A “fantastic opportunity” to help a builders’ merchant keep up with the times and to develop their careers is being offered to young builders.

Chandler Building Supplies is looking for a group of people aged 18 to 35, who are quite new to the construction industry, to be members of a panel of “champions”.

The panel members would provide Chandler with insights into customers’ needs, in return for a chance to boost their careers and raise money for their favourite charities.

Marketing Manager Sue McKinney says the company is looking for about six “keen young people who are just finding their feet in the industry” to serve on the panel for a year.

“They can inform us about how the industry is looking for our customers,” she said. “The business is increasingly ageing – the number of those over 60 is going up and the number of those under 30 is going down – and it’s an issue that isn’t going to get any easier. We wanted to understand what the younger generation is doing differently, so we can tailor what we do to meet that.”

Panel members will be asked to share tips and advice with others starting out in the sector, provide updates on projects they’re working on, and give feedback on products they’ve used. In return, Chandler will pay them for their contribution, give them free branded work clothing and products to test, and make a small monthly donation to charities that they nominate.

“This is brand new – we’ve never done this before,” said Sue. “It’s fantastic opportunity for us to learn more about them and for them to learn more about us – we’ve been around for 140 years and this is our way of saying we want to keep up to date and understand what it’s like out there. And we can help them with their careers by identifying the issues that affect them and establish what support they need to flourish in the construction sector.

“We’re looking forward to working with these guys.”

Anyone interested in joining the champion panel should contact Sue at sue.mckinney@chandlersbs.co.uk by the beginning of April.