House-builder targets soldiers

It has appointed former infantryman Tommy Watson, aged 47, to bring ex-service personnel into the business.

Mr Watson joins Persimmon after 26 years in the army and will be responsible for recruiting hundreds of service leavers into positions across the company.

“This is a fantastic opportunity for both me and the thousands of people who leave the armed forces every year,” he said. “In my new role I will work with Persimmon’s 24 regional businesses in England, Wales and Scotland to seek out people who are about to leave the services and who have immediate transferrable skills.”

The Greenock-born soldier joined the Argyll & Sutherland Highlanders at the age of 18 in Edinburgh and as his career progressed to Warrant Officer Class 2, he was later stationed in Colchester, Germany, Folkstone, Northern Ireland, Canterbury and finally in Catterick where he was responsible for training all Scottish division soldiers in the British Army.

After 22 years in Infantry roles, Mr Watson worked for a further five years helping service leavers resettle back into civilian life. As part of this he helped find jobs for early leavers who had spent up to four years in the services as a lead programme advisor for the Future Horizons Programme.

Prior to joining Persimmon, he worked with wounded, injured and sick personnel as a specialist employment consultant with the Recovery Career Services.

Persimmon human resources director Richard Latham said that the new role was part of the company’s growth strategy. “2014 has so far been an excellent year for the business with visitor levels to our sites up 10% and our weekly private sales rate per site for the first 15 weeks of 2014 25% ahead of 2013,” he said.

“To meet customer demand we need a robust recruitment programme to bring qualified people into the business. There is a diverse range of opportunities currently available including bricklayers, carpenters and ground workers as well as site management roles and sales positions.

“We recognise that a lot of people leaving the armed forces have transferrable skills and Tommy’s job will be to introduce Persimmon to them and fill some of the hundreds of vacancies we have each year.”

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