My name is Helen Fairclough; I am twenty six years old. I have worked for Miller for nearly five years and I work for Miller Homes in the Yorkshire Region.

Once I had done my A levels I went to Northumbria University and did a four year sandwich course in Estate Management which meant that a year of that was spent working in industry, where I got a year of my RICS APC under my belt before joining the Miller Group once I graduated.

When I was sixteen I did a week's work experience at a local firm of Chartered Surveyors in Yorkshire and I just thought, why can't I do this job? Not many women were in the industry at that point and everybody at school said to me... 'it's a mans world and you know it's not a woman's job basically'.... but I was quite fortunate that I found a course at Northumbria University which was a four year sandwich placement. I spent a year out working at a firm of Chartered Surveyors in Leeds as part of my placement and when I finished, and graduated from Northumbria, I was looking for a job and Miller had a very good graduate scheme at the time, and still do, and it really appealed to me what they were offering.

I think some of the qualities that graduates need if they are going to apply to Miller are that they need to be determined to succeed. Miller are very good at offering the opportunities for you to progress in your chosen career path but at the end of the day its up to you to do it they are not going to do it for you. So I think if you have got the ambition and you want to get on with a forward thinking company then Miller is probably the right one for you.

Shortly after I joined Miller I was sent up to Edinburgh for a two week induction process, which was great because I got to learn about the other Divisions within the Company, not just Miller Homes. I also got to meet all the other graduates, who I am still in touch with, and the Board of Directors from the other Divisions which was a good learning experience. I also got to meet Keith Miller himself.

I was quite fortunate that I had a year out in industry already, so I knew how an office worked but a lot of people don't. If you have never worked in an office before, don't be afraid, find out where the kettle is and you will be everybody's friend!

I started with Miller five years ago as a Graduate Land Buyer and quickly lost the graduate title and progressed to Land Manager, which is my position now. As part of the Land Team I am responsible for procuring all the land for Miller Homes to build their houses on. The best part about my job is that no two days are the same so I can be out of the office and I am not tied to my desk the whole time. The other nice part of my job is that I deal with everybody right the way through the business, so that's the site teams right the way through to the Architects and the Design Teams and the Legal Teams as well, but a big part of my job is making sure that we can get planning on sites ready for the team to build the houses.

Miller, as a company, are quite good at encouraging you to follow further education through your chosen field so for me that meant becoming a member of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. I already had one part of my APC under my belt from my year out and just meant completing the final year when I was at Miller which I did in the minimum time frame and I was one of the youngest graduates to complete the APC at the age of twenty one. In addition to the APC I then enrolled on the Open University Certificate in Management which gives you a broad view of managing a business, accounting, financing and marketing principals which has given me good grounding if I do become a manager in the future.

One of the things I like about working for Miller is that they reward progression through the Company if you put the hard work in. I have progressed quite quickly already for only working for the company for five years, the time has flown, and I would like to think that my success continues with the Company and the Region.

I would not say that there's one outstanding moment that is particularly funny but we do have an intranet system at work and browsing through the photographs on there of other members of staff is quite amusing sometimes!

One piece of advice I would give to someone looking to join Miller is make sure you know what you want from your career, Miller will be there to support you all the way through it but be prepared to put the hard work in and you will be rewarded.