Skanska was recently ranked number three of the top 50 employers in the first-ever Social Mobility Employer Index. The index is a joint initiative between the Social Mobility Foundation and the Social Mobility Commission, in partnership with the City of London Corporation. Much of this success came was due to the Experience Skanska programme, created to tackle social mobility and to bring much needed skills to the construction industry.
“Experience Skanska” enables those that may be disadvantaged or from different socio-economic backgrounds to join Skanska through a tailored work placement. This includes those not in education, employment or training, offenders, ex-military, those with a disability, apprentices and people returning from a career break of two years or more, which can be for a number of reasons such as to have a family or after recovering from long-term illness.
Tom’s journey
Since embarking on his graduate journey with Skanska more than 10 years ago, Tom has helped build structures shaping the London skyline – and a strong career as he is now a Development Manager.
During his degree in Construction Engineering Management, Tom’s first site-based experience was working on placements on two of the City of London’s most high profile projects: Heron Tower and The Walbrook.
Tom returned to The Walbrook project when he joined Skanska as a Graduate Construction Supervisor in 2009. Since then, he has completed several different projects, working on some of London’s most iconic office schemes, totalling around £600M in construction value over the past 10 years.
He has also experienced Skanska Stretch – an internal programme designed to further self-development and to gain international management experience – that took him to a variety of different areas across Europe, and to the USA on a commercial development placement in Washington DC.
“It was like a dream come true. I was not originally from London, so to find myself in the heart of the city, involved in two major projects was so exciting and a great opportunity to get practical experience.”
