persimmon Group is committed to training and developing future talent within the construction industry, from apprentices through to site managers and graduates.

(GK/BMcC)