What do you love doing? Drawing, solving puzzles, working with numbers or making things with your hands?
Whatever you enjoy, there could be a place for you in construction. Let’s explore the jobs you might never have thought about!
Construction needs people with all kinds of skills. By the time you’re grown up, many of the people building our homes, schools and roads today will have retired. We’ll need a new generation of designers, planners, builders and problem solvers, and one of them could be YOU!
Tony didn’t enjoy school, and his grades weren’t the best. But he knew he wanted to be his own boss one day.
He trained as a plasterer (as that was the only course that spaces left), and learnt how to spread a smooth layer of plaster over walls and ceilings. It took practice and patience, but he discovered he was good at working with his hands, and his attention to detail became one of his greatest strengths.
Tony worked for other people before deciding to start his own company. He didn’t like being told what to do and when to do it. Building OCL took hard work, and many sacrifices but he kept going for his family. Twenty-two years later, the small business he started has grown into a company that works on major building projects, with his son James working as Managing Director running the day to day part of business and daughter Rebecca, who manages the Health and Safety across all our sites, as SHEQ Director.
Tony’s story shows that you don’t have to be good at everything to do something brilliant. Find what you’re good at, practise it and see where it takes you.
Think everyone in construction works outdoors? There are lots of skilled jobs on building sites, and some people even go on to run their own businesses. But construction needs people behind the scenes too – from those who design and plan projects to those who buy materials and solve problems.
Explore the jobs below. Which ones sound like you?
You could be part of the team designing buildings, landmarks and roads, planning projects, working out what it will cost to build the project or help solve a tricky problem. Let’s find out which roles match the things you enjoy.
Want to discover more? BBC Bitesize has videos and information about careers in engineering, construction and manufacturing.
Explore construction careers on BBC Bitesize.