By Heather Holbrook, partner at Thomas & Adamson, part of Egis Group
CONSTRUCTION has never enjoyed the best reputation as a career destination. Research conducted around this time last year found that 69% of UK adults wouldn’t consider a career in the sector, rising to 77% among respondents aged between 18 and 24 years old. That is a major problem for an industry that needs to attract and train more than 250,000 people by 2028.
Much of that can be put down to perceptions about the industry. There has been a great deal of change during my time working in construction – some of the unpleasant experiences of my early career would be unthinkable now – but the reputation the sector has from bygone years still hangs over it.
One that always comes up when I visit schools to talk about careers is the lack of women in the industry. The sector is undoubtedly still skewed male, with females accounting for only 15.8% of construction workers; but, while that figure is too low, it is up on 12.6% prior to the pandemic and represents a record high.
The increase in female representation at least suggests there is some progress – and through my work as an external examiner at Glasgow Caledonian University there are signs more is on the horizon. When I was a student there in 2008, I was one of just four women undertaking the part time quantity surveying course – now the split is more like 60/40.
Then there is the perception of the roles available in construction. Bricklayer, joiner, and architect are the ones that most often come up – and if you are not academically-minded, then you are pigeonholed for the first two.
When I speak to children and young adults at schools, they are genuinely surprised and interested to hear about the multitude of roles there are in the industry. They want to know more about quantity surveying, project management, and building surveying; what these careers entail; and how to get into them.
It’s just as important to make them aware that there are multiple potential routes into construction – you don’t have to achieve straight As at school and then go to university for quantity surveying, for example. You can pursue a HND or HNC through college, undertake an apprenticeship, or combine working with university through a part time degree – which is what I ended up doing.
Not all of these options are available with every discipline. But it demonstrates to young people that there isn’t just one path to a successful career in the sector and not getting the right grades in their school exams doesn’t necessarily limit their choices.
It’s these types of preconceptions that we need to share if we are going to change attitudes towards construction. As an industry we need to better engage with young people, and the adults that shape their career choices, in ways that are going to work.
The first could be by giving the industry more of a digital footprint. We can capture what we do day-to-day in our jobs on platforms like TikTok and Instagram, giving a visual and instantaneous information to a generation gathering so much of what they know about the world through social media.
We also need to speak to careers advisors, as well as children directly, so that they understand the breadth and depth of career options available in construction. Too often people default to what they think a typical construction job is, when there are so many other choices on offer.
Finally, explaining the different routes we all took to get where we are. Unlike many other sectors, construction has the advantage of offering multiple different routes – many of which don’t require young people to build up vast amounts of student debt and provide substantial work experience too. That can be a real differentiator.
Studies have suggested that children as young as seven are starting to make decisions about their future careers. But they can only do that if they understand the broad range of options available to them, the routes for getting into each, and the realities of what those career choices entail.
