Business & Employer Section

Here at Monkseaton High school we are always looking to develop links and build relationships with local and regional businesses to engage our students in careers provision. The expertise, information and experiences you can provide for our students is invaluable and can really help to inspire them, as well as make informed decision about their future.

 

How could your business support our students at Monkseaton High School?

• Provide experiences of work places – this could be one off experiences or you may wish to offer placements to students during dedicated work experience weeks

• Offer tailored sessions for students in school (e.g. talks or workshops or mentoring)

• Participate in careers speed dating, mock interview days or careers fairs

• Ask employees/apprenticeships to share their experiences

• Deliver assemblies

• Attend or run after school clubs

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If you would like to get involved in our CEIAG program please contact Sean Hay (Assistant Headteacher/Careers Lead) at office@monkseaton.org.uk or 0191 2979700;

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Click here for our Access Policy Document

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Who is our Enterprise Adviser at MHS?

 

My Name: Paul Nixon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My Company/Employer: Henry Riley LLP

Started by Henry Riley in 1890, after he established a quantity surveying practice in London, the company has traded continuously ever since, growing substantially year on year. The company works across the property and construction industry delivering quantity surveying, project management and health and safety services.

Quantity surveyors are responsible for the cost of any building project, from initial estimates, right through to the final opening of a building and at times beyond. Surveying jobs and their associated roles are varied, however the main focus is on providing clients with value for money while adhering to the strict regulations which govern every aspect of the construction industry. We are, in essence the accountants of the property and construction world.

 

My Job title/role:

Business Consultant (having been a partner for the last 15 years).

 

My Career Journey:

My path into quantity surveying started with careers advice at Linskill High School in North Shields. Back in the mid-1970s careers advice was not as thorough and professional as it is now – difficult to believe I know! As a 13-year-old I had no idea what I wanted to do, other than knowing I did not want to be stuck behind a desk all of the time, nor be based outside. To the Linskill careers advisor this meant one thing – surveyor. When he learned that my favourite subject was mathematics that made the answer even easier – quantity surveyor. 

I then embarked upon a path of choosing O levels (GCSEs), A levels and a degree based upon a career that I had little or no real knowledge as to what it actually involved! I obtained a degree at Trent Polytechnic (now Nottingham Trent University) and it was only on the year out of my course that I understood exactly what a quantity surveyor did in the real world. After graduating I worked for two major private QS practices in Newcastle, qualified as a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) and was then fortunate enough to get my big break. Henry Riley were looking for someone to open a Newcastle office and build upon the work that they had in the region – one of the first schemes being the Sainsbury’s in Monkseaton – and I was lucky enough to land the role.

I started with Henry Riley in 1989 working from my kitchen in North Shields. Over the next 31 years, the Newcastle office grew from just me to a staff of 10 operating out of our office on Grey Street, Newcastle. During this time the practice as a whole grew from 40 staff in 4 offices nationally to 160+ staff in 9 locations in the UK, plus branches in South Africa and Australia. I was invited to become a partner in 2002 and since then have been part of the leadership team delivering a cross section of work in a wide range of sectors and turning a £4m turnover business into the diverse £14m turnover business that exists today.

My work has taken me to Scotland, Northern Ireland, all over the north of England, as well as Oman. Some of the local buildings that I have worked on are: Various Sainsbury’s and Co-op stores including Monkseaton; Metroasis, Metro Centre, Gateshead; Dream Apartments Aparthotel, Quayside, Newcastle; Newcastle University extension and Sports centre; new leisure centres in Morpeth and Berwick; Doctors’ Surgery in Stockton on Tees; new EE, Costa, Domino’s Pizza and refurbishment at Belvedere Retail Park, Kinston Park.

 

Why I wanted to be an Enterprise Adviser:

My main reason for wanting to carry out this role was to help schools equip students to come into the world of work with the skills and knowledge that employers want to see. I have seen several individuals over the years who clearly have the intelligence to carry out the role, but who did not have some of the ‘basic’ workplace skills necessary to effectively do the role.

I want to see students fully understand the diversity of the careers available in the North East. I want to support them, so they have an understanding of what the roles entail well in advance of starting down the academic road to said career. In other words, not follow the path trodden by myself of being almost there before I understood what the role meant!

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