Graduate trainee is promoted to manager
National Apprenticeship Week February 2022 saw the promotion of one of our talented graduate trainees Stephen Cloute to supervisor and then further promoted to Quality and Health & Safety Manager on 1st November upon successfully meeting his targets during a probationary period.
Stephen’s career journey began at Sussex Coast College Hastings, where he achieved A-levels in fine art, photography, and graphics. He then studied at the University of Brighton, completing a Bachelor’s degree in contemporary fine art. This involved putting on art exhibitions in the local community in Hastings. Upon completing his degree, he joined Focus SB as a temp in August of 2017.
A background in art gave Stephen a creative outlook on the traditional engineering processes and systems used at Focus SB which allowed him to strive for continual improvement for both himself, the company and the team he is a part of.
After a six month trial, Stephen was offered a full time role in January of 2018 joining our successful graduate training programme. This resulted in him working in every area of the business to learn about the processes involved in manufacturing, with a focus on joining the quality department when the programme came to an end after 12 months. Part of his training was to spend time in certain departments and write reports on where the company could improve.
Stephen was nominated for the Young Pioneer award in The Manufacturer’s Top100 by his line manager in 2019 for adopting his role as Quality and Health and Safety Assistant within the company with consistent enthusiasm and dedication.
Gary Stevens, our MD comments: "Here at Focus SB we are passionate about developing young people into the future talent that will be required to take this business forward. Stephen is a shining example of how Focus SB’s graduate training programme can take someone with no prior manufacturing knowledge, and where the right training and mentoring have developed his skills for a lead role in the Quality and Health & Safety functions with us.”
Our three production facilities, head office and showroom are located close to each other on the Castleham Industrial Estate on the outskirts of St Leonards on Sea and Hastings in East Sussex. Focus SB is an equal opportunities employer and we currently have opportunities in our sales and warehouse departments.
If you’d like to discover more about working for us please contact Mrs J Cloute our Customer Service & HR Manager, who has also recently taken on the role of Enterprise Adviser in East Sussex, at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., telling us a bit about yourself and including a CV if you have one. We look forward to hearing from you!
News updated January 2023.
