Career, girls?

Why does Nobody want to work in construction? Quantity surveying firms and contractors can’t find enough good graduates to fill posts. Young people who make it on to civil engineering or surveying degree courses are waylaid by management consultants hunting for recruits with analytical and numeracy skills. Meanwhile, the Alan Crane types, who start “on the tools” as bricklayers or steel fixers and rise to chief executive, are becoming a thing of the past.

Other white-collar professions attract bright young graduates from unrelated disciplines in droves. So, why can’t construction? Is it the money? Or is it simply that it does not occur to your average modern languages student that he or she could become a QS or project manager – and the industry does nothing to bring itself to their attention?

To find out, Building asked two ideal recruits to spend part of their Easter holidays working for two construction firms. Beatrice Bowen and Clare Tetlow are two bright, numerate first-year undergraduates. The firms that agreed to give them a look behind the scenes were Mansell, Building’s Best Practice Award winner, and Citex. Beatrice spent two weeks with Mansell’s London Major Works Division and Clare seven days with Citex, largely in the quantity surveying office but also trying building surveying, project management and facilities management. Mansell, Citex and Building between them paid each student £200 a week.

What did they think construction people do?

Before their placements, Beatrice and Clare’s understanding of construction was limited. Beatrice could see that it involves complex processes and a sophisticated range of skills. But her first thought was of site labourers: “When someone says ‘construction,’ I think of a building site and lots of people in hard hats.” Clare had a similar image: “I think of a big yard or what you see travelling along the Docklands Light Railway.”

Construction was not top of either student’s list of future careers – but nor would they rule it out. Beatrice said: “I really don’t have a plan. I am happy to try most things. I would give accountancy a go and I am interested in the Foreign Office but it is not as if it is my heart’s desire.” Clare had a similar attitude. Apart from dreams of travelling and writing for National Geographic, she had no definite ambitions: “I come and go with ideas about the future. A few years ago, I toyed with the idea of law. My options are open, but I would never teach or be a university lecturer.”

Their experience of working life had been limited to holiday and Saturday jobs. Both have worked as receptionists. The nearest Clare had been to a building site was working in a warehouse for a wheelie-bin manufacturer in Australia, where she is proud to have got her fork-lift truck driver’s licence. Beatrice had also worked in a factory in Australia: hers made supermarket display stands.

Their attitude to construction was surprisingly neutral. They recognised that it was a more dangerous industry than most, but were not put off for that reason. In fact, Clare has a penchant for danger: she enjoys scuba diving, has been bungee-jumping and would take up sky-diving given half a chance.

They were not perturbed at the prospect of working in a male environment. “A woman could definitely manage a building site. I would expect to see a man doing it, but that is just a social thing. A woman could be better and more organised,” said Beatrice.

So, if it is not the danger or the predominance of men, why wasn’t construction something that had crossed their minds as a potential career, like law or the Foreign Office? The answer is lack of knowledge. Beatrice and Clare attended James Allen’s Girls’ School in south London, one of the best girls schools in the country, but as far as they can remember, no one from the industry ever visited to explain the range of careers open to them.

More fun than office work?

Both girls were keen to spend their holidays trying something “different”. The work experience would look good on a CV, and it would be interesting in its own right. And, like most students, they needed a holiday job. As Clare put it, working in a quantity surveyor’s office would be “more interesting than the usual temping”. Beatrice echoed her view: ”I think it will be a lot more fun than an office.”