Ben works as a procurement manager for Helistrat Management Services to ensure compliant, cost effective and environmental, closed loop waste disposable solutions. Ben was previously a graduate at DHL Envirosolutions and took on a role as Accounts Administrator at Helistrat where he ensured best value, service and compliance from suppliers. After delivering targets and making inroads into the supply chain he was promoted to Procurement Manager to better reflect his remit within the company.
Ben considers the best aspect of his role to be the daily challenges he faces, and the satisfaction he gets from their completion:
"Knowing that I have helped ensured that nothing goes to landfill for a large retailer is a feather in the cap as I would like to get more heavily involved with tackling environmental issues, not just waste issues"
Keen to gain further environmental experience, Ben volunteered at a council wildlife trust. He was given a plot of land to be turned into an educational and environment garden, and working every weekend transformed the patch into an area where people could walk through and learn about different British flowers, see the bug hotel, learn about composting and have a better understating of the work the trust does.
Ben joined the IES upon graduating with a Environmental Science BSc in 2011, and made use of the extensive career services offered by the Institution:
"After leaving University it was very difficult to find a job and so I began to hunt around to find out what could make me stand out on my CV. I read about IES and saw that it provided a mentor service as well as a CV Clinic. This was perfect... Since then I have found all the magazine, articles and events very interesting and helpful and I am really looking to progress to the next level in the Institution and give some more back."
In the future, Ben plans to develop his career within Helistrat and focus on a more environmentally focused role:
"Being 25 means I am really unsure where things will take me, but as long as I am learning and making a difference I am happy."
