Helen Pritchard, Head of Sales & Marketing at Shropshire Homes recently received a distinction in her dissertation for her MBA at Staffordshire University. Having started her MBA in 2020, Helen is waiting for her overall result, but so far has received distinctions and merits in all assignments!
To celebrate Helen’s amazing achievement, we found out more about her career at Shropshire Homes and beyond…
Helen started her career in the new homes market as a Sales Executive at Persimmon Homes over 8 years ago. She moved into the sector after she bought a new build home and found the whole process interesting. Helen is a very personable person and the sales lady who sold her the new home even said she would be good at the job, so she applied for a Sales Executive role at Persimmon and the rest is history!
Making the move to Shropshire Homes in June 2017 as a Sales Executive, it wasn’t long before her talent was recognised, promoting her to Field Sales Manager in September 2017. Following this, Helen has continued to thrive and excel in her career, becoming Sales Manager in July 2021 and Head of Sales & Marketing in March 2022 – a title very well deserved! As a manager, Helen’s sales & marketing team find her extremely supportive, organised and inspiring.
On asking Helen what she likes about her job, she said “I love being out on site, meeting all of our buyers, spending time with my sales team. I think it’s really important to spend time with my team and it’s part of the reason we have such a good and close team”.
She added “It’s funny how you fall into things and it ends up being something you love”.
Helen is no stranger to studying, having previously obtained a BA (Hons) Law degree in 2004. Her intentions were to become a solicitor; however, she chose her family over her career, focusing on bringing her children up. Helen’s law degree concentrated on company law, so she still finds it useful in her career today.
Helen’s MBA covered all aspects of running a business and her final project (dissertation) involved combining different aspects of managing a business and applying it to something that interests her. Considering Helen’s passion for the new home sector, it was only right that she chose the title ‘Females in Construction’.
Helen’s research into females in construction found two outcomes:
- There is a lack of education surrounding construction delivered to children at school, resulting in children not being aware of the various roles available in the industry. There was a clear pattern that children only tended to go into construction if they had a family member who worked in the industry.
- SME’s complacent recruitment techniques impact recruitment and retention of females in the construction industry.
Helen strongly believes there needs to be more education on construction being a gender-neutral industry for children from primary school.
Although Helen has enjoyed completing her master’s degree (to a certain extent!), it has not been easy finding a balance between working five days a week, looking after her family and studying! However, she has received support from Shropshire Homes throughout – contributing towards the fees and has felt encouragement from directors – particularly Howard Thorne, Richard Shackleton, Richard Bowler and Gerald Rogers.
Helen commented “I would like to thank the directors at Shropshire Homes, my team for putting up with me over the last few years and my family for not getting much time with them”.
We are sure Helen’s exceptional organisation definitely helped too!
Shropshire Homes are always keen to support their team, Managing Director, Richard Shackleton spoke of Helen’s success: “Congratulations to Helen on a fantastic result on her dissertation and throughout her MBA, despite the hours involved it hasn’t interfered with her role here at Shropshire Homes, a true testament to Helen’s work ethic and commitment. As a business, Shropshire Homes are keen to support our team with training, college courses and degrees as much as we can, hopefully allowing them to further their careers with us, as is evidently the case with Helen”.
So, what does the future have in store for Helen? Helen envisages her future at Shropshire Homes, revealing “I wouldn’t want to work anywhere else. I feel valued by the MD, Chairman and team. I love the company and people I work with. I look forward to the next steps in my career here and would like to become the first Sales Director and first ever female director at Shropshire Homes”.
Helen will be graduating in November 2022 and plans to take her Mum and partner to her graduation, and possibly more of her family if she can get more tickets!
On behalf of Shropshire Homes, a huge well done to Helen – so well deserved! She is a true asset to Shropshire Homes and we look forward to seeing her thrive in the future!