Servest Group’s development programme for future leaders of the business has officially launched today.

Six existing employees and four graduates have been selected from more than 160 applicants to embark on a two-year programme that will prepare them for taking on a management role in the company.

The 10 future leaders are existing employees Ben Alcock, Sheun Badza, Jono Dorrington, Rebecca Houghton, Ross Houghton and James Stephenson-Wall and graduates Joe Horgan, Sam Kelly, Tom Kirkup and Chanel Kirwan.

They are each to spend the first nine months in Servest’s headquarters in Bury St Edmunds working through key support functions such as HR, sales, payroll, marketing and finance.

They will then go on to spend time in each of Servest’s main operational divisions including building maintenance, catering, security and cleaning. In addition to learning practical skills in these areas, the participants will study management skills, backed up by the ILM qualification in Facilities Management, which will be run internally.

The 10 were picked for their leadership potential and excellent communication skills among other factors, and they are a good fit for the entrepreneurial culture of Servest.

The recruitment process involved an initial application, a telephone interview and Belbin profiling. Around 30 people were then invited to three assessment centres.

Demonstrating their enthusiasm for the future leaders programme, Servest’s senior management team attended the assessment centres. Servest’s Group CEO UK and Europe Rob Legge took the opportunity to meet the candidates, tell them about his own career, and invited them to ask him questions.

Legge said: “The calibre of candidates has been excellent and I’m pleased to welcome each of the chosen 10 onto the future leaders programme. The scheme demonstrates Servest’s commitment to developing talent to ensure a leadership pipeline of dynamic and committed individuals.”

C-J Green, group HR Director at Servest, said: “Rob Legge and I were absolutely delighted to break the news to the 10 people that had been selected for the programme. It’s an amazing opportunity for them all and I’m confident that they will go far in the business and deliver what is needed.”

At the end of the programme, each person will join the most relevant division in a management role, or look to study further qualifications if they want to join a specialist function such as finance or HR.

Of the 160 applicants, 22 were already working in the Servest business. Some of the internal candidates who did not get onto the programme have been given other opportunities or will be encouraged to apply again next year.