星空传媒

What鈥檚 your day-to-day job?

My job is to work with residents and residents鈥� associations to get funding for any projects they want to do, which can be pretty varied. They might want grants to take people living in sheltered accommodation on day trips, for public green spaces or to give community groups access to computers.

It鈥檚 a threefold job: first, going out and talking to residents, finding out what they want to do; second, working up the bids and applying for projects; and finally, seeing the projects through 鈥� spending the money.

In recent months we鈥檝e had grants from the lottery, the Countryside Agency, the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund and Age Concern 鈥� a real variety.

Why did you choose this job?

I鈥檝e never worked for a housing association before and it wasn鈥檛 really the housing aspect that interested me.

I鈥檇 worked for the Inland Revenue and local authorities on projects that were essentially monitoring other projects; I was on the other side of what I do now, checking how money for community projects was spent. I wanted to get involved in the actual projects, to be more hands-on and this certainly is.

Has it been what you expected?

This was a new post when I got here, so I鈥檝e been able to mould it the way I like it. There wasn鈥檛 any kind of line to follow. It was a case of 鈥渞un with it, see what happens鈥�.

Is it stressful?

I recently took 20 kids on an adventure activity weekend. It took a good couple of days to recover

It can be very hard work and very strange hours, particularly when I鈥檓 working on the actual projects. For example, I recently took group of children away on a residential adventure activity weekend 鈥� 20 screaming kids for a weekend. It took me a good couple of days to recover from that.

What鈥檚 the best thing about the job?

It must be when you get that final nod of approval that you鈥檝e been granted some money. You work with a group, they get an idea, then you get confirmation you can actually do the project.

鈥� and the worst?

The flip side of the best thing: when you鈥檝e done the work but you find out that you鈥檙e not going to get the funding.

What kind of person do you need to be?

You鈥檝e got to be fairly easy-going and you鈥檝e got to be able to get on with lots of people.

That鈥檚 what I like: meeting people from different areas and backgrounds, from children on the estates to elderly residents of sheltered homes. It鈥檚 a really wide range on a daily basis. If you鈥檙e the sort of person who likes to meet new people and really gets job satisfaction from that, it could be the job for you.

Quite often the people you鈥檙e working with are initially a bit dubious, then you win them over and they鈥檙e coming back for more. Finally they鈥檙e running off with their own ideas, getting stuff done off their own bat. That鈥檚 when you know you鈥檝e done a good job.