Transcript of the Construction podcast
Construction is one of Scotland's key industries and ranges from small local businesses to large companies. You'll find construction projects in all parts of Scotland. These projects can include housing, the building of schools and hospitals and there are large scale projects such as roads, railways and airports and offshore installations. Although construction is one of the most male dominated areas of employment the message from employers is clear, they want to see far more females coming in to the industry. There are lots of well paid jobs with good prospects and females are currently losing out by not considering construction as a career. Job prospects for school leavers are good and it's predicted there will be a need for around 46,000 new employees in the next ten years to replace those leaving the workforce or retiring.
OK, so there seem to be lots of different job opportunities in construction, is that the case?
Yes there are, there are lots of different opportunities for males and females in construction. Essentially this is very practical work, it can be very hands on and include jobs like kerb laying, driving, labouring, but it can be also quite skilled practical work as well, the kind of work a joiner or a roofer would do, people like floor layers, stonemasons etc. But there are also jobs available at professional level which will include people who work in management, civil engineers, architects, planners that kind of thing.
Presumably there are different entry qualifications for each of these levels?
I think there are two ways of looking at this really. You've got to think about whether you have the skills for the job as well as whether you have the qualifications for it. Skills wise you want to think about whether you've got good practical skills, are you good at working with your hands, can you work in a team, are you good at problem solving. And you also want to think about your health because you might be working in a dusty environment for example and if you have asthma this might cause a problem so there is plenty to think about there.
Qualifications wise this may vary. At a basic level if you are doing practical jobs like kerb laying or driving you may not need any qualifications, that said if you are driving a fork lift truck or a vehicle you may need a drivers licence or a fork lift truck licence. For skilled practical work, like apprenticeships for example employers are often looking for three or four standard grades at level three or above and that can include English, Maths, Science & Technical subjects, Craft & Design and you may be expected to sit an aptitude test which will check whether you've got the right skills and knowledge for this kind of work. If you are looking at professional level courses you may be looking at going to college of university. Colleges offer courses that start off looking for standard grades and they build up to Higher National Certificate or Higher National Diploma level of one or two highers, and at degree level courses you may belooking at having three highers or more. You can find out more information about this on the Careers Scotland website or by talking to a Careers Scotland Adviser.
And what about the training required?
Training will vary depending on the job and the level of the work that you are doing. For basic practical work you may find that you get training on the job or that local training providers will be running programmes that you could do in order to get you in to that kind of work. For apprentices like joiners, roofers etc. you may find that you are doing a mixture of on-the-job training, so you are going out and working as well as spending time in college doing your knowledge and qualifications. If you are looking at going to college or university you might do a full time course, but it may involve doing work experience on placement with an employer. But remember you can also train part time or go to college part time to get your qualifications. Whilst you are continuing on the job you may find there are regular updates on Health & Safety, so there will be training courses you need to go on for that and for developments in the job that you are doing.
People always ask about pay and conditions, can you say a little bit about that?
The pay and conditions can vary. For an apprentice you may find that you are paid an apprentice rate which will go up year on year as you become more qualified and able to work and do different jobs, however some employers will pay you an hourly rate. Otherwise it is very common to find that you are on an hourly rate when you are working in the construction industry and this may include you being paid for overtime and at weekend rates as well. When you are working at the professional level, for example if you are an architect, you'll probably find you are on a fixed annual salary. It's difficult to say exactly how much you might earn because it will vary depending on the size of the company, what kind of work they are doing etc. But you can always see what is being offered by checking job adverts and also looking up the Careers Scotland website and also the Construction Industry Training Board can be very useful for this they are at cskills.org.
When you are looking at the conditions for a job you want to think about where you are going to be working and what you are to be doing. You may find that you are working indoors or outdoors, in towns, cities or out in the countryside and you want to think about how you feel about working long hours, possibly travelling a lot, getting up early to get to a job or staying away, also working in good or bad weather conditions or in cold buildings etc.
