The Selection Process

Just how do you choose the perfect trainee team from over a thousand applicants?

Being Project Manager on Bricking It means managing our green teens throughout, including helping to choose just who does and who does not make it into the team. From early on, Project Manager Dr Phil Ashton was in the thick of the selection process and had to make the hard choices and dish out the good news and the disappointment to all of our hopefuls. Here's what happened…

Ten aspiring construction workers had to be chosen from over a thousand applicants. The applicants had found out about the 'Bricking It' project through their local job centre or press.

Through a process of interviews and workshops the applicants were narrowed down to twenty. These potential trainees then attended a selection weekend.

The weekend was designed to test the applicants on how well they dealt with learning basic carpentry, plumbing and painting and decorating. Various exercises were also used to test team leadership and to assess how well they work in a team. Only then were the final ten trainees selected.

Dr Phil attended the selection weekend, and met the hopefuls. "It was a good opportunity to see how the young people worked together. It was great fun, seeing them build a shed and going up in a cherry picker."

But Dr Phil was concerned about the motivation of some of the applicants. "Some were attracted by the chance to be on TV. Some just wanted something to do for a few months. I think some didn't know why they were there!"

But others had more sincere reasons for wanting to be chosen for the project. "Greg da Silva, who we did select for the project, wanted to be a role model to his young brother. To me that seems a good motivation for anybody."

"Others wanted to make 'good money', but it's a two to three year apprenticeship, and the hours are long. The cash alone isn't going to be enough to keep them going on a freezing morning in January."

So what did Dr Phil think of the final ten? "They all had a lot of potential. But I did feel that some of the trainees had a rough road ahead of them, they were going to have to change to make it work to really live up to their potential and make the most of the opportunity we were giving them."

"Getting on the programme is one thing. Proving yourself on-site is another."

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