You don’t have to get your hands dirty
THE construction industry employs about a million people, making it Australia’s third largest industry - but not everyone is a tradie.
Many white-collar jobs are available, too.
Ronan Mulry, business director of construction for recruitment company Hays, says contracts administrators, site managers, supervisors and project managers are in high demand from residential and supermarket development.
“There is a demand for mid-rise residential buildings in the outskirts of the city where smaller developers are purchasing blocks,” he says.
“This is leading to high demand for site-based contracts administrators to drive subcontractor procurement and negotiations.
“Aldi is building a number of new stores around Brisbane, which is in turn leading to Coles and Woolworths upgrading their existing stores.”
Mulry says in other parts of Australia, designers or senior engineers, civil project managers, site supervisors, site engineers and estimators are likely to be needed.
“A number of engineering consultants require 12D and MX designers or senior engineers with exposure to roads, highways and land development,” he says.
“Once the construction phase of these projects commences, the civil market will drastically pick up and demand will be very high for ... civil project managers, site supervisors and site engineers”.
Mulry says employers looking to fill white-collar positions value experience on projects of similar size and type.
“Relevant software knowledge and skills are also important, for example, Jobpac, Cheops, Buildsoft and MS Project,” he says.
Department of Employment figures forecast 137,900 new construction jobs will be created nationally in the five years to November, 2019.
National Association of Women in Construction Queensland/ Northern Territory president Marnie Beckett says there are more women entering the industry.
“There are a number of roles and opportunities for women in the construction industry — accountants, estimators, quality surveyors, administrators, procurement officers, legal counsel, marketing and stakeholder engagement, graphic designers and HR advisers, just to name a few,” she says.
“With the growth of fly-in flyout projects, there is a growing need for health and wellbeing professionals and there is always a need for health and safety advisers.”
Bachelor of Civil Engineering student Darcy Browning was awarded a National Association of Women in Construction (NAWIC) scholarship earlier this year.
“I always knew I wanted to be a part of the trades industry,” she says.
“I loved mathematics at school, and wanted to pursue a career which incorporated this - engineering was a perfect fit.” FOR NAWIC SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM INFORMATION VISIT nawic.com.au