14 July 2016

Four senior members of Costain’s Human Resources (HR) department have achieved top honours in their profession.

Group HR Director Sally Austin, Head of HR Operations Jenny Tomkins, Head of Learning and Development Deborah Rapkins and Group Talent Manager Simon Merrell have all become Fellows of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development (CIPD).

The CIPD requires a considerable amount of evidence of a person’s abilities before it is prepared to grant its Fellowship to applicants. The awards followed four months of work.

“You are required to demonstrate specific criteria,” explained Sally, “including the experience of leading HR at a strategic level, implementing change in an organisation and leading from the front.

“You have to show that you are developing strategy or implementing something over a three-year time period so you can see significant change.” The CIPD looks for clear metrics that demonstrate a beneficial impact on the business.

“You also have to demonstrate continuous learning – what you’ve done to develop yourself in the role. The CIPD looks at what you’ve done in the past three years and what you’re planning to do in the next 12 months.”

As well as providing all this evidence, a CIPD assessor conducted face-to-face interviews with all four candidates.

The quartet’s success in gaining a Fellowship gives a strong message to people both internally and externally that Costain is developing its professional expertise in the HR field and encourages staff to develop their careers to the best of their potential, said Sally. “It gives us external credibility and shows that we’re at the top of our field in what we do.”

Caption: Deborah Rapkins (left), Sally Austin (centre) and Jenny Tomkins are now Fellows of the Chartered Institute of Personnel & Development.

 

Ends

Media Enquiries
Costain Communications Department
01628 842585
[email protected]