Live discussion: how to advance your career in housing

Many of our members tell us they "fell into" a job in housing, but stayed in the sector after falling for its strong values and community focus. Most said they ended up building long and rewarding careers. With a renewed government focus on housing it's a demanding time for housing staff. They must prepare for the impact of welfare reform and the Localism Act while dealing with widespread public sector spending cuts. But this background also makes for challenging work with a clear social purpose. Housing offers professionals a diverse range of roles with the added job satisfaction of helping people to find their place in the community. But what's the best way to advance in a career with so many entrance points and different paths to follow? From accreditation, apprenticeships and postgraduate study, to sheer hard work and gut instinct, what makes a housing professional? Join our panel of experts from 12pm on Monday when we'll ask where are the jobs in today's cash-strapped housing sector - and what do you need to know to get them? Panel Lee Burman is business solutions manager for recruitment outsourcers PPS . He has extensive experience of delivering careers advice, job search tactics, CV writing and interview tips and has consulted to the housing sector for the past ten years Chris White is head of HR at the National Housing Federation Dr Jo Richardson is principal lecturer in housing at De Montfort university , Leicester. She is programme leader for two e-learning courses and has published books and research on housing and customer insight, and gypsy/traveller accommodation and planning issues. Follow her on twitter: @socialhousing Catharine Hinton is specialist advisor for housing at Asset Skills Emma McAndrews is the head of not for profit at Guardian Jobs and has been helping housing associations successfully recruit for the last 11 years and has also set up a successful recruitment advertising partnership with the National Housing Federation Stuart Mather is the HR operations manager at Notting Hill Housing Group This content is brought to you by Guardian Professional. Join the housing network for more professional advice, comment and best practice – and the latest job vacancies