Must-have skills for a graduate career in construction

Communication skills

Effective communication is one of the most important skills needed for a construction career, due to the accuracy required in relaying information. Use your initial application to impress recruiters with your communication abilities: be descriptive and detailed about your achievements, skills and motivations but keep information clear and to the point. Check and double check your spelling and grammar before submitting anything.

Teamworking abilities

Teamwork is one of the major skills I look for during assessment. Being able to support others, contribute fully and potentially lead a team enables you to do your job successfully. Your teamworking abilities are usually assessed during a group exercise, when recruiters will consider how well you interact with others, listen, take responsibility and make decisions.

Problem-solving skills

Construction is all about decision-making, managing resources and negotiating, and you’ll encounter problems along the way. Devising effective, well-informed and timely solutions is essential. In your application, include any areas of responsibility, as you’ll usually find evidence of your problem-solving skills here. At interview, talk about times when your decisions or actions have resolved a problem, and say how and why.

Time management

Every project runs to deadlines. To meet them you’ll need to manage your workload effectively and co-ordinate with suppliers, clients, contractors and your team. Your excellent organisational skills will already have helped you through university, from completing project work to deadline through to exam revision. During assessment, talk about how you’ve planned, structured and organised your time, possibly under pressurised conditions.

Interest in the industry

Your passion for the industry will separate you from the competition. Alongside qualifications and work experience, I look for graduates who will love the job because I know they will always give their best. Your enthusiasm will come through naturally when talking about your achievements and motivations for choosing this industry. Before an assessment think about what interests you about construction.

Personality

Don’t be afraid to let your personality shine through. Many questions are based around times when you’ve used a particular skill, and a good interview is when a candidate draws examples from different areas of their lives. I’ve heard some great examples of coping under pressure, ranging from delivering defrosting chickens at a supermarket to demolishing the wrong building!