‘How we got our jobs’: recruitment tips from employed construction and QS graduates

TARGETjobs Construction speaks to a lot of construction, quantity surveying and civil engineering graduates working in the industry throughout the year. This year we asked all of them whether, given the tough economic times, they would still recommend a construction career to new graduates.

All of them said yes immediately. Then they paused. Then they launched into the following advice on how exactly to go about getting a job.

Accept it’s going to be hard, then keep going

‘Getting my current role was tough but I love my job, so the perseverance was well worth it,’ says Juan Carlos Salazar, a graduate project manager at Rider Levett Bucknall. It took five months from his initial application to getting a job offer and throughout that time he was applying for other jobs. ‘If you have to apply for 20 or 30 jobs, keep going. Rejection doesn’t mean that you’re a bad applicant, just that you weren’t right for that company’ he explains.

‘To be successful in construction, you have to have self-belief, whether the jobs market is good or bad,’ says Gavin Chandler, a project quantity surveyor at Skanska UK with five years’ experience. Build your self-belief by constantly reminding yourself of all the skills you possess that would make you a good construction professional. ‘You’ll have to stick at it when searching for jobs, but it’s worth it – it’s a good industry to work in with good people,’ Gavin continues.

• TARGETjobs Construction: all you need to apply for and get a graduate construction, QS or civil engineering job
• Advice on how to persevere from the construction industry’s sector skills council

Sell your soft skills

‘You’ll need to sell yourself in applications by emphasising your skills,’ says Gavin. Most of the applications and interviews will ask you to give evidence of your non-technical skills, and you’ll need to pull a range of examples from all areas of your life, not just from your work experience or course. Anika Randall, a production management trainee (construction manager) at Wates, used her gap year travel experiences at interview: ‘When asked for examples of when I have dealt with conflict I talked about the barter culture in south east Asian countries and how I often came out on top.’

• The skills needed to work in construction and project management
• The soft skills all graduate civil and structural engineers need

Be selective to get selected by construction graduate recruiters

It’s tempting to apply to every construction employer going, but that only works if you thoroughly research each one. It’s a better use of your time to be more selective: ‘I was focused when choosing the employers for my industrial placement year. I thought it was a waste of energy to apply everywhere, so did some research and focused on the top five firms. It worked,’ says Matthew Rosewell, who now works as a graduate quantity surveyor at Gardiner & Theobald LLP.

• How to draw up a short list of construction employers to apply to
• We’ve done your employer research for you! Check out our independent Employer Insight reports on top construction and engineering employers

Posted by Abi_TARGETjobs on 6 February 2012

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