Words to remember:

manufacture	abattoir
expand	pull down
enforcement	judgement
stored	hazards
pest	squeamish
rats	vermin
fleas	complexity
emission	vary
fumes	equipment
insulation	exemption
disease	relevant
acquire	suitable
fingertips	at least

Fire Service

There is no special graduate entry into the Fire Service and few graduates join, but for those who do prospects are good and promotion can be rapid. A Chief Fire Officer can earn as much as a Chief Education Officer or a County Treasurer. High standards of physical fitness are required and shift work is involved. (The Uniformed Services)

Words to remember:

rapid

Housing

Housing is a service provided by district authorities. Local authorities are the landlords for the vast majority of people in this country who do not own their own homes; the professionals who organise and administer the service are housing managers.

The major activity of any housing department is still the management and maintenance of its council houses, some of them on estates dating back to slum clearance schemes between the wars, others built to meet the growing demand in the post war years. Essentially what was provided was new housing. In recent years the approach to housing provision has changed from a policy of new building often on city outskirts to one of renovation, improvement and modernisation of outworn houses. Authorities now buy up privately owned property in older areas and undertake its modernisation and improvement. In addition it is now possible for tenants, under certain conditions, to buy their council house. These policies have extended the work of housing departments.

The work of a housing department will cover activities such as the following:

1. The administration of housing applications arid of applications for transfers and exchanges. The allocation and letting of properties.

2. Inspection, ordering and checking of routine maintenance items on dwellings and estates usually from an estate office. This will involve considerable visiting of properties to check on defects followed by liaison with the direct labour force or outside contractors who do the actual work.

3. Rent policies and assessments of rents. Rent collection, recovery of arrears, administration of rent rebates and allowances. (In some authorities this is still the responsibility of the Treasurer's Department).

4. Processing of applications from tenants interested in buying their rented council property.

5. Tenant welfare; interviewing in connection with rehousing or tenant problems; liaison with social services department; administration of housing and advice services.

6. Assessment of general housing need in the district and making housing provision for special categories eg old people, single person accommodation.

7. Coordination of housing activities in public and private sectors including housing associations and societies. The administering of improvement grants to private owners and landlords.

The job offers constant contact with the public and in a recent survey graduates working in housing found that one of its main satisfactions lay in feeling that they were helping people who had problems and who needed assistance. They also commented on the freedom they had to make their own decisions and the early responsibility which came their way. But housing is a sensitive area and one where elected members are keen to make their impact and where therefore tact and discretion are important qualities.

The Institute of Housing's Professional Qualification is in three parts. Some polytechnic degrees give full exemption from the examinations, and graduates need only complete the practical experience requirement. There are five full-time postgraduate courses giving full exemptions at Stirling, Heriot-Watt, Salford and Ulster Universities and the LSE. There is also a full-time postgraduate course at Sheffield Polytechnic which gives almost complete exemption. Other degrees for example in Environmental Sciences at Salford and in the Social Sciences, Law and Estate Management elsewhere give partial exemptions. A graduate must have a minimum of six months experience in a housing department prior to sitting Parts I and II of the examinations and 18 months prior to sitting the Final Examination. Courses are undertaken in either local colleges with day release or by correspondence. A list of college and correspondence courses which provide tuition can be obtained from the Institute. The other relevant qualification for Housing is the Associateship of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, Housing Management Division.

Ideally a graduate would enter as a trainee and spend time in different divisions of the Department before starting in a substantive post. When resources are limited traineeships are in short supply. The beginner's job at professional level is that of Housing Assistant. There is little forward planning of vacancies in Housing and graduates need to watch for actual vacancies advertised from about March of their final year in the local and national press, Housing, Local Government Chronicle, Municipal Journal, New Society and Opportunities.