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Construction and property

Essential advice for beginning your career in construction or property – whether you want to be a graduate surveyor, planner, engineer, site manager, architect or any of the various other professions that design, build, manage and finance the built environment.
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Build your future

The construction industry is all about designing, building and improving the built environment around us. Property careers, meanwhile, are where the built environment meets finance. Property professionals work to increase the value of land and real estate. Graduates work on a vast range of projects and across a huge range of activities: in construction, homes and skyscrapers, highways and waterways, bridges and tunnels, strategic energy infrastructures, and more; in property, everything from valuing a piece of land, to developing it, to selling/letting it or investing in it. Many graduates say that they get a buzz from seeing tangible results from their efforts and playing a vital role in working towards net zero.

Search for construction, QS and property graduate jobs or engineering graduate jobs.

Browse job descriptions

Your construction job options

From architect to structural engineer, by way of quantity surveyor and project manager, discover what the key construction roles really involve.

Compare property roles

Your property job options

Planners, surveyors, agents, developers or consultants: your job title will depend on what you actually do and the market you work in. Check out our collection of key job roles to work out your best fit.

Joining your profession

Finding your way in

Get CV-enhancing experience

Many large employers run formal work experience schemes for students – most commonly summer internships/placements and sandwich-year placements – and these will boost your job prospects. But there are other ways to gain experience and develop your skills.

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Student competitions & events

Here at targetjobs we run free careers events and competitions with employers, all designed to help students hone their skills, network with top professionals and potentially get a job (attending employers actively hire from our events).

Those looking for formal career events should check out our ever-popular Future Female Engineers and our brand new Survey the World . If you’d like to win an internship with a leading built environment employer, enter our competition to be crowned the Construction, Engineering and Environment Undergraduate of the Year .

Getting a job

Applications & interviews

Ace your application

Construction and property employers will either ask you to fill in an online application form (which may involve answering application questions and/or uploading a CV) or to send in a CV and covering letter. But you’ll need to ensure it is sector- and employer-focused – our advice will show you how.

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Types of employer

Where can you work?

Construction companies can be divided into consultants (which look after the designing and pre-construction phases of a project); contractors (which build the project); and subcontractors (specialists employed by the contractor). The job can be very different depending on the type of employer.

Property employers can be categorised as either full-service firms that offer a range of services to clients or specialist consultancies focusing on one service, such as letting agencies – although both often specialise in certain markets.

There are also construction and property jobs with housebuilders, local authorities and organisations that own or operate across a lot of land, such as retailers, hospital trusts and utilities companies.

Employers in Construction and property

All employers

Our top employers

Industry leaders with a large annual graduate intake.

And many more

Other employers who are active on targetjobs , regularly posting new opportunities and events during peak seasons.

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FAQs in construction and property

If you have a degree in a relevant subject approved by the appropriate professional body, you apply for individual entry-level roles suitable for graduates or a company’s graduate scheme. International students will need to check that they are on the right visa , if they need one. You’ll need to show a passion for the job and the industry, alongside the skills, qualifications and experience the employer asks for. School leavers, or those without a degree, can seek out apprenticeships or entry-level trade jobs.

It is possible to earn more than £100,000 a year in construction, depending on which career path you take: for example, how far you climb the career ladder, whether you choose to run your own business and which location you work from. Many graduates across the construction industry start on salaries ranging from £21,000–£32,000 depending on the employer and location (with engineers typically earning more), but by the time they reach director level they can be on £100,000+.

If you wish to pursue a chartered surveying career in property, the traditional route is to undertake a degree accredited by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (or an accredited postgraduate conversion course) and then seek a graduate job or scheme with a surveying firm. There are now also a few apprenticeships available. However, it is possible to start a career in the property sector without planning to become chartered: for example, by becoming a lettings agent.

Property graduates don’t have to pursue a career in real estate if they don’t want to. Many go into finance, including into investment banking and asset management; others convert to law (often choosing to specialise in property law or conveyancing); and some choose to remain in the built environment taking a building management or sustainability role. A good number choose to take their entrepreneurial skills and either work directly in a commercial or sales role, or start their own business .

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Wanting to leave uni with a degree is a given. But what do you want from the other bits of student life? Discover how to combine study, rest, work and play with our insights from students and graduates.

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